Featured Article

Comedy Writing

In humor writing, the first person that has to think something is funny is you. If you don’t think what you’ve written is funny, probably no one else will either. Still, that’s no guarantee others will enjoy your comedy because not everyone shares your sense of humor. We’re all unique when it comes to comedy. We laugh at different forms of humor. Some like clever jokes, others visual slapstick comedy, and others dry wit. That’s the hardest thing about writing funny humor and comedy. Creating comedy that is universally funny and appeals to a large audience is challenging.

The number of times I’ve been the only person in a movie theater laughing during a particular comedy scene that I find funny is, according to my family members, ridiculous. And the loud, solo laughter at my favorite humor becomes the source of humor for everyone else. At my expense and to the embarrassment of my family. Of course, so is my solo singing, which is why I’m frequently asked to sing solo that no one can hear me. Hey…whatever lame joke it takes to get a laugh, right? So let’s take a closer look at humor.

Comedy is similar to magic. It surprises the audience. Like slight of hand, you intentionally lead the audience along a thought pattern towards a certain assumption or conclusion and then switch to the unexpected. For you, the comedy writer, it means always looking at things from a different, humorous perspective. Always asking what if? Where’s the comedy? How can I make it funny?

Tomorrow morning I have to get on a plane to Chicago…I’d prefer to ride inside the plane, but really, have you seen ticket prices lately? Work has been killing me lately because I’ve spent the last 3 weeks on the road…run over by 100 cars, 25 trucks, and picked on by 4 buzzards.

Universal humor and comedy is all around you. But you must train yourself to be observant and capture those funny moments when you encounter them. And when you see things that are funny, actively turn them over in your mind to make the comedy stand out. It’s the common problems we all face, the similar annoyances we experience, the familiar quirks of humanity we see every day. In reality, life is routine most of the time. And when you observe the comedy episodes in routine life, you’ll find humor that makes everyone laugh. Like…

The person ahead of you in the grocery store checkout line, that unlike you, is not in a hurry and uses the opportunity to share all the details of his current medical condition with the cashier. The five year old that keeps obnoxiously blurting out loud questions to his parents in the middle of an intense movie…that he shouldn’t even be at because it’s R rated.

However, it’s not just reporting these comedy moments, although sometimes, they are so naturally funny that alone is enough. What separates you as a freelance humor writer is when you add comedy, color commentary. It’s embellishing, exaggerating, and inserting the flavor of a little sarcasm. When you do, you create humor that makes us all laugh together. And it brightens up our day.

Chip Tudor is a freelance copywriter with a sense of humor who is experienced in writing for all media. He’s written for corporations like Wendy’s, LexisNexis and Iams along with faith-based organizations like John Maxwell’s Injoy, Gospel Light Publishing, and Catholic Marianists. To learn more visit: http://www.chiptudor.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chip_Tudor

The Best-Kept Secret to Making Money With Copywriting

If your copywriting isn’t pulling in the amount of response and sales you were hoping, this article is your solution.

I’ve learned the secrets of copywriting through years of my own experience, and now by now my copy pulls in ten times the amount of responses it used to. And I was a pretty poor English student back in school, in fact I barely passed, but I sure can write copy that gets me a ton of responses and makes me a whole lot of money as a result.

And I’ll laugh all the way to the bank at the people who told me I couldn’t because of my poor English performance in school. You can too, regardless of how well you understand the English language, because copywriting isn’t about beautiful prose and elegant, or even correct, syntax, it’s a science, and a science I’ve mastered and I’m willing to share the secrets.

What the best marketers know, and don’t want you to know, is that good copy sells based on psychology and emotions, not with big words or cute phrases. The psychology behind selling and marketing is something that has been tested and tested and tested again over the years. Basically, psychology is the driving force behind any great copy, and it’s a proven fact.

It’s so easy anybody can do it

In fact, just last month I got an e-mail from a student I met when I spoke at a college about the fundamentals of copy and marketing. He was a very poor student on the verge of dropping out of the college, something he felt that just wasn’t right for him, and he told me that after I had finished my presentation he had spent weeks deliberating on his future until he eventually decided to quit school. He used the principles that I taught him, in only one seminar, to become a millionaire in just a couple of years. He wanted to thank me for changing his life.

So then what makes good copy?

All good copy has one common trait: it connects with the target. You have to understand your target market, which requires a good amount of research, and then you have to express to your consumer that your product provides benefits, or more specifically it provides the exact benefit that they need. And if they don’t know they need this benefit, you have to make them understand that they need it.

If you don’t connect with your buyer, get inside their heads, then you have little to no chance of influencing them to purchase your product or service. That’s why psychology is so important, because it gives you a key to the mind of the target market. There are certain words, phrases, that resonate with your market in a way that will get them to buy now.

I have my own list of words that are psychologically proven to get results, and in order to make your own you’re going to have to do a lot of research with your target market.

An example of what I’m talking about:

Do you ever see the same infomercials over and over again? Do you sometimes think they are lame or overdramatized? So why are they always on?

