I didn’t know that zombified was my favorite adjective until you used it.

I’m not offended by 4 letter words, just de-energized by them. They are like the word version of a psychic vampire.

Love your blog. Just found it today.

Julia

John Carlton replies:

I’ll go easy on the verbal slumming… I just enjoy the fact that we CAN use slang like this online, and not get sent to the principal’s office…

JC

Sometimes I find it hard to scrub my copy word by word looking for overused adjectives to replace/swap out w/better, visceral action verbs. I’m going to re-read ‘Elements of Style’ too. And I like your “don’t repeat any verb twice” guideline, and the rest.

The “Simple Writing System” is stunning, just watching the first dvd this morning and going through the rest of the materials…as always your stuff is worth a huge multiple of the price o admission, it’ll help me make another six figures…

…it’s exhilirating, fun stuff to get focused on crafting killer copy. And the best part is, this adds significantly w/interactive activities and more, to add to what we’ve already learned. Pro-grade content, I’ll be studying this one over and over again like the others … thanks! God I love making lots of money.

to profits,

ken

You kind of piss me off, you know? Just a week ago I was creating a product about writing copy, and I said, “if you’re using an adjective it usually means your verb is too weak”. (I think I got the idea for that from Elements of Style).

Then I went on to use the example of a week verb. What example? WALK… the same damn one you just used in your blog post, lol! Now they’ll think I stole it from you

All kidding aside, I kind of did get the idea from you. When I was studying your golf ads a few years back, I noticed how you used verbs to tell the story.

That got me thinking of a quote my Dad always used to say about writing fiction: “PLOT is a verb, not a noun”.

That’s when I realized how you made your copy so tantalizing… with powerful verbs.

I’ve actually went through the thesaurus and made a cheat sheet of powerful verbs that I always reference now when writing my copy. If you’d lke, I could share it with you and your readers.

Anyway, excellent post!

-Jason Fladlien

Remember that, John!

*GRIN*

What a super-awesome mega-happy ultra-fabulous astonishing post of wonderful majesty!

GO ADJECTIVES GO!

(…ok, I can be a bit of a “dick”)

But aside from my selfish desire to toss shameless sarcasm in the mix and stir up the pot a bit, my hat’s off to you my friend.

Adjectives murder direction.

(And of course, I learned that from you)

Adjectives, although they flow through my fingers like a gushing river of descriptive joy, are about as useful as tying your ad to a helium balloon and letting it float away.

They leave far too much open to the imagination, thwarting the reader’s attention and drifting it off to fantasy-land, in a futile attempt to decipher what you are trying to say.

Verbs, on the other hand, are like a guided harpoon…plunging into the readers heart and yanking them through your pitch before they even knew what hit ‘em.

(Have you ever played “Mortal Kombat” the video game? There’s a character by the name of Scorpion who’s signature move does exactly that.

Here’s a little excerpt from Wikipedia:

• Bloody Spear: Sending out a rope dart, it impales itself into the victim’s chest, allowing Scorpion to pull him or her through the air toward him for a free hit, as well as cause a small bit of damage. This move often follows the words, “Get over here!” or “Come Here!” This is his signature move.

No offense, John, but he reminds me of you)

Now, when I write copy… and find myself eyes glazed over, deep in the “zone,” I cannot help but to let fluffy adjectives and feeble verbs spew themselves all over my page.

But then my OCD editorial monster pummels through it all and tries to spice things up a bit… ripping up the garbage and plugging in the plethora of action verbs hidden in the depths of my toolbox.

And often times, I drive myself strait into a brick wall…at full speed.

As I edit and edit away, I find myself re-writing the whole fucking letter. And its almost back to square one. Again.

Any advice on this? Where and how do I stop my obsessive carpenter from sanding through the wood?

Any insight on this would be invaluable.

Cheers,

Adam Lipinski

PS. I’ve been religiously reading your blog for months now, and this is my first time posting. Let me know if my diarrhea-mouth vomited too much copy for a response and I’ll sew it up shut (or at least muffle it a bit)

Thanks!

John Carlton replies:

You’re fine — all posts are welcome. I love the interaction.

And you’ve just got to work through any bad tendencies you have. You’ll get better in small increments, so you’ve got to look hard to see improvement — it won’t happen overnight. But writers are in the gig for life, and two years from now, you’ll be glad you started when you did to refine your work habits.

Good luck.

John

Wow thanks. That’s one of the best writing advice I ever got (read – laid my eyes on).

Does the simple writing system contain a lot of these tips?

Yoav

John Carlton replies:

Of course. The Simple Writing System is, essentially, my “legacy” project…

John