Andrew Boulton, Copywriting Is…
‘Copywriting Is…’ by Andrew Boulton covers 30-or-so thoughts on how to think like a Copywriter.
Here’s a summary of 8 of my favourites.
Reading: The consumption of words is the only way to master them. You must devour other’s words before you rearrange them. Or as author Andrew Sean Greer put it: “Read Like a Vampire, Write Like Frankenstein”.
Wandering: We work at our desk because it is there, not because it is the most effective environment for creative thought. If we always write where we've always written, then we'll always say what we've always said. To change your thinking, change your location.
Quiet: Stillness, quiet and calm are the triggers for the default mode activity that spawns your greatest ideas. Allow time to let your mind steer you somewhere new. Focus on unfocused thought.
Small: Ask yourself how simple can you make it and how complex it needs to be. There are things you can remove in any brief to make the problem narrower and more focussed. It takes small steps to arrive at a big idea.
Absorbing: The writer who wakes in the night with a wonderful solution, but forgets it by morning, is a cliché. But it's also true. You have no control over the thoughts you have or when they arrive. But you are in complete control of your ability to record them.
Collaboration: Proper creative partnerships are defined by a single characteristic - brutal, hamstring-tightening honesty. Common courtesy can be uncommonly toxic for good creative.
Limitations: GK Chesterton said “Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.” Limitations are liberating. They give you a place to start and encourage you to push your work further. With new limits come new horizons.
Criticism: You must strangle the instinct to flee from, or fight against, criticism. Feedback is a generous act that will make your ideas better. Seen in these terms, and not as a platform for dissolving your confidence, feedback becomes something to be treasured.
Copywriting Is… is a must read for any Copywriter or creative thinker.
You can pick up your copy here.
Highly recommend.