The Art of Writing, Creating, and Persuasion

BY MARY STEPHENSON

The story draws you in as the writer weaves the words across the page, planting an image you can’t shake, capturing your mind, and compelling you to keep reading. It’s the same overwhelming desire you feel when you sit on the edge of your seat, straining to hear the punch line at the end of a joke.

I remember when my English high school teacher wanted to test our creativity. He put on a classic instrumental record whose name I can’t recall other than the word ‘sunset’ that was in the title. The others sat intently, listening to the music, probably hoping to capture and interpret the emotions that filled the room.

Meanwhile, I grabbed my pen and started writing as I looked out the window. I could see Galiano Island, sitting across the strait from where I lived. I looked at the sheer rock that was part of the cliff, reaching several hundred feet from the base, and I recalled the times when I watched the sunset dance across the bank.

As the others sat, I wrote the images that flashed in my mind, writing what I felt. The music ended, and my article was done. I took it home to correct the errors before typing out the assignment.

When the teacher graded the assignments, he read mine to the class. At 16, it even impressed me, not to mention getting an A+ felt mighty awesome considering I was a C student.

I learned a couple of valuable lessons from that experience. First, being an ‘A’ student isn’t necessary to write captivating, expressive words that compel people to want to listen. Second, creating is possible when you put your heart and soul into the task.

Those were the days of manual typewriters and before the pleasure of using liquid paper. Those days of carbon paper and printers resembling a mini press in the typing room. They were never very conducive to my creative side of writing. Typing was tedious, and you had to pray that you would finish without errors or key malfunctions.

Fast forward to the digital age. It opened up a whole new world for writers. I recall sitting in front of my home computer in awe of a program called ‘Word’

The possibilities of this new technology were endless. Make a mistake, backspace, and zap – it was gone. If I didn’t like the placement of a sentence, I just had to copy and paste it elsewhere. The art of writing today is no longer engulfed with frustration, so I gave up digital art, propelling me to create with words instead.

Writing has become an obsession, a passion, and a pursuit of knowledge. To be a writer, you must read, research, and, of course, write.

Eventually, creating, designing, and writing for many websites became intriguing. During this time, I took online psychology classes. The education was fascinating, and I was putting a lot of thought into writing, but it needed more luster.

Then six years ago, I took writing seriously.

Copywriting became a journey of learning. It was interesting to understand what this newfound career meant. The first time I heard of copywriting, I conjured up visions of law, which is an entirely different word.

My next thought was the ugly word of selling. But top copywriters don’t sell, although it may appear that way. In reality, you need to get past the concept of selling. Yes, the purpose is to make sales of products, services, or ideas, but this is best achieved through storytelling because people remember stories.

Copywriting is about filling a need. And to me, that was a foreign idea to grasp in the beginning.

The Power of Persuasion

When I was 11 or 12, a representative from the Fuller Brush company visited my mom. She was never a pushover for salespeople, and she rarely spent a dime on any item she deemed unnecessary.

The first words he spoke were, “I know you don’t want to buy anything.”

He then proceeded to tell her of the shampoo he used and how his hair shone in the sunlight. I was amused at his ‘no sales’ approach.

Of course, she was not in the market for his shampoo, but she eventually bought a bottle of vanilla extract. After that, he dropped by a few times a year, and sometimes she parted with a few more bucks.

The fine art of persuasion.

Things could have turned out very differently if he had used pressure instead of persuasion. Pressuring her may have resulted in the door being slammed in his face, but he knew his audience and chose the correct method to make a sale.

My copywriting training taught me that knowing your audience is key. A sale was virtually impossible if there was no benefit to a potential customer. If your customers get bullied into buying your product, they may suffer from buyer’s remorse. Thus, that is not an ethical way to sell.

Throughout Our Lives, We Sell

There is an immense wealth of information in copywriting, and we can learn many lessons from it.

For example, you prepare your resume to get that dream job, listing down all your qualifications and skills in the hopes of grabbing the attention of the recruiters and impressing them. However, being the most qualified candidate doesn’t guarantee you will get the job. On the other hand, if you can persuade a future employer that you will benefit their team, you could be their next employee.

The key is to prove your value, even if the requirements far outweigh your skills. This comes full circle back to the art of persuasion. It pertains to everything in life – from family, friends, jobs, store clerks, or any casual meetings with people we meet for the first time.

Copywriting classes have taught me that writing, like life, is about giving and helping. It is a form of art. I never expected to get that from the simple task of tapping on a keyboard, but it opened a parallel world of writing and living.

About the author:

Mary Stephenson is a freelance writer and AWAI-verified copywriter. She is also the co-creator, web designer, and web editor for a non-profit organization. You may reach her at: maryjscats16@yahoo.com