Because they work. Because the people behind the infomercials have done their research and use psychology that connects with the consumer and makes them understand the benefit-solutions of the product.

In conclusion:

The secret to any successful marketing or copy is psychology. Understand your market so you can connect with them on a level so it’s like you’re in their head, forcing them to buy.

That’s what I do, and that’s how I make my money.

Andrew Sundstrom has been described as “the world’s smartest copywriter.” He’s an income increasing results focused copywriter and the author of Ultimate Guide To Copywriting That Makes You Rich, which shows you exactly how to adapt new and proven money-making copywriting methods to your business.

To get your FREE chapter of Andrew’s latest New York Times book click here now: http://ultimatesalesadvantage.com Plus, you’ll get the award winning Consumer Guide To Copywriters Special Report.

Make Your Writing Readable

The first rule of writing might be “show don’t tell” but the second is surely “use active verbs.” Almost every book I own on writing stresses the use of active voice over passive. Read on to find out the difference.

Verbs have two voices, either active or passive. When you use active voice, the subject performs the action and verb expresses the action. For example – Gail opened the book. The subject is Gail, the verb is opened and the object is book.

When you use passive voice, the subject becomes the passive recipient of the action. For example – The book was opened by Gail. The passive voice will have a “double verb” – a form of the verb “to be” and the past participle of another verb, often ending in “ed” as in “was opened.” Generic verbs such as – is, are, were, was, be, being, been, be, had and have – don’t convey much and passive voice can make a sentence confusing. Active voice is short, direct and easier to understand.

Sometimes it’s okay to use passive voice such as when the reader doesn’t need to know who performed the action. Example – The building was erected hundreds of years ago. The doer of the action is unknown or unimportant.

If you look for the forms of “to be”, you can see where you are using passive voice. Microsoft Word 2003 provides an easy way to check for readability and passive voice. Just go to the Tools menu and click Options, then click the Spelling & Grammar tab. Select the box for Check grammar with spelling. Also select the Show readability statistics box. Click OK. Highlight the document you want to check. Click the abc icon on the toolbar, hit F7 or go to Tools and click Spelling and Grammar. Word will check your highlighted document, and then display information about the reading level.

You will get a box that displays counts for words, characters, paragraphs, and sentences. It will also show averages for sentences per paragraph, words per sentence and characters per word. Under the readability section, there are three useful statistics. First listed is the percentage of passive sentences – the closer to zero you score the better. Next is the Flesch Reading Ease score, which is rated on a 100-point scale. The higher your score, the easier it is to read your writing. Last is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level. It rates on a US school grade level. If you score a 7, then a student in the 7th grade will understand your writing.

This is only a tool and there is so much more that goes into good writing. But it may provide some useful information that will help you improve what you’ve written.

Gail Pruszkowski reviews for “Romantic Times BOOKreviews” magazine and her work has been published in the “Cup of Comfort” Anthologies.

http://mysite.verizon.net/bookworm.gp/
http://write-juncture.blogspot.com/

Why Writing Articles in the Morning is Best

If writing articles is something you do often you can appreciate the need for having to maintain your focus. The usual writing process includes the proper research beforehand to insure the content is useful to the reader. The harder part is to sit down and put it all together in a format that is both interesting and easy to follow; this is the real test of your writing skills. Even harder yet is trying to complete your article writing in a reasonable amount of time. Even the tiniest distractions can derail your train of thought and literally double the amount of time it takes to complete your article.

Learning how to write an article in a minimal amount of time is more a result of following a structured and disciplined system and less about your unique writing skills. Today we’re going to discuss some writing tips that should help you get more out of the time it takes you to write an article. The early morning hours seem to be the most productive time for article writing and here are 3 reasons why:

The Uncluttered Mind

Upon awakening from a ‘fitful’ nights rest your mind is a ‘clean slate’ that hasn’t been assaulted with the distractions of the day yet! Ever notice that as the day progresses your mind becomes more occupied with the events that occur as they unravel? This preoccupation is a major distraction that affects your focus, mood, and even memory. A well rested mind free of distractions is your biggest asset when you write an article and the early morning hours are usually when you will be experiencing this state of mind. It also helps that early mornings are usually the most tranquil time of the day.

High Energy Level

There’s no doubt that your energy levels are at their highest in the morning. Even though some people need time to fully awaken, both the mind and body are operating on a full nights rest. Learning how to write an article in the shortest amount of time comes with recognizing the need for a high level of energy enabling you to work both rapidly and efficiently.

Creative Thinking

The state of sleep or rest allows the mind to ‘unwind’ enabling it to almost effortlessly wander in a creative or problem solving type of way. Readily identifiable pressures we experience in our waking hours slip away during sleep giving way to the infinitely creative nature of the mind. The efficiencies you experience when writing shortly upon awakening allows you to be more productive and creative while also minimizing the time you invest to complete the article.

Writing articles takes creativity and focus and if these two attributes are not able to work together the entire writing process can take much longer. The 3 writing tips we discussed above should help to better coordinate your efforts when you actually sit down to write an article. In the end this should make you less frustrated and more productive.

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.

For additional Money Making Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com