This may be the most IMPORTANT THING you will read all day.

Now ask yourself why I have your attention. What grabbed you? What made you want to keep reading? How come you’re reading even now? Let me take a guess: First, I hit you, hard! With a simple but solid statement. Second, I made the line stand out by presenting it on the page all by itself. Third, I gave the line greater impact by capitalizing some of the words.

Great writing requires relentless editing. Play around with words and phrases and sentences until each line grabs demands for your reader`s attention. How do you create this type of writing? Its simple: Write First, Edit Last. First, get a rough draft down. Then, go back to edit it to perfection.

Let me try to show you what I do with a few specific examples:

“The door was opened by Judy.”

Say that’s a line on copy you’re working on. It’s not bad, but it isn’t good either. It’s too passive. Alittle editing can help this line out.

“Judy opened the door.”

Getting better, isn’t it? Now we have someone doing something. That’s active and much more involving. There’s life in the sentence now. But is it the best line? Nope. So let’s try again:

“Judy kicked open the door.” That would grab your attention, wouldn’t it? But I think we can do better.

“Judy kicked open the door!” Now we have an irresistible line! Start your story with that one and your reader is bound to go on to the next one.

Every line has to work to keep your reader’s attention. The radio is calling, the television is calling, the phone is ringing, the sun is shining, the refrigerator has food in it, there’s a new movie at the theater—your lines have to keep your reader nailed to the page, or you’ll lose them. There are simply too many distractions in the world for you to offer mediocre writing.

You must rewrite your material to perfection.

 

Written by- Judy Kaguchia, Head of Content