Do you ever read a text and wonder …
Why can’t I use words like that?
Some writers have a knack for dreaming up words that perfectly sketch an idea and paint a vivid image.
How do they do it?
Where does their creativity come from?
Learning from other writers
I recently read Jeff Tweedy’s book How to Write One Song. I’m not into songwriting but I was interested in his writing process.
Whether we’re writing songs or sales copy, novels or blog posts, writing is writing, and all writers can learn from each other.
What could I learn from Tweedy?
This is the idea that struck me most:
(…) most of my favorite songwriters consciously stick to common, simple, and precise language, but they don’t use it in a common and simple way within a song or melody.
Too often, writers use words to impress their audience. I can’t help myself sometimes and add a little flourish—a couple of words that aren’t necessary. It’s hard to escape our wish to make a dazzling impression.
Inspired by Tweedy, I decided to check my favorite song lyrics to see whether the language is indeed simple and precise. These are my favorite lines from Leonard Cohen:
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
And:
Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
The words are all simple words, right?
Yet, Cohen paints vivid pictures with his words. In an interview with Paul Zollo, Cohen suggests that his songs all start with an image, the meaning comes later. It’s no wonder the imagery feels strong.
I asked my husband for his favorite song lines, and the first lines that came up in his mind were from David Bowie:
I think I saw you in an ice cream parlor
Drinking milkshakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine
Don’t think you knew you were in this song
Same thing, right?
Simple words. Vivid, yet precise imagery. That last line—Don’t think you knew you were in this song—surprises.
How to be more creative with words
Our word choice is often habitual. We follow the same patterns. Fresh bread smells delicious, old bread is stale. Hikers roam, shoppers stroll.
How can we break through such patterns?
Tweedy suggests a 4-step creative exercise to break through our normal word patterns. He calls it hotwiring our language. Just like you can start a car by sparking the starter wire against the battery cable, we can create new word connections, too. We can use simple words, and still make our writing sparkle.
Step 1. Write a list of 10 verbs related to one topic
I picked swimming:
Swim
Dive
Sink
Splash
Paddle
Float
Crawl
Skinny-dip
Flail around
Come up for air
Step 2. List 10 nouns related to a different topic
As I’m writing here about word choice, I choose word-related words:
Word
Sentence
Paragraph
Text
Voice
Reader
Noun
Verb
Blogger
Letter
Step 3. Connect the verbs with the nouns
You can do this randomly or choose the combinations that seem to make most sense. Here’s what I did:
Step 4. Write a paragraph or a poem using the verb and noun combinations
I tried it:
A blogger skinny-dips in a sea of words.
The letters are flailing around, in panic.
But then the words come up for air.
The nouns are floating,
The verbs are crawling freestyle,
The blogger’s voice makes a splash.
A reader dives in,
Paddling through the paragraphs,
Without sinking into long sentences.
The blogger and reader are swimming together through the text.
To be honest, I’m not impressed with my result. It feels forced.
But I’m not the only one with such a result. As Tweedy suggests, this exercise doesn’t instantly produce song texts. He also comes up with awkward lines. But the exercise jump-starts his brain so “language and words have [his] full attention again.”
That chimes with my experience. What I liked most about this exercise is that it made me focus on verbs and nouns. I realized how much you can communicate by picking your verbs and nouns with care. Verbs and nouns can shimmer and sparkle.
Writing in verbs and nouns
I was also reading Chuck Palahniuk’s book The Invention of Sound.
And with my mind tuned into verbs and nouns, it struck me how few adjectives and adverbs, Palahniuk uses. He relies mostly on verbs and nouns to paint vivid imagery. Here’s the first sentence of The Invention of Sound:
An ambulance wailed through the streets, and every dog howled.
And a couple of pages later:
In the office building across the street, a single window glowed. Framed behind it, a man stared at a computer screen, his face washed by the shifting light of moving images. This light danced on his eyeglasses and shimmered on the tears running down his cheek.
It’s easy to think we need adjectives and adverbs to paint more vibrant pictures.
But as Palahniuk shows, we can simplify our writing and paint vibrant pictures using mostly verbs and nouns—just like songwriters do.
I don’t want to suggest that adjectives and adverbs are always bad. Adjectives and adverbs can add precision and nuance, too. For instance, Helen Macdonald’s writing is full of adjectives. Here’s the description of her hawk from her book H is for Hawk:
In the half-light through the drawn curtains she sits on her perch, relaxed, hooded, extraordinary. Formidable talons, wicked, curved black beak, sleek, café-au-lait front streaked thickly with cocoa-coloured teardrops, looking for all the world like some cappuccino samurai.
