Many amatuer writers feel that writing is about complex sentences and long, fancy words. But the professionals now that the opposite is true. Writing clearly is far more important than writing cleverly. And over the years as a professional writer, I’ve developed one strategy that works over and over to create clear, concise writing.

I call it the “talk to me like I’m five years old” technique.

It sounds kind of silly, but let me explain what I mean. When a child asks you how something works, they are not looking for a million details. They’re just looking for the basics. For example, if my son asked me how a car works, I might say something like this:

“When I turn the key, a motor starts. And the motor makes the wheels go round and takes us from one place to another. By stepping on the gas pedal I can make the car go faster. And by stepping on the brake pedal, I can make the car slow down and stop.”

Now to a college professor that definition of how a car works is woefully inadequate. But for a five year old child it’s just fine. And the little secret that no one wants to talk about is:

Most readers are reading more like a five year old than like a college professor!

So here’s how the technique works in the real world. When you are writing, you start off with a topic. A point that you want to cover. What I like to do is turn the topic into a question. And then I answer the question as if I were speaking to a five year old child.

For example, let’s say that might topic was learning to type. I would turn that topic into a question, such as “ what is the best way to learn how to type?”

Then in my head I imagine a small child asking me that question. Immediately my brain begins to break the topic down into its simplest components. In this case, I would patiently explain that to learn to type well you need either a teacher or a computer program to help you. You must carefully follow the instructions and practice every day.

Instantly I can see three points that I will need to make when writing about this topic:

• You need a teacher or computer program to help you
• You need to carefully follow the instructions
• You need to practice every day

Now, when I’m actually writing the information for this topic I may use words and phrases that are far beyond five year old level. But the general outline, and the points that I need to cover, have been broken down until they are so simple anyone can understand.

Try it for yourself. The next time you need to write about a topic, turn it into a question and then answer it as if a small child had just asked you.  I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

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ENJOY!

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Have you always HATED outlining? I know when I was younger I dreaded doing it!

But since then I’ve learned a few tricks and now I would never write any other way! Check out a new article I wrote on the subject:

http://kevinfranzonline.com/?page_id=289

I’m interested in what you think!

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NOTE: The following is a classic reprint of my most read writing article . . .

***

One often ignored secret to massive success for your sales letters and marketing materials is to add a compelling, emotional story. Whether to story tells of a true customer experience, or simply illustrates a possible use for your product, a well written story draws readers in, and leads them through your letter almost without even being aware that they are reading a sales page.

But how do you create a story like this? What steps should you follow?

This article is the first in a series demonstrating a writing system that I call “Five Steps to a Story.” I’ve taught the system successfully to thousands of people through my speaking engagements and writing seminars, and over the course of this six article series, I’ll teach the system to you also.

The focus of this first article is to expose you to the Five Steps to a Story system, and to actually list the steps that we will be covering in the remaining articles of the series.

So, what exactly are the five steps? Here they are:

1. Start with a picture in your mind
2. Give the pictures a “twist”
3. Ask questions until the story comes out
4. Create a roadmap of the story
5. Write the story

Note: Yes, I know at first glance it may seem strange the Step 5 of the instructions for writing a story would be “write the story,” but once you understand the entire system it will all make sense.

Essentially, here is how the system works. You start with a simple image in your mind of the type of story you want to write. This opening image can come from anywhere, and in the next article we will describe several ways to get this opening image.

Then, in the following steps, we manipulate the picture until the “bare bones” of the story come together. Steps 2 and 3 of this series will cover this.

Next, we create a road-map, or outline, of the story. Some writers, of course, do not take this step, but in my system I find it extremely valuable to blueprint how you see the story coming together. Step 4 in this series will show you exactly how to do this.

And finally, in Step 5 we will get to the actual writing of the story. Putting words on paper until you have completed your vision for the work. I have many tips and tricks that make this step far less painful than it may appear now. By the time you’ve completed the instructions of this step, you will have completed your first story.

