| Organizing Your Data to Write Better Copy | | | | yourself could believe in? |
| | | | You will go through the same exercise with the |
| Last quarter I talked about interviewing / gathering | | | | remaining blocks of notes, ie "B","C" and "D". |
| data. So now you've got several thousand words of | | | | EDITING IS PRIORITIZING |
| notes, hopefully digitally recorded. What comes next? | | | | Editing is prioritizing. Often you will want to limit a list of |
| GETTING ORGANIZED | | | | ideas to 3. Three has a flow to it. And is about as |
| I suggested organizing your interview questions into 4 | | | | much as any reader or listener can grasp at one |
| groups. I'm going to label them for you A, B, C, D. | | | | sitting. |
| ·what is the business problem? = A | | | | Finally you polish. Now you are reading for flow or |
| ·what is the high level solution? = B | | | | musicality.You are cutting out superfluous ideas and |
| ·can you tell me more about the solution? = C | | | | words. |
| ·why should I trust you (as my vendor?) = D | | | | This is the long way to write. |
| Any decent piece of writing has a beginning, a middle | | | | THE SHORT WAY TO WRITE |
| and an end. So before you start editing / writing you | | | | The short way is to sift and prioritize all your notes in |
| want a map, to show you where you are going. Take | | | | your mind ie you turn on your thinking tool. The key |
| a blank sheet of paper, write four major headings and | | | | idea will pop into view, and hey presto, you begin |
| label them A, B, C, D, as above. | | | | writing about that one. You have a feeling for what |
| Now read your notes. When you find data relevant to | | | | comes next and what after that. You understand how |
| "A" (the business problem), underline that copy and | | | | to prioritize your ideas. Soon with a bit of jiggling ideas |
| mark a big "A" in the margin (in red?) . Keep working | | | | around the page, your story has a beginning, a middle |
| through until you have marked up relevant copy for all | | | | and an end. |
| four sections of your piece. | | | | You can teach yourself the short way by writing the |
| You will be leaving out anything that does not seem | | | | long way, again and again. Or by turning copy round in |
| suitable as you go. | | | | the middle of the night for an 07.00am deadline as I |
| THE CUT AND PASTE JOB | | | | often had to do as a newspaper feature writer. |
| Next comes a cut and paste job. Group together all | | | | "When we encounter a natural style, we are |
| the "A"s, then the "B"s, "C"s and "D"s. | | | | astonished and delighted: for we expected to see an |
| Next, take a look at all the ideas you have in the A | | | | author, and we find a man." Blaise Pascal. Quoted with |
| group. It helps if you take a new sheet of paper and | | | | thanks to John R. Trimble, Writing with Style published |
| write a list of the ideas or facts in the A group. Now | | | | by Prentice Hall. |
| prioritize. Be ruthless. And trust your first instinct. If an | | | | Do you have a robust marketing plan to execute |
| idea seems to leap out and have life, put it first. The | | | | against? How clear and persuasive is your website, |
| less important ones come later. Weed out any | | | | brochure copy or direct mail? Call Neroli Lacey NOW |
| repetition or weak data. Now you work on flow. Do | | | | to win more business TODAY. |
| you have a logical flow of ideas that your reader can | | | | CALL ++ 612. 215. |
| follow? Are you telling him/ her a story that you | | | | |