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Posts Tagged ‘Write like you talk’
You can read Write Like You Talk Only Better on an iPad, Kobo, Sony and other readers. Check it out. Would-be authors, stay tuned for a post about the joys of publishing with Smashwords.
If you’d like to learn the secret to pulling ideas out of your head and onto the page, read my book, Write Like You Talk–Only Better, now available on Amazon and here. Learn more or check out the first chapters. An e-version for Kindle and other digital readers will be available very soon.
A quick read at just over 100 pages, the book outlines how to start building community by thinking deeply about the person you most want to connect with, writing a concise and precise summary of what you want to say to them and picking the best structure to deliver your message.
Then comes the fun, writing like you talk, pretending you’re having a conversation with that special person. By going back to your first and favorite way to communicate, talking, writing becomes easy and social.
After that, you’ll learn how to tighten your content to respect busy readers and stay focused on what you want them to remember. You’ll check for the five common grammar flubs that still matter.
To reach the next level, you’ll learn to tell stories and apply other advanced techniques from music, movies and other media.
The learning can continue as you practice and keep improving with the worksheets and checklists. All for $20 or less, tax included.
The breath mint or candy cane
If you don’t need the book, you might want to consider giving it as a reading treat to colleagues whose rambling emails, cold reports or mistake-filled content make you crazy. It’s like passing around the mints instead offending someone you care about who’s unaware that their breath stinks.
In addition to making enough money to feed my two teenagers, I want to make the world a better place, where people understand each other and are better equipped to reach their potential through clear and compelling writing. That’s my Christmas wish.
Today I am guest posting at Writingontheweb. All about learning and practicing to overcome the conditioning and connect with people.
At a webinar this week, I was shocked to hear that the moderator, and the two co-hosts, all hate to write. Ironically, these smart, articulate men were talking about writing ebooks. As many of you know, I’m writing a new edition of Write Like You Talk–Only Better, which will be soon available in print and for e-readers.
That’s it for the commercial. Stick around for the fun.
You see, fun is what writing should be, according to people like me who choose this path. Then again, people like Dave Williams think doing cool things with web cams is a hoot.
Because I want Dave to see how comfortable writing can be, after the webinar I sent him an almost-final draft of the book and my post on what’s involved in competing with the oncoming flood of self-published ebooks. It’s a lot more difficult than snapping together Lego blocks, one of Dave’s metaphors.
We set up a time to talk, with a web cam of course. I even practiced looking at the camera while I talked, though as usual my eyes mostly stayed on my keyboard. That will change as soon as it becomes fun. And once I’ve figured out how to fake a glamor shot.
In addition to our lively discussion about how well ebooks can work for businesses that are based on expertise, Dave generously shared some suggestions for the web page about my workshops, which has an embarrassing conversion rate. I fixed it immediately. To say thanks, I am writing this advice for you, Dave.
As he explained in the webinar, the Lego blocks that make up an ebook can come from transcripts of the podcasts, videos and webcasts, the spoken communication that Dave and the guys call fun. So let me start there.
1. Focus on the golden 20 per cent.
Remember the 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s principle, as in 80 per cent of your business comes from 20 per cent of your clients. This also applies to anything you record. Other research too. Instead of transcribing the whole she-bang, note what the timer or other indicator says when there’s something you might want to use. Have that part transcribed, which I bet will be about 20 per cent of the total.
Selecting what you want to transfer from talking into writing is a big step toward getting it on the page. And think of the transcribing and editing costs you’ll save.
2. Have a snappy theme that’s relevant to your readers.
Express this in a clever working title that you may fine tune a million times before you finish. Your theme describes what you want to build from the blocks. If you want to sell books and gain respect for your expertise, you can’t randomly snap together blocks. Like Lego, you need a plan for a robot or castle. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a structure that fails to impress and probably collapses, as I know from my Lego experiences when my kids were little.
In addition to guiding you and unifying your content, this theme will help you write, or at least collaborate on, the ebook promotion. Yes, the writing does not end with the book, so you’d better start having fun if you want to feed the ravenous content marketing machine.
