Persuasive Writing

Emergency Help #4: Change your location

This tidbit works for writer's block as well as deadline-induced hysteria. If sitting at your computer or wherever you normally work shuts down your brain, go somewhere else.

Somewhere else where you can write, that is! Take your laptop to a place with no WiFi or other Internet access, take your AlphaSmart or take pen and paper. Just get somewhere where you won't feel so pressured.

(This does not mean to go to a bar, an ice cream store or any place where your friends hang out.)

A change in scene can help take the pressure off. So, pack up and go!

When you've finished your work, treat yourself to a good mystery. I recommend anything by Carla Damron, a friend and fabulous writer. Here's another link where you can read more about her page-turning mysteries such as Spider Blue and Keeping Silent. She'll be speaking at the S.C. Writer's Conference on writer's block and how to beat it in October 2007. Thanks, Carla, for suggesting this tip!

Emergency Help #3: Leave blanks

You won't make your deadline if you don't keep the writing flowing. So keep going! If you come to a place, or rather, when you come to a place where you (1) either can't think of the right word or (2) just can't remember exactly what it is you want to say and are going to need to look up the fact or idea or whatever is eluding you right now, don't stop to look up anything. Leave a marker in the text and come back to it later.

This marker can be a blank line _____________________________.

This marker can be a note in the text: From the front of the house she could see a tiered garden (NOT RIGHT WORD) that led to the street....
Later, you can go back and changed "tiered" to "terraced."

This marker can just be a word that you never use thrown into the text so that you can do a search for it later. Just throw out this word in places where you know you need to come back and do more work and keep writing. It's like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for the rough spots in your paper. The word I use is "pineapple." I have never had to use this word in anything beyond a recipe, so it has worked for me for over 20 years.

The most useful marker is an all-caps parenthetical statement reminding yourself of what you were looking for or the type of idea that needs to go in this spot. For example, I was recently writing an article for a client whose business I didn't really understand. They'd called me at the last minute, and so the best I could do was just start writing and leave blanks where I didn't know what I was talking about. My first draft looked something like this:
"Because your existing technology has already gathered (WHAT KIND OF DATA HAVE THEY ALREADY GATHERED?), you'll be able to use it to help make decisions about important issues such as (WHAT KINDS OF DECISIONS DOES IT HELP YOU MAKE?)

Now, this was commercial work that involved collaboration with the client. Your single-author paper shouldn't have this many blanks in it. If it does, you need to do a little more research. Leaving blanks is for keeping your writing going when you can't remember exactly what you want to say, but you know it's out there. In fact, it's lurking in your brain somewhere. If you haven't done your research or don't understand your topic and the thing you are searching for has never even crossed the doorstep of your brain, leaving blanks could leave you stranded. It's a great technique for when you need to get something written in a hurry, but it creates more problems than it solves if you don't truly know what you're trying to say.

Emergency Help #2: Sketch out an informal outline

You're in a hurry so this will be quick. Grab any old piece of paper and quickly outline what you think you need to say. Go really fast so that voice in your head that's telling you to panic has to shut up. Ignore everything in your world except the points you want to make. Do this with a pen or pencil and don't be neat. (But do be legible.)

You're trying to work while avoiding panic. You'll be easier on yourself if you follow a sloppy outline than one that looks like your sixth-grade teacher did it. Plus, you didn't put much thought into this outline, did you? So you want to feel free to take a detour or choose another route if the words start coming easily.

Now put this raggedy outline in front of you and start writing. If you stall, the outline will keep you moving forward. If there are important points you need to make, the outline will remind you of them.

The outline is there to help you, not limit you. If something better comes to you while you're working, follow your instincts. Just keep writing until you are finished.

What's the hardest thing for you?

It's your turn. What's the hardest thing for you?

What questions do you have, or what advice do you need?

This is a new blog devoted to helping people with their writing problems. Ask away and I'll try to answer.

Thanks!

The Big Secret: How to Jump-Start Your Brain with a Thesaurus of Quotations

What if you just don't give a rip about your subject? What if the very thought of it is stupefying? How are you ever going to write about it?

