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Storytelling

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Try these techniques — from alliteration to single-syllable words — for creating catchy headlines. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/row-newspapers-179149739" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by qvist</em></a>

Catchy headlines for feature articles

Coin a word, go graphic and more Stuck for a catchy title that will make people read the article? Try...
Skim, scan, read / Storytelling / Wordplay
<strong>The King of metaphor</strong> In ‘All Shook Up,’ a touch is a chill, lips are volcanoes and she is a buttercup. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/luga-russia-november-6-2016-stamp-519775597" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by Sergey Goryachev</em></a>

What is the purpose of a metaphor?

Metaphor is like Elvis; it shakes us up Why metaphor? The King of metaphor In ‘All Shook Up,’ a touch...
Metaphor / Storytelling
<strong>Baby, you can drive my car</strong> Grandpa didn’t know from automobiles; he called this a horseless carriage. Analogies help people understand new ideas by linking them to familiar ones. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/1910-style-antique-car-39066751" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by James Steidl</em></a>

Why is a metaphor effective?

People learn through metaphor When my grandfather first saw a car, he didn’t think “automobile.” He thought, “That’s a carriage...
Metaphor / Storytelling
<strong>Transport me</strong> When they get lost in a great story, readers are more likely to sync their attitudes with the story’s content. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/book-worm-121082209" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by Everett Collection</em></a>

Why storytelling matters to communicators

‘Transporting’ stories change readers’ minds Have you ever been lost in a story? Transport me When they get lost in...
Storytelling / Storytelling
<strong>Opposites attract readers</strong> Add a new literary device to your toolbelt. Oxymorons — opposing or contradictory words — can have a dramatic effect on your message. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/text-word-clean-written-dirt-filth-581657920" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by Azer Merz</em></a>

Why do we use oxymorons?

Perceptive campaign plays with paradox When Perceptive Software needed to fill 130 positions — more than one-third of its existing...
Storytelling / Wordplay
<strong>Creative copy is powerful</strong> It attracts attention, helps people learn and remember — even makes them more creative, according to the research. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/rear-view-businesswoman-looking-business-strategy-210178021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Image by Sergey Nivens</em></a>

Communicate, don’t decorate, for creative content marketing

Creative copy can attract or distract “Prose is architecture. It’s not interior design.” — Ernest Hemingway, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Creative...
Description / Storytelling
<strong>Why you haiku?</strong> Haiku poetry cuts through the clutter of competing messages to get the message across. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/summer-traditional-chinese-calligraphy-art-isolated-79194679" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by elwynn</em></a>

How to write a haiku

Get the word out in 17 syllables Call it Curbside Haiku. Why you haiku? Haiku poetry cuts through the clutter...
Storytelling / Wordplay
Image by aga7ta

How to find the etymology of a word

Express the spirit of your words by exploring their origins One of the most creative examples of wordplay I’ve ever...
Storytelling / Wordplay
<strong>Alphabet scoop</strong> Acronyms can help people codify and remember your key ideas. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/pop-art-font-letter-w-gm907007918-249929516" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Image by gorica</em></a>

Help people remember with acronyms

Create a mnemonic First there was FUBAR: F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition. Now, thanks to the Urban Dictionary, we also...
Storytelling / Wordplay
<strong>It was the best of times; it was the worst of times</strong> Repeat and reverse, add <em>and</em> or <em>so</em> and other ways to bring balance to your message. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/scales-stone-isolated-on-white-background-1350393596" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by Oleksandr Lytvynenko</em></a>

3 ways to find balance, or parallelism

Take a tip from Charles Dickens Charles Dickens famously used balance to introduce A Tale of Two Cities: It was...
Storytelling / Wordplay
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