After reading song texts for a while, that paragraph feels extravagant to me. But I still like it. It’s a different style from Palahniuk’s writing—it sparkles in a different way.
Which words you use and how many words you use is a choice of writing style, a personal preference.
How to add sparkle to your words
Writing apps may tell us to delete all adverbs; and writing teachers may suggest to eliminate all needless words.
But writing is not so simple.
When is a word really redundant?
It’s up to us as writers to decide which word stays, which word goes, and which words get replaced. The words we choose define our style and create the rhythm of our writing.
What’s key is to choose our words with care, to realize that each word matters, and to embrace the beauty of words.
Happy writing, my friends.
Books mentioned in this post:
- How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy
- Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zollo
- The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk
- H Is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
Recommended reading on choosing your words:
351 strong verbs to make your content pop, fizz, and sparkle
How to harness the power of adjectives
How to use adverbs correctly
Henneke,
Thanks for sharing the exercises that you use and the lessons you learned, your years of experience. This post reminded me of another of your lessons re-writing a post Sculpting Sentences… forgive me for not remembering the title but it impacted me and I’m trying to re-write it in my own words with a Flowing metaphor. This exercise seemed to complement what I’m currently working on. Thanks
Hi Kevin, thank you so much for your lovely comment.
It’s great for me to know you’re finding the exercises I’ve shared useful. And the title of that post is exactly as you say: How to Sculpt Sentences to Communicate Better (https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/write-clear-and-concise-sentences/).
Happy writing!
Love all the information.
Thank you!
Love this practical approach to enhancing writing.
Great. Have fun!
I often sing This song from Dream theatre when I feel low:-
“Where did we come from?
Why are we here?
Where do we go when we die?
What lies beyond
And what lay before?
Is anything certain in life?
They say life is too short
The here and the now
And you’re only given one shot
But could there be more
Have I lived before
Or could this be all that we’ve got?
If I die tomorrow
I’d be all right
Because I believe
That after we’re gone
The spirit carries on”
Oh, Man!! what a composition.
Lovely. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Henneke!
I truly appreciate this!. This caught me “choice of word is habitual”. I was never conscious of it and just realize it now as a thriving writer. Glad I found this resource to improve more on writing. Thanks for the great techniques.
Thank you, Allen. Happy writing!
I’ll have to try this – great advice! I’ve always been astounded by bloggers who are able to string together statements in such eloquent fashion. I have to say that the ‘rhythm’ of a piece of content is so important.
I’m glad you enjoyed this, Ryan. Enjoy your hotwiring! 🙂
Re-reading, today, and thought of a couple of song lines I especially love:
“Hello, darkness, my old friend.
I’ve come to talk with you again.”
And:
“What if you’re wrong? What if there’s more?
What if there’s hope you never thought of hoping for?”
I really like this exercise and it shows me many things about myself and my writing. And I’ve noticed how often the writing we most love is composed with one-syllable words.
Thanks!
Isn’t it amazing that the best writing is often so simple, yet so profound?
It’s a good reminder for me, too!
Lovely exercise Henneke. It’s all about how you play and experiment with words to unlock the creativity and create persuasive content.
Like, strong verbs are more precise and paint a clear picture.
E.g. The star athlete smashed the baseball into the stands.
While making adjectives specific and appealing to senses adds impact to write-up.
E.g. 9 scrumptious tips for writing delicious blog post that win customers.
To describe verbs, adjective with stronger expression of adverbs also add zing to writing.
E.g. Mehera sings horribly.
In nutshell fresh words, new rhythms and a good writing style seriously make your writing sparkle.
Thanks a lot 🙂
Yep, you nail it. Fresh words, a pleasant rhythm, and a good writing style make your writing sparkle.
And I’m sure, you sing beautifully!
Love your creative matching exercise. Will have to give it a whirl with my students. Also, appreciate the advice in regard to trying to impress. When you are journeymen writer it is often hard to avoid using ten dollar words. As you progress it becomes more a matter of elegance and accuracy. Great article!
I hope you’ll have fun with the creative exercise, too. Happy writing, Alex, and thank you for stopping by!
You mam, are a born teacher.
Keep it up!
Thank you for your compliment, Ankur.
I’m not sure I was a born teacher. I only started teaching in my 40s, so I’ve taken my time to acquire the skills. 🙂
Thank you again, Henneke for teaching us the art of writing. I also thought adjectives and adverbs were the preferred form of bringing out imagery.
