Comments for Good Copy, Bad Copy

Comment on Write with a knife for more powerful prose by nick

nick — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:16:22 +0000

Less is not always more, it’s sometimes just less. Copy has to be persuasive, often in a subliminal way. Simply making copy shorter does not necessarily make it work better, it just makes it shorter. Engaging a reader to read all the way to the end is a skill that has been largely lost. It has to do with rhythm, pace, punctuation, grammar and tone.

Of course avoid cliches and jargon but don’t be afraid to take your reader on a journey, if you have the skill to do so. They will probably enjoy it.

Comment on Write with a knife for more powerful prose by Ruth

Ruth — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:38:13 +0000

Take out ‘very’ nine times out of ten. I suppose you could say ‘this one was big but that one was very big’ – otherwise extraneous. And follow cutting ‘very’ by excising many of your other adjectives. Turning passive verbs into active ones usually shortens the copy a bit – and makes you think. ‘it was done’ – yea, but who did it? Don’t know? Might be time to cut it out.
Great post – and I love Steve’s comment.

Comment on Write with a knife for more powerful prose by Steve

Steve — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:52:12 +0000

This invaluable and unique post brings to the fore Good Copy, Bad Copy’s core competencies of brevity, succinctness and excellence in written communications. Now more than ever, it is imperative that direct language is leveraged by managers and cliches are avoided where possible, to ensure greater understanding and promulgation of the concepts which will drive business growth going forward in organisations.

Comment on Write with a knife for more powerful prose by Berna Cox

Berna Cox — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:58:50 +0000

Every word true! I edit for the Plain English service in Ireland. Sometimes, my normally straight hair curls right up!

Comment on Write with a knife for more powerful prose by Mark Needham

Mark Needham — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:07:51 +0000

I thought it was Cyril Connolly who coined the phrase “kill your darlings” in his book “Enemies of Promise.” If he did not invent the phrase he certainly popularised it!

Comment on Write with a knife for more powerful prose by Will

Will — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:49:49 +0000

20%? Scary! Probably right, though, no matter how much I struggle with it sometimes. I’d add adverbs to adjectives – often you don’t really need them. A prime example is ‘really’ in that last sentence. Other common offenders are ‘usually’, ‘normally’ and co.

Comment on Write with a knife for more powerful prose by David

David — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:31:20 +0000

Oh God! there’s no way I want to look back at some of the stuff I’ve cut. Sends shivers up and down my spine just thinking about it.

Comment on Six ways your schoolteachers sabotaged your business writing by My Copywriting Pet Peeve | ProjectCopy

My Copywriting Pet Peeve | ProjectCopy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:53:38 +0000

[...] A lot of the mistakes people make when it comes to writing web content hark back to the lessons they were taught at school. I could go into this further but there is a fantastic blog article already written about that. Find it here. [...]

Comment on Six ways your schoolteachers sabotaged your business writing by Jim Klakring

Jim Klakring — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:43:35 +0000

This is the most truest article online, and it proves how teaching does’t prepare us for the real world.

Comment on How to master the peculiarly English art of the polite command by Matthew

Matthew — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:13:28 +0000

A wonderful post. I especially liked how you were able to convey the how vital it is to be clear in your writing with something as simple as a “please come to my office” email.