Creative writing techniques
Master the art of writing analogy, anecdote, wordplay and sound bites
“Great step-by-step instructions on how to do it right.”
— Stacy Mayo, assistant account executive, Rhea + Kaiser
Find out what others say about Ann’s creative writing workshops
Learn to engage your readers with compelling copy through these workshops:
- Make Your Copy More Creative. Paint pictures in your readers’ minds so they understand your message faster, enjoy it more and remember it longer
- Play With Your Words. Spice up your headlines, leads and sound bites with wordplay
- Create Snappy Sound Bites. Write compelling quotes and memorable quips
- Master the Art of the Storyteller. Put the single most powerful form of human communication to work in your next piece
- Make It Meaningful With Metaphor. Make new, difficult or complicated information easier to understand through analogy
- Open the Creativity Toolbox. Get inspired! Develop fresh ideas for making the same-old story sing
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Creative writing review. Analyze and improve your own copy
Most of these modules are an hour and a half long.*
Full-day workshop = four modules
Half-day workshop = two modules
Check out Ann’s other writing modules.
Learn about Ann’s most popular workshops.
Mix and match module to serve your team’s unique needs.
Want to help your team members polish their skills? Bring a Wylie Communications Inc. writing workshop to your workplace or conference. Contact Ann Wylie for details.
Need to sell your training program to management? Check out our white paper, ” Why Invest in Training?”
Make Your Copy More Creative
Paint pictures in your readers’ minds so they understand your message faster, enjoy it more and remember it longer
“Ann’s process has changed the way I approach writing — I work through a method to a great idea rather than waiting for a magic light bulb of inspiration to turn on.”
— Sarah Hibner, The Berry Company
Find out what others say about Make Your Copy More Creative
It’s not fluff. Creative material communicates more clearly, builds reader loyalty, creates a “buzz” for your topic — even enhances credibility.
In this session, you’ll learn how to bring your messages to life with storytelling, wordplay and metaphor. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- Where to find online tools that virtually twist phrases for you
- The question that will help your subject matter experts recall a story
- A simple structure to use for crafting an effective anecdote
- How to get a fresh spin on clichés
- A four-step process for coming up with a creative metaphor
- A fill-in-the-blanks template you can use to write your next metaphor
Play With Your Words
Spice up your headlines, leads and sound bites with wordplay
“Ann’s formula is genius. And I now recognize that the very best writing takes a process and mental exercise rather than sheer inspiration.”
— Sarah Hibner, The Berry Company
Wordplay can help you captivate your readers, get the media to steal your sound bites and make your messages more memorable.
The good news is that wordplay doesn’t take talent. It doesn’t take creativity. Instead, it takes techniques, tricks and time.
In this program, you’ll learn techniques you can use to come up with the best headlines, leads and sound bites you’ve ever written. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Go beyond twist of phrase to diversify your wordplay. Soon, you’ll be flipping phrases; compressing details; subbing soundalikes; listing, rhyming and twisting — even coining new words. The more techniques you master, the more sophisticated and satisfying your copy will be.
- Work your word tools. There are so many great online resources for wordplay, busy writers need hardly trouble their pretty heads to write dazzlers. In this session, you’ll get links to some of the best sources — as well as ideas for how to use them.
- Get inspired by some of the world’s most creative headlines.
- Lead better brainstorming sessions. You’ll learn a simple step to add to the process that will help your group dream up more bright ideas.
- Stop writing groaners. Are you still cranking out clichés and -ing headlines? Learn techniques that let you come up with surprising lines — and leave the boring approaches to the hacks.
Create Snappy Sound Bites
Write moving quotes and memorable quips
“Since the seminar we’ve seen better results from our work. Reporters have been responding quicker to our press releases and pitches and we’ve had increased coverage of our event.”
— Karen Halesky, Public Relations Associate, ING Direct
Find out what others say about Creating Snappy Sound Bites
A good sound bite can help you support your points, give your story a human voice, change the pace of the piece and add creativity and color to your copy.
Unfortunately, too many quotations in business communications sound as if they were manufactured by a computer, not spoken by a human being.
In this program, you’ll learn how to transform LAQs into killerbites. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Craft colorful, quotable quotes, and watch them get picked up by the media and repeated by readers
- Make quotes crisp, clear and concise
- Avoid over-quoting, hiccup quotes and an irritating “bumpety-bump” formula that lulls your readers to sleep
- Write attribution like a pro. (Nothing makes a communicator look more green than amateurish attribution)
- Use some simple tricks and rules of thumb that will give your quotes polish and authority
Master the Art of the Storyteller
Put the most powerful form of human communication to work in your very next piece
“[Art of the Storyteller] guides you on the path of effective storytelling that packs a punch with your audience.”