You never fail to teach and inspire.
Thank you for your lovely compliment, Nendy. This exercise made me stop and think, too. Happy writing!
Fun exercise. I could use some more pizzazz in my writing. I’ve been churning out so much content lately that writing has lost its luster. And I’ve been listening to the online course marketing gurus too much. Now my writing feels formulaic. Thanks for a fresh and inviting perspective!
I love the word pizzazz and also the word luster, so your writing doesn’t sound stale to me at all!
Thank you. I think that was the influence of your exercise! Not only did your post uncover my sense of stagnation but it pointed to a solution. I’m excited to tackle my next piece of writing.
That’s brilliant. That alone made it worth writing this post 🙂
I woke up this morning next to a man who was crying over a song text on the radio 😉 It was one of the songs by De Dijk – apparently they sometimes strike a particular, secret chord in quite a few men.
I think the lines you came up with in that exercise are pretty OK. Way more OK than most boring everyday sentences, at any rate.
I am still intrigued by the first Tweedy quote: ‘(…) most of my favorite songwriters consciously stick to common, simple, and precise language, but they don’t use it in a common and simple way within a song or melody.’
What exactly does Tweedy mean by not using it in a common and simple way? Does he mean: in a fresh, new way? Then I get it. If he means something else, I would be curious to know.
(Do you know the Carly Simon song where she sings: ‘You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you’?)
Also: song texts are different yet again from writing poetry.. it is all about vivid images.. there does not necessarily have to be a logical connection. Just listen to the Talking Heads, my all time favorite. Very forceful, but you do wonder what it’s really all about, at times 😉
Burning Down the House
Talking Heads
Get them out
Ah
Watch out, you might get what you’re after
Cool babies, strange but not a stranger
I’m an ordinary guy
Burning down the house
Hold tight, wait ’til the party’s over
Hold tight, we’re in for nasty weather
There has, got to be a way
Burning down the house
Here’s your ticket pack your bags
Time for jumpin’ overboard
Transportation isn’t here
Close enough but not too far,
Maybe you know where you are
Fightin’ fire with fire, huah
All wet, hey you might need a raincoat
Shakedown, dreams walking in broad daylight
Three hundred, sixty five degrees
Burning down the house
It was once upon a place sometimes, I listen to myself
Gonna come in first place
People on their way to work say baby what did you expect
Gonna burst into flame
Go ahead
Burning down the…
Yes, Tweedy means making combinations that are unusual or new, even if the words are common. But when you’re reading his song texts, he actually doesn’t do that often in his lyrics. He seems to use the exercise mainly to jump-start his writing. Interestingly, his writing style in his book came across as a little lazy, too. I wondered whether he had dictated his book or just wrote it very quickly.
I’m no expert in poetry nor in song lyrics but Leonard Cohen’s songs seem very poetic to me. And didn’t Bob Dylan get the Nobel Prize for Literature because of his poetic expressions in song lyrics?
It appears that there are many different ways to write songs. The book of Paul Zollo is quite interesting—I’ve only read a couple of interviews in it so far.
Haha, I like your assessment of his book. I won’t read it, then.
I know Bob Dylan got a Nobel prize, but I disagree with the erstwhile jury 😉
Hi Henneke,
I always thought, that I am not too bad in writing. But now I learnt from you, that there´s much more to add, to do better. Sooo many useful tips. Many thanks!
This is what I find so interesting about writing. There are always ways to improve or change our style. I keep learning from reading and analyzing how others write, too.
What a fantastic article. Thank you for sharing. Your writing about verbs in particular has jolted my stale words with life.
Always a pleasure to read your posts.
Keep it up
That’s great, Fahad. Happy writing!
We are always told to edit, edit, edit, and then told not to edit the life out of a piece, always keep the original just in case, and above ALL: avoid purple prose!
But Henneke gives us a how-to.
Instead of coming away feeling “always wrong”, I am tempted to write, strengthened with purpose and direction.
Thanks!
You know, I’ve noticed that I’m less likely to say that a way of writing is wrong. I’m more likely to point out what I like and explain why I like it.
So much is personal preference—a choice of style. I’m more nervous about setting out rules than I was a few years ago. There are always exceptions to rules anyway 🙂
I have been subscribing to your Web for over a year and today felt compelled to read this latest email. I love this. I like writing however sporadically indulge but never made it a ritual. Reading this has created the writing juices to flow. Thank you
That’s so lovely. 🙂 Thank you for letting me know, Smita. Happy writing!