The reason that my Five Steps to a Story system works so well for so many people is that the hard work is done early in the process, before even sitting down at the computer to write. All of the stress of the dreaded “blank page” is removed, and by the time you actually need to put words on paper, you already “know” what you are going to say.

So with these preliminaries out of the way, I encourage you to find and read the next article of this series – “Five Steps to a Story, Step 1 – Start with a Picture.”

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There is little doubt that Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing program available today. Writers of all levels use it daily, and it has become the unofficial “standard” for business. If you are a marketer, chances are great that you use Word to create your sales letters, marketing pieces, and even website copy.

There is a difference, however, in how most amateur writers use the program and how professional writers use the program. In my many years of writing with Word, I have consistently used a handful of commands over and over, and not quite in the way you might think.

Let me explain.

The main interface to the powerful features of Word has always been the point and click menu system. If you want to save your file, for example, you reach for the mouse, roll the cursor over the proper menu, drop down to the Save command, and left click. A similar sequence of events is used to copy and paste, check spelling, change fonts, and many other common tasks.

But I use a different method. Over the years I’ve found to far too slow to take my hands from the keyboard in order to use the mouse. Instead, I use the Shortcut Keys. And if you are serious about writing quickly and efficiently, I suggest you do the same.

Let’s look again at our example of saving a file. Did you know that you could accomplish the task without ever touching the mouse? Just hold down the CTRL key and press S (usually written as “CTRL+S”). The save is done instantly, and you never have to take your hands from the keyboard.

Here is another example. Have you ever wanted to change the font or text size for an entire document? You could navigate to the top of the document, left click the mouse, drag the cursor down the entire document, click the Home tab, and then finally click the Font tab to display the menu.

Or you press CTRL+A (to select all text), and CTRL+D (to bring up the font menu).

Try each method for yourself, and then decide which is really quicker and easier. The results will be clear.

Here are three more essential Shortcut Keys to know:

CTRL+C Copy the selected text
CTRL+X Delete the selected text, and place it on the clipboard
CTRL+V Paste text from the clipboard

These three commands – cut, copy, and paste – form the backbone of all editing, and as you get comfortable using the Shortcut Keys, you’ll soon discover the speed at which you can maneuver through even large sections of text.

The key idea to take from this is that there is a fundamental difference in how professional writers approach using MS-Word. Most users prefer to point and click, using the mouse whenever possible. Power users avoid using the mouse, and prefer Shortcut Keys rather than moving their hands around.

If you would like to learn more about Shortcut Keys, check out the MS-Word Help System for a complete list of all the commands. I suggest you start with just the simple commands in this article. Then search the help system to find the shortcuts to the commands that you seem to use most frequently. Within a very short time you will be using MS-Word like a pro.

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By Kevin Franz

When putting words on paper becomes a large part of your day, you inevitably begin to develop skills to help you get the job done faster and with less effort. One of the first skills I learned is to never write something new if you have something existing that will serve. Rarely will an experienced writer start a new file from scratch. There are always previous works available to use as a starting point – pages of pre-done text that need only a little tweaking and formatting.

But with that convenience comes a problem. And that problem is incompatible formats.

You know what I’m talking about – you cut and paste a block of text into your current document, and suddenly all the fonts turn to italic. Or you bring in a list of items from a previous presentation, and instantly half of the numbered items are in bold, while the other half stubbornly refuse to turn bold no matter how many times you press CTRL+B.

It can be maddening just to accomplish something as simple as making all of the fonts the same size!

But I use an easy shortcut to help ease this pain, and make the process of cutting and pasting from many sources far less frustrating.

The strategy I use is a command called “Clear All Styles.”

As you may know, most of the strange formatting that you see when combining blocks of text from difference sources comes from conflicting “styles” – that is, text marked as “normal” in one document will have different settings than text marked as “normal” in another document. One might be a 12 point Courier font, while the other is a 10 point New Times Roman font. When the blocks of text are combined, unpredictable results occur.