— Elizabeth Long, GraceWorks
Find out what others say about The Art of the Storyteller
Storytelling is “the most powerful form of human communication,” according to Peg Neuhauser, author of Corporate Legends and Lore.
Indeed, stories can help you:
- Get and keep attention
- Enhance credibility
- Make your message more memorable
- Communicate better
- Create a “buzz” for your ideas
In this workshop, you’ll learn to identify, develop and tell stories that will illustrate your points, communicate your messages and sell your products, services and ideas. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- Where to find stories to illustrate and cement your key points
- How to get people to bring you their stories
- How to reframe the five journalistic W’s — who, what, when, where and why — to tell a story instead of just cranking out another boring inverted pyramid
- The key question to ask during an interview to elicit juicy anecdotes
- A seven-second rule to apply to determine whether your material is really an anecdote
- How “WBHA” can help you find anecdotes in the making
- The secret to organizing your material into a powerful story
- The best place to start an anecdote — and the worst place
- A quick, easy-to-use template for building an anecdote
Make It Meaningful With Metaphor
Make new, difficult or complicated information easier to understand through analogy
“Ann’s helped us translate technical medical terminology into language everyone can understand. Oftentimes we’re trying to communicate life-saving information, so keeping our writing clear, concise and compelling is critically important.”
— John Francis, director of marketing, Saint Luke’s Health System
Learn what others say about Make It Meaningful With Metaphor
Communicators too often think of metaphor as a poetic doodah that has no place in serious nonfiction writing.
That couldn’t be more wrong. Metaphor is a workhorse of communication.
That’s because people have always learned metaphorically. We add to our knowledge by comparing new concepts to those we already understand.
Now communicators can use the same approach to help their audiences understand new, technical or complicated information by means of something they already know.
In this workshop, you’ll learn to use metaphors — and similes, analogies and other figures of speech — to make your material clearer and more compelling. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
Take the “numb” out of numbers: Develop analogies that help your readers get your statistics
- Cut the clichés from your copy by replacing them with a creative substitute
- Bring your tired topics to life with comparisons
- Make complicated concepts clearer by turning ideas into things
- Avoid writing groaners — overblown metaphors that make your readers roll their eyes — by syncing with the subject
- Ask one simple question to get an analogy during an interview
- Use a simple, fill-in-the-blanks formula to easily craft a compelling metaphor
Open the Creativity Toolbox
Get inspired! Develop fresh ideas for making the same-old story sing
“I never thought I’d be so excited about writing more insurance industry communications.”
— Tina Condon, Marketing Communications, Progressive
Find out what others say about Opening the Creativity Toolbox
*Note: This workshop is two modules, or a half-day long.
When you cover the same old subjects over and over again, sometimes it seems as if only the names, dates and numbers change. No matter how talented and hard working you are, you have to ask: “If I’m getting bored, could my reader be, too?”
In this session, you’ll learn how to break creative blocks, harness your muse and come up with out-of-the-box approaches for the same old story. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Avoid writer’s block, procrastination and creative ruts by mastering a five-step creative process
- Use the Creativity Matrix to reverse, transpose and otherwise play with information to generate new ideas
- Rethink the who, what, when, where and why to totally transform your copy
- Develop a trendy take on a tedious topic
- Find free tools that create attractive charts for you
- Develop fresh approaches for opinion pieces
- Get the right people in your brainstorming meetings to generate out-of-the-box ideas
- Use soap operas, makeovers and game shows in your publication to hook readers who are tired of the same old “10 tips” format
Creative writing review
Analyze and improve your own copy
“Ann is one of the few people who can actually teach something substantial about writing.”
— George Stenitzer, vice president of Corporate Communications, Tellabs
Find out what others say about Ann’s writing workshops
Length: Two or more modules
Prerequisites: Make Your Copy More Creative
Sorry! This program is available for in-house workshops only
In the crunch of writing headlines and meeting deadlines, it sometimes seems as if there’s not enough time to pause and consider how you’re doing. A writing review is a great opportunity for reflection and improvement. In this critique, you’ll:
- Cement the ideas you learn in the workshop by applying them immediately
- Get personal feedback with specific ideas you can use to improve your work immediately
- Gain valuable insights on your work from your peers
- Learn to analyze and improve others’ writing — the best skill you can develop for improving your own work