I am going to give it a try using our non profit organization, hoping it will work thanks
I hope you’ll have fun with it, too. The exercise is less about the result, more about the way of thinking, so you might want to try it out as an experiment first (with a random topic), not with the idea to use it.
Hello,
Yes, I wonder how sometimes you’re reading a piece of writing and the author seems to have the perfect way of wording something to make it sparkle. I enjoy reading about other writers and authors journey and experiences and what works for them to generate more writing and ideas. Sometimes you connect with some authors and inspiration really comes out of nowhere or anywhere but, sometimes it’s kind of hard to think of what to write everyday when it’s not coming to you.
That is all so true. Leonard Cohen also mentioned in his interview with Paul Zollo that it can take him sometimes a decade (!!!) to write a song—from when he gets the initial idea (or image) until the song is finished and ready to perform. When writing is so good, it’s easy to forget as reader (or listener) how much effort has gone into it.
Thank you for stopping by, Jenny. I appreciate it.
Oh, great article, feeling sleepy because of heavy fatigue before reading, however after reading your article it energizes me.
Trevor.
That’s a lovely compliment. Thank you, Trevor.
Don’t be so harsh with yourself. I did like your word-swimming creation. I was really interesting and different that I actually enjoyed it.
Thank you, Mariluz. I am quite harsh with myself (sometimes). I appreciate your encouragement.
Loved this piece. Really gave me an insight on using the words more carefully.
Great! Thank you for letting me know, Sahil. I appreciate it.
I need more of this literature because I want to write some books but my style and consistency are wanting. I sometimes run short of how to express something better after looking at what I have written. I need help
You’ll find a lot of similar advice in other blog posts on my website. If you’re in a hurry to write your books, you may want to consider working with a copy editor or coach to provide feedback and suggestions on your writing.
This lesson on writing without waste pops the light on for me! I’ll be trying this exercise today. Thank you for teaching us well.
I hope you’ll have fun with this exercise, too!
I LOVED how you showed the idea of simple words used in surprising, vivid ways. Very helpful to see how this process reduces the struggle of the reader while magnifying the brilliance of the image the writer creates. Awesome article!
I was thinking of you while writing this. I somehow thought you might enjoy it!
❤️❤️❤️
Henneke, fantastic, outstanding, wonderful writing you present us 🙂 Thank you.
I always liked to use at least three adjectives to describe a noun or a verb (see above). But not liking it anymore that much. Your excellent writing-bites (short emails :-)) are very helpful, and in the future, I plan to buy at least one of your books or follow at least one of your tutorials because these are immensely good. Just because of the funny way and high quality of your teachings and because my scribbling would be improved at the same time 🙂
Right now, I am busy with my new website, so don’t have much time for upgrading my writing skills, but it will be necessary to do so shortly. Thank you, Henneke (love your name, love your style of communication, love your writings :-)).
Using the power of three can work well to add stress but it’s better used sparsely, otherwise it loses its impact.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Rhia. I’m glad you’re enjoying my writing, and good luck with your new website!
I do not know if I am just an amateur but I was impressed by the exercise you did there.
I am going to try it 🙂
I felt like an amateur, too. But the result doesn’t really matter. It’s how it makes you think (differently) about words.
Let me know how you get on?
I always find some magic in language that never remains a magician’s secret. Because you reveal so nicely that one easily owns it. Thank you, Henneke.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Indra. The more I read and the more I write, the more nuggets of magic I seem to find. It never gets boring. Happy writing!
This is very insightful. You have so much much fun Henneke.
Yes, that’s true. I had a lot of fun with this blog post, trying out the exercise, and also with reading a lot of song lyrics (too many to quote!).
Wonderful article, Henneke!
For some reason, it made me think of web design. I’m not a web designer (nor do I play one on television) but I have designed a few of my sites.
One datum that I always respected is the idea of having PLENTY of white space. To allow the rest of the site to “breathe.” So the viewer can easily take in each image and read the copy without feeling crammed in. Too little white space makes it difficult to enjoy each component and appreciate how they all fit together.
I’m thinking the same is true of adjectives and adverbs. Too many modifiers prevents the reader from creating the space (in his or her own mind) to engage, identify and visualize.
Just enough nouns and verbs helps to create that space.
Yes, that’s my experience with web design, too. You always need more white space than you think.
Interesting analogy with adjectives and adverbs, too. They can indeed crowd out the reader’s imagination.
But still … I do like that paragraph from Helen Macdonald, too.
Is the best writing sparser? I don’t think there’s one right answer.