3. Write like you talk.
Okay, I promised no more commercials, but you really have to take this seriously. Just think about the best podcasts, videos and webinars you’ve done, then write like you’re having a conversation about them. No peeking at transcripts, though you should indicate where you want to insert those sections you decided to keep. What’s important is there for the picking from your memory.
By going back to talking, your first and favorite way to communicate, your writing will flow. You’ll intuitively know how to connect those blocks. You’ll remember most of the rules that matter. You’ll be your natural social self.
If you still can’t go from mind to mouth to mouse, even after you’ve practiced with the worksheets in my book, record yourself. As with the transcripts, look for the golden 20 per cent. That is your content.
4. Relax.
You are not back in school with a teacher waving a ruler at you. You are sitting in that lovely office where you have so much fun talking. No one is judging. Just write like you’re having a conversation, much as I’m continuing the conversation with you.
Follow these four tactics and there is hope for you, Dave and the other guys who hate writing. Just like there’s hope I’ll get comfortable talking to the camera light on my monitor.
Us writers love to bitch about the many people who throw money at accountants, dry wall mudders and web designers, but figure they can, and should, write everything themselves.
When they need extra help with, say, a catchy slogan, they ask their spouse, assistant, babysitter, fitness trainer, financial planner, chimney sweep or other people they encounter in the course of their day.
“I just don’t have the time,” they babble breathlessly, much as I moan about not enough hours in the day to finish my backyard particle accelerator.
For people whose jobs or businesses are built on their expertise, professional writers would save enough time only by peering into their brain and pulling out their ideas, then presenting them attractively on the page.
My light bulb moment
I figured this out when I was talking to Deanne Kelleher, founder and director of Kaos Group. I had called to find out why she was such an enthusiastic reader of my first kick at my book Write Like You Talk–Only Better.
I hoped this insight would help me do a better job with the second edition, which will be available soon in print and for e-readers.
A professional organizer, Deanne loves sharing her passion for imposing order on chaos, from transforming crowded cupboards to streamlining digital files. Her elephant problem is lack of time.
When I met Deanne, she was a facilitator at a small business group. Deanne and the other advisers constantly exhorted us to focus on what we do best and outsource the rest. Despite this, they did their own writing. Imperfectly.
As Deanne says, “It’s all in my head.” With no hope of finding an affordable 24/7 psychic writer, she accepts her fate. It is written.
Deanne’s turning point
But Deanne realized something had to give after a long day of making lists with clients, taking her kids to swimming lessons and struggling to meet the deadline for her monthly online magazine. She decided to rest her eyes—just for five minutes. The next morning little Tess found her slumped over, asleep at her desk.
She vowed to change. She could not stomach missing a deadline. She hated the example she had set for her kids. She was desperate to balance her work with time to play with her children, fiancé and friends.
Naturally, Deanne wanted an organized approach for writing her magazine, blog and other marketing material.
As soon as she realized the book would help her write more efficiently and effectively, the colour-coded highlighting began. She is still using the checklists and worksheets for the Organized Lifestyle Magazine and other writing.
As a result, Deanne is getting more sleep, even though business is booming.
Big bonus
She’s also shaken off the ghost of her grade 10 grammar teacher, threatening damnation unless she wrote in a formal tone and obeyed all the rules. Now her writing sounds more like the sugared-up Martha Stewart that audiences love in her live and televised presentations.
I am enlightened too. When experts insist on doing their own writing, I don’t take it personally. Let me confess that I sometimes try my hand at graphics, spreadsheets, plastering and other do-it-yourself tasks I am not trained to perform.
I have, however, resolved to become more studious, like Deanne whose office brims with manuals and how-to books. Especially before I risk blowing up the world with that particle accelerator.
Today I’m starring on the popular Problogger. Check it out.
It’s often said that effective writers must be avid readers. Not necessarily. Although most professional writers love to read, anyone who wants to build relationships through written words needs to soak up and analyze other media and live conversations too.
So don’t worry about feigning a passion for what you think you’re supposed to read. Read what you enjoy. Reverse engineer the media that works for you. Then, understand the form of expression that’s loved by the kind of person you most want to connect with.