By loading your brain with ideas. Other people's ideas. Great thoughts that have endured the ages. But be careful! Loading your brain does not mean stealing or plagiarizing. All I'm telling you to do is put good stuff in so that good stuff will come out.

Another writer taught me this. Get a good thesaurus of quotations. The one I like best is The International Thesaurus of Quotations by Rhoda Thomas Tripp. Of course it is out of print but Amazon offers used ones for $1.97 (as of this writing). There are others out there. What you want is one that is organized by ideas. For example, if I need to write yet another thing about the importance of education, I might load my brain by reading the sections on education, ignorance, employment, wisdom, etc. Read away -- but not so long that it turns into procrastination.

Then go take a shower or go for a walk, whatever relaxes you and lets your brain work things out on its own without your interference.

Now. Go back to your computer and start brainstorming. Do not look at the thesaurus again -- it is very easy to plagiarize by accident. Think back on what you've read and try looking at the same idea from a different angle. Keep messing with it until you have something.

Something. Anything. Once you get started, the ideas will flow faster than you can type them.

Oh! And if you decide to buy a book, how about do me a favor and buy it through this site. Thanks a bunch.

Emergency Help #1: Extend the deadline

Okay, your paper, speech or whatever is due tomorrow and you haven't started. If this is business as usual for you as it was for most English majors I know, well, you know what to do. Get some coffee and stay up all night. That's what college is for. Your paper may even be brilliant because the editor in your head who tells you that you can't possibly do this and what were you thinking when you waited this long will have given out or gone to bed. Just write, write, write. Everybody needs an adrenaline rush every now and then, especially at 3:00 in the morning.

But what if you're not an English major and this is not business as usual for you? Can you legitimately get a deadline extension without looking like a whining liar? Are you a lying whiner who does this all the time? If so, you have plenty of company, but I'd suggest you find another club.

Sometimes deadlines aren't firm. If you need extra time, it might be possible. If you can ask without lying about the cause, ask away.

If you get the extension, here's what you do next: Get a kitchen timer, set it for 30 minutes and put your dainty behind in the chair in front of your computer RIGHT NOW. You are allowed to do nothing but work on your paper until the bell rings. Write as fast as you can. You can clean it up later. Just write! At the end of 30 minutes, you can take a 10 minute break. Then you come right back and keep working until you have a rough draft. Right now it doesn't matter what you say. Just get it down on paper. Tomorrow, after you've slept on it, start cleaning it up.

If you don't get the extension, well, you're going to have to put in the time. But you know something? Sleep is overrated. Browse through the "Steps to Success" categories on this blog to get your thinking going, then set your timer for 30 minutes and do nothing but write. If you can't think of a first sentence, use this one:

The longer I sit here the sooner I will be done.

Keep typing it until your mind changes gears and you can start writing about your subject. Use the timer to keep yourself disciplined. And be disciplined about your timed breaks, too. Work for 30, stop for 10. When the sun comes up, you'll have something.

Then you can start typing this sentence:

If I don't wait until the last minute, I'll avoid a lot of pain.

Sorry you missed it!

I don't know how, but I just deleted the post I've been working on. It was brilliant and all about style and stylebooks.

Sorry you missed it. (It really wasn't that great.)

I'll try again tomorrow.

By the way, I'm going to make a category called "Emergency Help" that will spell out what to do if you are about to collide with a writing deadline and find yourself wordless. Be on the lookout!

Also, don't forget to submit questions anywhere in the comments sections.

Big Words

When you want to communicate with someone, you need to use the right words. Too many people believe that they will appear smarter and their writing more authoritative if they use big words.

Using big words (such as authoritative) might make you look smart and might even fool people into thinking that you know a lot, or at least a lot about what you're spouting off about, but they won't help you communicate.

Big words, like big boulders on a hiking path, get in the way. They interfere with communication. They do not speak at the heart level. They require deciphering in the head.

Diane Lefer, one of my favorite authors and friends, once said,

Good writers know all the big words.
Great writers know better than to use them.

Look at things from the other side

Okay, you've got your notes or list of the reasons you chose your position. You believe in what you're trying to persuade other people to believe (if this is all new to you, scroll down to my first post).

