{"id":1359,"date":"2021-07-14T13:43:59","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T18:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/?p=1359"},"modified":"2024-11-27T01:48:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T07:48:50","slug":"why-and-when-and-how-to-break-the-rules-of-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/why-and-when-and-how-to-break-the-rules-of-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why, and when, and how to break the rules of writing, and why you maybe shouldn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"A
Whoa, there, tiger, let\u2019s just all slow down a bit. (Cole Camplese<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You rebel, you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You rulebreaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re audacious. And you know what? That\u2019s cool. That\u2019s not the end of the world. If you know why the rules are there, and you have a pretty good idea of what the outcome will be if you break those rules, things might turn out well. Break them because ugh, whatever, okay Boomer? Might turn out less well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say your plane is crashing. You\u2019re over water. Is your kind of plane supposed to land on water? No. Did Sully Sullenberger do it? He did. And now congratulations, you\u2019re using your seat cushion as a flotation device and stuck smelling a decade\u2019s worth of pilot farts until the Coast Guard comes and picks you up. Because you aren\u2019t Sully Sullenberger<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sully Sullenberger was able to safely ditch that Airbus A320 in the Hudson River because, while he didn\u2019t know anything about landing on rivers, he knew All The Other Stuff about flying an Airbus A320. And that gave him the ability to safely break the rule about, y\u2019know, landing on water, and everything came out okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could you become the Sully Sullenberger of copywriting? I don\u2019t know, because I have no idea what that would look like, but maybe. There are classic copywriting rules you can break to make your writing better \u2014 as long as you know why they\u2019re there in the first place<\/em>. I\u2019ve outlined some of them here, so you, too, can be a fantastic, effective writer and not have to spend your career smelling pilot farts and not knowing why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monotony<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You might have seen this graphic from writer Gary Provost floating around the advertising and writing community.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Black<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/p>\n

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It\u2019s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.<\/p>\n

\n

Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drum, the crash of the cymbals \u2014 sounds that say listen to this, it is important.<\/p>\n

\n

So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create sound that pleases the reader\u2019s ear. Don\u2019t just write words. Write music.<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To be clear, I\u2019m not criticizing that graphic at all. I like it. I think it\u2019s accurate. Not only do I think it\u2019s accurate, in fact, I think it\u2019s even more<\/em> accurate than maybe it intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because read that whole thing again. Think about the way you feel by the time you get to the end of the first, fairly monotonous paragraph. Think about the tension. Think about how much you were craving interest and variety, and how good it felt to get to that second paragraph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like a good drop in club music. (Did I just age myself?) The drop is that much better for having the build-up of that fairly monotonous build. What otherwise might have been really good is now ecstatic. And while \u201cecstatic\u201d probably won\u2019t be the goal or outcome of your copywriting efforts (and If it is, tell me how), that relief of tension really affects your audience, and it works in large part because<\/em> of that boring, repetitive copy that preceded it. I mean… yeah, for real, make music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you have to wield this tool consciously and carefully. And you have to recognize that <\/em>and why<\/em> writing monotonously is, as a rule, a no-no. Then you can break it, strategically, to reach your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bad” Grammar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Know how to write good. And when not to write good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do the rules of grammar say not to use an apostrophe to make things plural? Because apostrophes are for other things, and it would get confusing. Why should you always use the Oxford comma<\/a>? Because it\u2019s objectively better, and also it avoids confusion. Why are we not meant to split infinitives? For no reason at all. Because someone guy in the 19th century decided there needed to be a rule about that<\/a>, and we\u2019ve just held onto it for 150 years for no reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re reading this, you\u2019re probably writing advertising copy rather than, like, super-serious white papers and proposals and such. (Realistically, if you\u2019re reading this, you\u2019re probably a software architect out in Portland. Hi, Tom!) Creative work gives you a lot more leeway with your grammar. With ad copy, not only are the grammar rules not always necessary, following them to the letter can produce stilted language that will alienate your audience, and that is something up with which I will not put<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"An
Listen, birds, I\u2019m not here for your tomfoolery. (Clive Varley)<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So go ahead. Split your infinitives. Start your sentence with a conjunction. Throw in a sentence fragment or two. Do it with intent<\/em> \u2014 don\u2019t do it because you\u2019re too lazy to properly grammar, or you weren\u2019t paying attention in third-grade English class. Do it because you know doing so is the best way to connect with your audience. And if you get any pushback, just tell \u2018em Caperton said it\u2019s okay, and that will mean nothing to them, and then make your case about why writing ungrammatically is the better move in this situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(\u201cThere\/their\/they\u2019re\u201d and \u201cyour\/you\u2019re\u201d and \u201ctoo\/to\u201d and \u201cit\/it\u2019s\u201d are non-negotiable, though. That\u2019s grammatical table stakes.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(And for real, any editor or whatever who dings you for starting a sentence with a conjunction can sit on a pin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jargon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s commonly said that jargon is a great way to alienate your audience. And that\u2019s true. Use a bunch of words they don\u2019t understand, and they\u2019ll go Ugh<\/em> and turn the page. (Click to the next tab. Whatever.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But jargon can also be uniting. It can be a banner to gather under. If your target audience is a particularly tight community, strategically deployed jargon can be a signal that hey, we\u2019re one of you. The Copy Prescription<\/a> gives a great example in CrossFit. Would your general audience know what a WOD is? No, but they don\u2019t have to, as long as your target audience is ready to\u2026 crush it, I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t do CrossFit, because I don\u2019t like being yelled at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re also told that jargon can be baffling and intimidating, and your audience will feel baffled and intimidated, and that\u2019s bad. But what if you want to baffle them, like, just a tiny<\/em> little bit? What if your client is an expert in their field, working for clients who are less expert and having to really trust your client\u2019s expertise? It could be to your advantage to go just the tiniest<\/em> bit over their head. This flatters them with the implied assumption that they\u2019re more knowledgeable than they really are, and it reinforces the idea that they don\u2019t know everything<\/em> about their field and should hand those needs off to someone who does<\/em> know everything about their field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t work if you go completely over their head. It doesn\u2019t work if you position your client as some kind of super-genius who wouldn\u2019t even be able to communicate with them, or if you use so much jargon that the reader can\u2019t even understand what you\u2019re saying. Strategic use of jargon requires a deft hand, and that starts with an understanding of why you\u2019re not supposed to be using jargon in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules not to break<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some rules should not, regardless of your skill in that area, be broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the rule is \u201cdon\u2019t actively insult your audience\u201d? If it\u2019s \u201cdon\u2019t perpetuate stereotypes\u201d? If it\u2019s \u201cdon\u2019t be so enamored with your own words that you forget who you\u2019re writing for\u201d? Don\u2019t break it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why, Caperton? Why can some rules be broken and others not broken?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s actually an excellent question, and good on you for asking it. Those rules shouldn\u2019t be broken because there\u2019s no positive outcome from breaking them. The third one there is just logic \u2014 if you\u2019re writing for yourself and not keeping your audience in mind, you aren\u2019t going to connect with them, and your work is going to be bad. Ditto the first one. The second one? It\u2019s just bad for society, y\u2019all. It makes the world worse. Not to get all political, since I never do that (ha!) but try to make the world better, and if you can\u2019t, at least don\u2019t make it worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn the rules, know the rules, internalize the rules. Know what you\u2019re trying to achieve by breaking the rules. And then, hell, break \u2018em. You are your own person. You can\u2019t be contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, use exclamation points, ellipses, and ampersands sparingly. Why? Because I don\u2019t like them, and you shouldn\u2019t do things I don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that<\/em> is a rule never to break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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