For example, if you’re an accountant, don’t limit yourself toThe Wall Street Journal. Immerse yourself in what’s loved by the people you want to get to know better – maybe hockey, opera, artisanal cheese magazines, video games or pet videos.
Hipsters may cajole you into feasting on the flavor of the week, such as Google+. If the object of your affection is lapping it up, this makes sense. But you may find the person you are courting is scarfing down some other slice of our increasingly niched media world.
You can’t savor every media and interest. But you can devour what appeals to you and the person you’re writing for. Instead of passively absorbing, you can take the time to discover why it tastes so good.
When a song gets stuck in your head, think about how that happened. When you notice that all the cop shows open with a murder, consider how that might appy to your communication. When a sound bite from a politician’s speech flies around the world, ask yourself what made that happen. When a commercial persuaded you to buy something new, ponder how it succeeded.
It all starts with conversation.
On top of the specific media preferred by the person you want to connect with, think about how you would strike up a conversation if you spotted them at a party. Think about the conversations that prompted you to make new friends, lived on in your memory or opened your mind to something new.
Talking is our first and favorite way to communicate. That’s why what works in live conversation influences all other media. We are drawn in by believable movie characters, not by actors reading a script.
Two people talking is the original social media. Everything else is but a pale comparison.
By all means, read to improve your writing. But also think about the media and conversations that would turn on the reader of your dreams.
Even though it’s still summer, 
I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney. I’m almost finished my rewrite of Write like you talk–only better and bursting with excitement.
But first, I need to take a break and see what others think. I’m way past being objective.
I know how valuable feedback is. After I launched it as an ebook a year ago, I listened to what readers had to say. I gave presentations and taught workshops based on my philosophy of combining the sociability of talking with the thinking of writing. I thought. I read. I rewrote the book.
Bigger and better, the new edition responds to requests for more examples, new explanations and other feedback. In the new chapter called Reach the Next Level, you’ll learn how to tell stories and apply other techniques from movies, music and other media.
Based on talking, almost everyone’s first and favorite way to communicate, the book will guide you through thinking about who you want to connect with and what you want to say, writing like you talk and making it better.
You’ll learn how to bond with the kind of person most important to you, attract like-minded people and build community.
You’ll write better than you talk by following a road map that will inject speed and prevent writer’s block. You’ll find out which five grammar rules still matter and how to avoid the flubs that make you look bad. You’ll write tight. You’ll help your readers remember you.
To get ready to sell on Amazon and for e-readers, I’m offering free preview copies to my blog readers. I’ll be asking for recommendations on how to make the book work better for you and reviews. No obligation.
So send me your e-mail and I’ll send your copy in the next week or so, as soon as my editor has finished a quick once-through.
Be the first on your block to write like you talk. Write betta, they’ll get ya.
Do you see reindeer in the sky?
Thanks to Esapekka for the photo.
Don’t you hate it when you realize you don’t follow your own advice? Don’t you get frustrated when you figure out what looked good yesterday is actually crap?
That happened to me this week after I’d written a story about myself, always the trickiest subject, guided by an earlier post on storyteling.
Then a friend sent me a story she’d drafted about having her best bike stolen, which she asked me edit. Like most people, she started her story with too much setting, or background.
I revised to start the true tale with the conflict, realizing her bike had been stolen. I noted what a nightmare this would be for any cyclist, the readers her story was intended for.
Then I added details that would vilify the thief and clarify the clues the heroes would follow to crack the case.
I was feeling pretty good about what I’d done, until I re-read my own story. I had not led with the conflict, I had not immediately set up readers to identify with my feelings. I had included details not needed to further the plot, develop character or make my point.
Because I intend to use the story as the first chapter of the next edition of Write like you talk–only better, I need to make the story less about me and more about my reader and why they should read the book, the point of my story. Back to the drawing board.
As a writer, you get used to that. Just don’t let me read any of those silly bloggers who insist you shouldn’t spend too much time on a post. They are idiots–or far more gifted than me or anyone good I know.
