Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: The start is the hardest part
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: The start is the hardest part: "Have you ever wondered how long the greatest, and not so great writers and novelists looked at the blank page 'Stately, plump Buck Mullig..."
Monday, 29 November 2010
The start is the hardest part
Have you ever wondered how long the greatest, and not so great writers and novelists looked at the blank page
"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed." - James Joyce, Ulysses
I wonder how long Joyce scratched his head before he came up with that, and the beauty is that you're catapulted into the story right away. If you are in terror of a blank page or an empty blog here's a couple of techniques I use to unlock the vast expanse of white A4
1: Just write anything; without thought of punctuation or full stops or sense, write for 5 minutes in a stream of conciousness and then relax and you will find that clear and coherent thoughts just bubble up. The stuff you've just tumbled out on paper - Freud might have a field day but don't even go there, just bin it.
2: Still stuck? Take a pen in the hand that you don't write with and copy a couple of lines from a book or a newspaper. The effort of making your "weak hand" do the work overtakes all other thought and when you finish your mind is clear and open to what ever you want to write.
Of course a plan does help. When I sit down to write an ad campaign the first half an hour is the hardest work.
That's when you look at the product, decide what's great about it, what the benefits are (you always concentrate, not on the features, but the benefits) Then you apply a little creativity to communicate to the reader/listener what and how great it will be to get this duffel dangle,
After that you've got a list of maybe ten ideas and it's just a case of writing them into fully formed pieces of copy. Like they say 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration
"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed." - James Joyce, Ulysses
I wonder how long Joyce scratched his head before he came up with that, and the beauty is that you're catapulted into the story right away. If you are in terror of a blank page or an empty blog here's a couple of techniques I use to unlock the vast expanse of white A4
2: Still stuck? Take a pen in the hand that you don't write with and copy a couple of lines from a book or a newspaper. The effort of making your "weak hand" do the work overtakes all other thought and when you finish your mind is clear and open to what ever you want to write.
Of course a plan does help. When I sit down to write an ad campaign the first half an hour is the hardest work.
That's when you look at the product, decide what's great about it, what the benefits are (you always concentrate, not on the features, but the benefits) Then you apply a little creativity to communicate to the reader/listener what and how great it will be to get this duffel dangle,
After that you've got a list of maybe ten ideas and it's just a case of writing them into fully formed pieces of copy. Like they say 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Welcome to Brian McArdle's online home
This is a first post from the Brian McArdle blog on Blogger.
This is a step into a very new reality. Of course I have read lots of blogs, even posted comments but now to be wrestling with the technology and producing thought provoking comments at the same time is a new ball game altogether.
"A new ball game" I wrote that almost without thinking what it would look like in print. If I am committed to becoming a regular blogger, I guess writing in my natural state is the way to go. That's not to say that I won't proof and edit the posts but in every other way it's me warts and all.
Michael, who helped me enormously with getting this far loaded the picture. I don't know what it's about but it does look impressive so I'll leave it as is.
At the time of writing it's Friday December 4th and it's been snowing hard for the last hour. The ground has been frozen for the last few days, The kids are at home because the roads to their school is lethal and the last of my rare breed pigs went to the butchers last night. Slightly sad, they almost seemed to have a sense that this was a trip they wouldn't be coming back from. On the other hand they had a wonderful spring and summer rambling around the farm, rooting for roots and shoots, free range and happy .
This is a step into a very new reality. Of course I have read lots of blogs, even posted comments but now to be wrestling with the technology and producing thought provoking comments at the same time is a new ball game altogether.
"A new ball game" I wrote that almost without thinking what it would look like in print. If I am committed to becoming a regular blogger, I guess writing in my natural state is the way to go. That's not to say that I won't proof and edit the posts but in every other way it's me warts and all.
At the time of writing it's Friday December 4th and it's been snowing hard for the last hour. The ground has been frozen for the last few days, The kids are at home because the roads to their school is lethal and the last of my rare breed pigs went to the butchers last night. Slightly sad, they almost seemed to have a sense that this was a trip they wouldn't be coming back from. On the other hand they had a wonderful spring and summer rambling around the farm, rooting for roots and shoots, free range and happy .
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