Write in Pictures 65 of people are visual learners Use words that create images Google Thesaurus Thesauruscom and MerriamWebster Thesaurus are among the many online tools you can use ID: 630205
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Slide1
Writing in Pictures
Paul GillinSlide2
Write in Pictures
65% of people are visual learners. Use words that create images.
Google Thesaurus
,
Thesaurus.com
and
Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
are among the many online tools you can use.
Word Alternatives
Drop
Plunge, sink, cave in, tumble, slump, crash
Rise
Swell, balloon, soar, climb, elevate
Get
Seize, grab, snag, pluck, wrestle away
Tell
Whisper, confide, intimate, shout, echo, cry out
Few
Select, choice, elite, chosen, culled, singled out
Don’t exaggerate or over-embellish. Good writing should feel natural.Slide3
Applying the Principle
From
a 2009
Wall Street Journal
story about
the declining popularity of Grape Nuts cereal (emphasis added):All day every day, objects with the proportions of hewn firewood and the heft of cinder blocks hurtle along a conveyor, dive into a steel chute, disappear down a black hole — and emit what sounds like a startled scream.From “Why Craigslist Is Such a Mess,” Wired, Aug., 2009:Jim Buckmaster is tall and thin, [Craig] Newmark is short and round, and when they stand together they look like a binary number…At the craigslist office, the two men work in the same room, but their desks are set up so they sit back-to-back. They are not social friends, and in fact they almost never talk. Slide4
Analogies are Pictures
From “
Brave New World of Digital Intimacy
,”
New York Times
, Sept., 2008Each individual bit of social information is insignificant on its own…[b]ut taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait…like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting.Slide5
So is Data
From
the Pulitzer Prize-winning “
The Wreck of the Lady Mary
” in the Newark
Star-Ledger (Nov., 2010) :On today’s oceans, endangered whales have more protection than fishermen, though scores are killed each year.From “The Rubber Room,” The New Yorker, Aug., 2009:[A competency hearing for a fifth-grade teacher] is likely to take between forty and forty-five hearing days—eight times as long as the average criminal trial in the United States.Slide6
Get angry
Aggregate other opinions
Tell a story
Conduct a poll
Make a list
Predict something, then defendRecommend what you loveDiscover and shareSerializeImagine having written a great articleUse keyword searchesInterview someoneVisit a quote siteTalk to childrenConsult a notebookWrite case studiesWrite about your weekCreate a top 10 list
Idea FoundriesSlide7
Pictures in Practice
Excerpt
from corporate
case study and suggested rewrite:
Original
“Features such as smart phone notification and mature drill-through capabilities give the zoo quick access to key information. Through smart phone alerts, management can notify staff when VIP guests arrive at the zoo, or automatically send customized notifications to zoo members to make them aware of special promotions and events for them. The end result is a smarter operation and a more enjoyable experience for visitors. ” Rewrite“Now the zoo can spot treasured guests early and give them the red carpet treatment. Staffers’ smart phones buzz when VIP guests arrive at the ticket window, enabling zookeepers to scramble to greet them. Guests can even program their phones to call out news of feeding time at the monkey house or a discount on T-shirts. Result: a smarter operation and more smiles on visitors’ faces.”