A common rookie mistake is to try and clean up these issues one at a time, selecting a single paragraph (or even a single sentence) and trying to reformat it by hand. Sigh. Not only is this a tedious and needless process, but it often results only in frustration. Stray formatting codes litter the document, causing unexpected results and formats that seem to change at random.

Instead, a simple solution is to force all of the text to be ONE style, and then reformat specific sections if needed. The procedure that I normally follow when combining pieces of various documents looks something like this:

1. Pick a document that has a style very close to what I envision the new document to be.

2. Open the document, and immediately perform a “Save As” command to give this new document a unique name.

3. Cut and paste as needed from other sources into this new document. Don’t worry about style, format, font, or anything else at this point – just get the text in place. It’s going to look ugly at first, but don’t let that stop you.

4. When all the pieces are in place, click CTRL+A to select all text.

5. Bring up the Style window using the ALT+CTRL+Shift+S command.

6. Choose “Clear All.” Selecting the Clear All option removes all style formatting from the selected text (in this case, all of the text) and reverts it back to the default document style, which in most cases is “Normal.”

7. Go back through the document and reformat the text as needed.

What you will find is that with all previous formatting removed, this process becomes far less frustrating, and the changes are quick and easy. And that, of course, is the goal of every writer.

This is just one of many great strategies for writing that I’ve learned or developed over the years. If you are interested in discovering 5 more great sales writing techniques (ones that your competition doesn’t know about), I’ve got Tip Sheets and Mini-courses for you to have without risk or obligation. Go to http://www.FictionSecrets.com and let me know where to send it.

Kevin Franz is a successful fiction author and online marketer. For more than twenty years he has made his living putting words to paper, and he has helped thousands create their first written works. He is currently showing internet marketers how to incorporate the techniques of great fiction into their online sales efforts. You can find the details on his blog – http://www.kevinfranz.wordpress.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Franz
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Secret-Trick-of-Professional-Writers-to-Get-More-Writing-Done-in-Less-Time&id=3534113

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I recently decided to go in a different direction with my blog and other online media. The first step is creating this “new-look” site for hosting my blog. Hope you like the colors and layouts!

In the coming weeks, you will see more and changes – mostly additions – to the Kevin Franz Online sites.

Enjoy!

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I don’t find web sites that I really, really like very often, but just recently I stumbled on a site that is absolutely first rate. If you write sales material – or really, write anything at all – then you are going  to want to check out www.copyblogger.com.

The article list on the right side of the page features a virtual master class at headline writing, and the content of the articles is light years beyond most free sites.

And before you wonder, no, I am not affiliated with copyblogger in any way. It’s not my site, or a friend’s site, and I’m not getting paid to say this. I’m just a fan of well written information, and this site is certainly that.

Enjoy.

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If we modify that to copywriting, it would be the “devil is waiting to pounce on incorrect details.”

Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer often speak of the need to have an affinity to a market. That is, to sell to a group of people, you have to know what they are like. You have to talk like they talk, act like they act, and craft your marketing materials around their particular idiosyncrasies.

Nowhere is that more important than when you are crafting the details of your sales letter. If you mess up even one little thing, an entire group of potential customers will immediately invalidate the whole message. Huge percentages of your readers will throw out the piece right there, without ever getting near your actual offer.

To find out what to do about this problem, and how to correct it, check out this link:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Sales-Letter-Copywriters—This-Mistake-Can-Make-You-Look-Dumb&id=4071572

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The System Seminar is one of the best and longest-running online information marketing seminar in the country, and routinely attracts a great lineup of speakers from all phases of marketing. This year, the keynote speaker is Drayton Bird, a legendary copywriter with more than 40 years of experience (yes, I said 40!).

There will be tons of other great speakers and topics over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I hope to come home with tons of great new ideas.

This will be my first ever “high-end” (i.e., expensive) seminar. I’m looking forward to an amazing time.

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