Here goes:
Have you ever looked in the mirror and said to yourself: “I can be more than this.”?
That happened to me when I turned 50. Sure, I had reached some of my life objectives, such as amazing kids, a nice house and loyal clients.
But there was more I wanted to do, more I wanted to become. And I only had 50 more years to do it.
It wasn’t about crossing exotic destinations off my bucket list. It was about seeing what I am uniquely capable of accomplishing.
I couldn’t use my kids as an excuse any more. Nor could I blame my stagnation on my parents’ low expectations, my ex-husband’s betrayal, my addictions, sloth, the economy, stupid people or anything else.
It was up to me.
I wanted to help people, but not by holding cold cloths on hot foreheads in refugee camps or mapping seating plans for charity galas.
No, I wanted to help all the poor people who were chained to their computers, cranking out emails, reports, dating profiles and other written communication. What’s more, I wanted to help all the people stuck reading this stuff.
It wasn’t their fault they went on too long, made embarrassing mistakes or were just plain boring.
Many had not been warned about how much of their day would be spent tapping on keyboards. They had not received the memo predicting that suits would be replaced by business casual or formal style by conversational writing.
And some of the digital kids hadn’t been taught how planning and structure could sharpen their spontaneous chatting, texting and other writing.
My quest to fulfill my potential and help other people pulls together what I’ve learned in these past 50-plus years about writing, grammar, talking, socializing, performing and thinking.
It all started in grade three, the day I first drew lines under some words and brackets around others. I understood the mechanics of language intuitively, as if I possessed mysterious knowledge passed on from the ancestors.
This gave me a way to compete with my younger brother, the smartest kid in the school, county, possibly the country. Like Brian –or Brain as we called him– I could get perfect scores in English grammar, and later in French and German.
I was also better than my brother at talking. Painfully shy, he would hide in the car when we visited friends. But me, I loved to be the center of attention, chattering incessantly, showing off my ballet twirls.
I also knew I was a better writer, though I saved my best for private diaries and fantasies. Back then, girls couldn’t look too smart.
At university, I stopped my foreign languages studies when I realized how tedious the labs were, long lonely hours answering boring questions and repeating phrases into an eight-track tape recorder.
Also in first year, a history prof loved my debut essay because I analyzed instead of just repeating the chronology. As my new major, however, I chose philosophy because it gave me more time for fun. And it taught me to think.
But I got tired of sliding into hot pants in order to earn a living as a cocktail waitress. I still loved writing. So I took a graduate degree in journalism.
After a brief stint as a reporter, with hours no better than working in bars, I ended up in corporate communication. I loved being at the center of the action, advising executives and politicians on what to say, and helping employees, customers and other people make sense of their rapidly changing world.
I also enjoyed fixing my colleagues’ writing. Just as I had no recollection of the periodic table of elements, most of them simply did not remember those grammar rules. They didn’t know how to use different structures for different goals. Worse still, they had been brainwashed by teachers, professors and bosses into believing reading and writing should be long, formal and never, ever social.
But well before Comment, Like and Follow, I knew that writing to persuade readers and listeners to respond in a certain way was ultimately a social activity. Preparing speeches and scripts confirmed the power of writing like you talk. Why didn’t they get it?
Just when I thought I’d scream if I had to read one more flat, rambling memo along came the bloggers and other social media people. Many wrote like they talked. They call it a conversation. Finally I could combine my love of grammar, writing, talking, socializing and thinking. I had found my tribe.
My flame reignited, I wrote my book, first as posts on my blog and later as an ebook I sold on my site.
I gave presentations and taught some workshops based on my philosophy of combining the sociability of talking with the thinking of writing. I listened to what readers and other people had to say. I thought. I read. I rewrote the book.
So here I am, one step closer to fulfilling my potential.
I know that some of you are not following your dreams because you haven’t had the training, mentoring or experience to help you connect with people through the written word.
In a world where people communicate so much online, where they need to stand out to be heard, writing is a means to many ends. Connecting to other people this way can help you look in the mirror and say “Wow!”