If you haven't already, go do your research. What are the reasons behind your thinking? What are the facts behind your position? What makes you so sure you are right? Go to the library. Read everything you can find. Check on the Internet (note that not all information on the Internet is reliable). List your strongest points -- the things that really back up what you say.

For example: Kids who inhale spray paint can die from paint coating the lining of their lungs.

If you've got facts and figures and percentages, use that information, too, if the numbers are heavily in your favor.

Look at what you've got in front of you. How can anyone not be persuaded?

Easily. There's always another side.

That's what you're going to do next. If you had to make the counter-argument to your position, what would you say? What facts or information out there hurts your logic? There's always something.

For example:

Your position is: All U.S. children should be vaccinated for (fill in the blank) disease because this disease is fatal in 95 out of 100 cases.

The counter argument might be: (Fill in the blank) disease is a terrible disease. However, it is not very contagious and only twenty children in the U.S. contract this disease every year, and the vaccine for this disease causes developmental damage and sometimes death in a high number of children.

Think (and research) every possible counter-argument to yours. Make a list, leaving room for a second column. Now, spend some time thinking of believable, truth-based reasons why these counter-arguments are faulty. Write these reasons in the second column, refuting what is in the first column.

At this point, you should have a full understanding of both sides of the issue and should be able to write a persuasive paper (at least from the standpoint of understanding your subject and having sufficient knowledge) convincing your audience of either side of the issue.

Now here is where we get on shaky ground morally and ethically. Look at your list of counter-arguments. Which ones will people know intuitively? In other words, when people hear you state your position, what reasons do they already know or objections will they already have to what you are saying? These top-of-mind problems will need addressing. Get a separate sheet of paper and list these problems. In order to persuade people of your position, you will have to clear up these issues for them. You don't want to spend lots of time on these issues nor give them prominence, but they are questions that you will have to answer in some way, even if indirectly. Be careful that you don't over-emphasize these problems or you will be working against yourself.

Now, look at the rest of the list. Is there anything on there that would be unethical to leave out, even if it hurts you?  I hope you will keep your integrity and address these issues. In the best case, it will give you greater credibility because you put yourself and your argument at risk by including non-helpful or even hurtful information. In the worst case, well, at least you didn't lie.

As for the rest of the list of counter-arguments, know that these issues are out there but don't plan to include them in your piece. If you bring these things up, you are working for the other side. If no one is hurt by excluding this information, you're okay.

Another consideration is length. One way to be persuasive is not to bore your audience. Fully cover your subject, but be as brief as possible. That means you may not be able to include all the information you have, and in fact, it may be counter-productive.

You won't persuade anyone whom you have put to sleep.

Copyright 2007 by Anne Creed

Please don't meet anybody's needs!

You'll hear it at least once today. A voice on the radio or an ad on TV. Or you'll read it in a print ad. Somebody will declare that they or their product will "meet your needs."

Stop for a moment and replay everything you just heard or read. They're going to meet your needs. How nice.

Do they sound for even a moment like they have a clue what your needs are? If they understood your needs, couldn't they have named them? Wouldn't they have named them?

When I hear somebody offer to "meet my needs," they may as well have taunted me with "Yo Mama!" Because the first thing I know when somebody offers to meet my needs is that they are completely focused on themselves and completely out of touch with the possibility that their product or service might do me some good.

This single phrase is the mark of an amateur writer, an unfocused marketing strategy and a second-rate product or service. I would say more, but I understand that if I am mean on my blog, I will attract a mean audience. So, Mean People, go away and meet your needs somewhere else.

So, what do you say instead of "meet your needs" when you're trying to write something and are at a loss?

Say anything but that!

Go back to the beginning and rethink the benefits of your products or services to your audience. That's what you want to tell them.  You won't meet their needs. Tell them how you can change their lives, or make their lives better, or solve a problem they have. You'll make them younger, smarter, faster, thinner. Or you'll get them out of debt, kill their weeds, protect their families, solve their evil in-law problems. You get the idea.

The only way you can meet their needs is to identify these needs and then tell your audience how you solve this problem for them. Speak to their hearts. Ease their pain. Set them free.

End of rant.

Copyright 2007 by Anne Creed