Curious Minds

Getting Write to the Point

It takes time to write well.

That was lesson one on Curious Minds' 2-day writing course run by Nick Corder: writer, teacher, editor and ukulele player extraordinaire.  Other lessons were:

• Why use many words when a few will do?
• What, who, when, why, how...be a journalist by answering these crucial detective questions.  Try and craft your first paragraph into a summary of the whole story.
• Open sesame!  Use magic first sentence 'openers' to hook readers in.  Start with a name, quote, question or intrigue.  'The class could not believe it when they discovered that aliens had kidnapped Miss Scott.' 
• What is it with all the jargon and gobbledegook?  We're cohering, co-constructing, adding value and being 'fit for purpose' all over the place.  What do we actually mean?
• Sometimes something wordy is a good read, as long as it's riveting and the audience can absorb it in one go
• We do have different audiences: how can Curious Minds write well for schools, parents, businesses, funders and....children and young people!  It's not a case of one size fits all.
• There's a process to writing.  After you have scribbled some notes and ideas and bashed out a first draft, put it aside.  Leave it for a week if that's realistic.  If not, leave it for as long as you can.  The next step is the edit.  Make your cuts and changes with fresh eyes or ideally, ask a trusted friend or colleague to edit it.  Once you're happy with content, style, format and length, proof-read it for spelling and grammatical mistakes, missing words or rogue repetitions.  Finally, it's over to your in-house design expert (that's Glen for us!) to stamp on your unique brand and make it look striking.

Ooops... I've hit my word count!  I'll just have to write off all Nick's other tips (PS, puns are not always advisable...)