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Copy Corner: Rewriting is the key to writing well

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As an experienced and knowledgeable professional marketer, Frank Chamberlin has been a full time copywriter for ten years.

He teaches Direct Marketing at the Masters level at Monash University and he offers a one-day ‘business writing skills’ course for corporates. He also convenes the popular dm Forum in Melbourne.

As a successful copywriter and owner of Action Words, he does all sorts of work for large and small companies.

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When you write your first draft, the words very often just bubble out. There may not be a great deal of structure. That's fine for the first draft.

When you move into the rewriting or editing phase, you check that there is a logical flow to your work. Plus, you delete unnecessary words to make the writing sparkle with vigour and clarity.

There is no need for 'a general principle' where 'a principle' will do nicely. Not too many women look for 'feminine hair product for women'. 'Feminine hair product' is just fine. And we don't need to 'reverse backward' when we can simply 'reverse'.

For rewriting or editing, specifics to look out for include:

  • Unnecessary words: cut where appropriate and enjoy cutting.
  • Appropriate words: use strong verbs as much as possible and nouns but avoid modifiers ('the conference was very engaging and rather inspiring' – well that’s lovely for you, but 'very' and 'rather' are not convincing me).
  • Do a witch hunt on jargon and clichés (the latter can be 'the kiss of death').
  • Voice: brochure copy for a KPMG service is going to have a different tone from a Crazy John's ad. Make sure you have got it right.

For any worthwhile writing task, rewriting is not an extra that's nice if you have time. It is an essential ingredient. All professional writers embrace rewriting. In fact, it's the part of the job they love most.

What copy have you seen recently that could have done with more time in the rewriting stage?

2 Comments

Tony@TacticalTV
  • Wrote on 13 May, at 07:37PM
Charles Dickens is supposed to have said, "I'm sorry this letter is so long, but I didn't have time to write a shorter one." Sums up rewriting perfectly.
brandmusic
  • Wrote on 15 May, at 12:10AM
Words can tell a thousand pictures...if you get it right. I think the art of long copy has long gone but not neccessarily due to lack of talent. Its gone because we are supposedly time poor, we only have a nano second of brain space at any given moment to process information. The new breed of copywriters are not trained to engage through intelectual dialect, they are trained to grab attention in any way possible. In-regards to re-writing, I agree its somehing every writer should embrace and enjoy as often the best ideas come after youve put the pen down (or shut down). I always give every piece of work the overnight test and if i wake up still liking it, I kow its good to send. The trick to a good re-write is a bit of space.

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