So thanks to the bicycle thief for leading me to three pieces of advice for rewriting stories:
1. Lead with the conflict.
2. Identify immediately with your ideal reader.
3. Get rid of anything that doesn’t move your plot, develop your characters or make your point.
But will I still love it tomorrow?
Thanks to Chris Devers for the photo.
You know what it’s like to have a song stuck in your head? What if you could create those kinds of ear worms with your writing? People would be unable to stop thinking about you.
Okay, perhaps that’s a little extreme, but I think it’s worthwhile to take a closer look. Let’s see how this ultimate stickiness works and how you can apply it to more mundane communication.
A while back, I read a book by musician turned neuroscientist Daniel Levitin called This is Your Brain on Music. I am fascinated by what scientists are learning about the brain and how it affects how we think, feel and act.
According to Professor Levitin, the songs that get stuck usually have a hook that grabs us, emotions that hold us and rhythm that gets us moving.
Hooks grab us
The hook has to be simple enough to easily grasp but not so simple it blends into the background. This hook repeats, varies and returns. The lyrics have to touch deep emotions. And the rhythm should induce a physical response, such as swaying or clapping.
Repetition is, of course, the classic memory-enhancing technique. On its own, repetition becomes boring. But repetition becomes supercharged when the theme varies.
Consider Beethoven’s Fifth, possibly the stickiest piece of classical music ever. It starts with the hook: “Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-DUM.”
This hook repeats, then varies in note and rhythm. 
After branching into some new themes, the symphony returns to the hook.
Emotions hold us
A great example of the emotional resonance of sticky songs is Adele’s CD 21, this summer’s biggest international hit. All the songs are about a romantic breakup, achy and sad.
One of 21‘s hits, Someone Like You, has been number one around our house because my daughter sings it so well, accompanying herself on the piano.
Few things are sadder than a breakup when you’re the age of Adele or my daughter. And even though it’s been many years since my heart has been broken, I can remember the pain. I’ll bet you can too.
Adele also uses the technique of repeated hook and variation. In Someone Like You, the title phrase is repeated again and again. But what struck me when I paid more attention to the lyrics, which are muffled when my daughter is singing one floor below, is how “Someone” melts into “Sometimes,” for the punch-in-the-gut climax ”Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.”
Rhythm move us
As I noted earlier, sticky songs usually have a rhythm that induces a physical response. Think about people spontaneously playing air guitar to a driving rock songs, pretending to conduct a symphony orchestra or bursting into tears about lost love.
But prompting actions through rhythm is much more difficult than applying a hook and emotional resonanc.
Written repetition is a time-tested technique. Twist it and you have magic, as in “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” or, recently, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on rampage that killed 77 people: “Evil can kill a person, but it cannot conquer a people.”
In fact, listen to any politician who is adept at sound bites and you’ll hear examples of a hook with a twist.
Sweet and sticky
Most people understand the importance of emotional resonanc in writing. The classic children’s tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears wasn’t that popular when it debuted because the protagonist was a snoopy old lady. But when it was rewritten as a tale about an innocent child parents cared and children identified.
That’s why you need to get under the skin of the people you are writing for, making sure you address what keeps them up at night or what get them going in the morning. That’s how you connect, attract like-minded people and build community.
Motivating action through rhythm is more difficult because written words lack most of the auditory impact of music. But not all.
Think of words like squish, swoosh and thump. Think of how sound bites live on in written words. Think of the novelist whose rhythmic style embraces you so tightly you can’t put down the book. Note that you heard “Da-da-da-da” and maybe clicked on Adele’s link.
I’ve heard many speakers who have tried, with varying degress of success, to conjure some of the magic of sound by getting the audience to clap or shout.
Write like you talk
That works only if you’re writing for an audience, not if you’re writing for readers. But you can adapt some of the stickiness of sound by writing like you talk. Please share in the comments your ideas for applying the magic of sound to words that will be read.
You might not be as sticky as those songs that get stuck in your head. But if you pay more attention to repetition and variation, emotional connection and the rhythm of speech, you’ll have much better chance of becoming a hit.