Writing with Confidence: Writing Beginner to Writing Pro
Confidently tackle any writing with this comprehensive writing course
As its name suggests, Writing With Confidence: Writing Beginner To Writing Pro takes you from the writing fundamentals right through to the elite techniques practised by the world’s top copywriters. Top copywriters like your instructor, Dr Clare Lynch, in fact.
From the very first lectures, you’ll be inspired to beat writer’s block and get something down on the page. You'll also gain instant ideas for taking your first draft from OK to outstanding.
Next, you’ll discover a secret most writing and editing teachers won’t share with you: that good writing isn’t just about the writing. For the most part, good writing is about the thinking you do before you even sit down at your laptop or open your journal.
That’s because, when it comes to becoming a powerful writer – the sort of writer who gets the job, closes the sale or wins buy-in for your ideas - it’s not about the technicalities of spelling and grammar. It’s about your ability to connect with your reader on an emotional, intellectual and visceral level.
That’s why early on in the course, you’ll learn powerful, little-known techniques for really getting under the skin of your readers. Techniques that will allow you to write in a way that grabs people’s attention immediately – and keeps them addictively glued to your writing.
You’ll also learn expert tips and techniques for confidently honing your message down to its essentials, to keep your reader focused on what matters most to you. Tips that will save you time as a writer – and get you better results.
As the course progresses, you’ll learn what words to choose, how to turn turgid, lifeless sentences into attractive musical phrases that compel people to keep reading.
In the second half of the course, you’ll discover how to apply recent findings of neuroscience to make your messages stick. In this part of the course, you’ll learn how to use imagery to paint unforgettable word-pictures in your reader’s mind.
You’ll also discover the secret narrative structure underpinning the most persuasive stories. The narrative structure that’s made millions for the makers of Toy Story and persuaded the British to vote for Brexit. The same narrative structure that your instructor, Dr Clare Lynch, deployed in a tear-jerking speech that allowed a CEO to win over the hearts and minds of employees.
In the final section of the course, you’ll take your writing to a level only achieved by the world’s top copywriters and political speech writers. In this part of the course, you’ll learn how to apply the ancient art of rhetoric to any piece of writing to create rhythmic, emotionally resonant writing that’s totally unforgettable.
And throughout the course, you’ll have an opportunity to put into practice what you’ve learned. Every lecture in Writing With Confidence: Writing Beginner To Writing Pro delivers a short, sharp, instantly practical tip you can apply to your writing TODAY.
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Course Curriculum
- Introduction – is this course right for you? (2:44)
- Activity: introduce yourself!
- Three tips for overcoming writer's block (2:11)
- The #1 habit that sets great writers apart (2:23)
- Activity: four AMAZING tools to develop the #1 habit of great writers!
- Quiz: Introduction to writing
- Section one summary
- Introduction: Why knowing your reader is the starting point of all great writing (1:19)
- Don't write for readers! (2:46)
- Activity: who is your reader?
- How your reader really sees you (3:12)
- Activity: reflect on how your reader really sees you
- So what's your point, exactly? (3:16)
- The three questions you need to ask before you even start to write (7:11)
- Acitivity: use this guide for your next writing project!
- Does your writing pass the "so what?" test? (5:43)
- Activity: apply the "so what?" test
- How readers read... (3:55)
- ...and what to do about it (6:36)
- The reason you've probably been starting in the wrong place (5:28)
- Assignment: can you make this email more compelling for the reader?
- The one word no reader can resist (3:49)
- Assignment: how would you respond?
- Two real-life reader awareness FAILS - and how to fix them (7:42)
- A brilliant technique to get inside your reader's head (9:31)
- Activity: Build an in-depth profile of your reader
- Quiz: knowing your reader
- Section 2: summary
- Three reasons to write less (2:17)
- The writing habit that makes you sound like a liar (4:38)
- Trimming the fat: where to start (2:48)
- Ditch these unnecessary words (4:40)
- Flabby phrases to avoid (5:04)
- The lazy descriptors that will weigh your writing down (9:10)
- A brilliant online tool for making your writing leaner (2:43)
- Assignment: Cut the lazy, unnecessary descriptors
- Mind maps are evil - here's what to do instead! (2:12)
- Activity: edit this text to make it shorter and more compelling!
- Quiz: write less, say more
- Section three summary
- Why there's really no need to worry about dumbing down (4:22)
- How to get your message across to the widest possible audience (4:10)
- How to avoid the curse of knowledge (4:27)
- Activity: Try out this online tool for banishing the curse of knowledge (3:28)
- Choosing the best words for the job (5:36)
- Tips for choosing the best words (3:08)
- Quiz: winning over a wider audience
- Section four summary
- The number one writing habit that's turning your readers off (4:09)
- Burn this figure into your brain! (2:11)
- Three quick ways to identify a sentence that will send your reader scuttling (3:11)
- How to tame a sentence that's out of control (7:25)
- How to structure your sentences to make them easy to read (9:28)
- More tips on structuring your sentences for maximum readability (5:12)
- How to knit your sentences together to make your writing flow (7:41)
- Activity: turn these sentences into something beautiful!
- Now we're ready to put a little music into your writing (10:41)
- Quiz: how to craft sentences that sing
- Activity: use sentence length to tell a story with music and drama
- Section five summary
- What do we mean by storytelling anyway? (1:20)
- Show, don't tell (4:39)
- Your endless source of stories (2:51)
- Why you need to use concrete language (2:41)
- An unforgettable story (4:28)
- A brilliant tool for making your writing more vivid (2:54)
- Nounitis – how to spot abstract nouns (3:56)
- Activity: Identify the nouns and verbs in this extract
- Nounitis - how nouns can make your writing lifeless (3:43)
- Assignment – cure these terrible cases of 'nounitis'
- The neuroscience of stories (5:48)
- Quiz: telling your story
- How to get to the "why" with a metaphor (11:23)
- How to hit on the perfect metaphor (7:31)
- Activity: metaphor challenge #1!
- How to use storytelling techniques to bring data to life (5:15)
- Activity: metaphor challenge #2!
- Active writing: a storytelling tip from Hemingway, Orwell...and Beyonce! (6:25)
- Building trust: another reason to make your story active (10:53)
- Assignment: tackle these passives!
- The secret to making your story go viral (6:12)
- Quiz: telling your story
- Section six summary
- Introduction to rhetoric (1:03)
- Assignment: analyse this piece of business writing
- The rising tricolon (4:14)
- Activity: the rising tricolon
- Anaphora: the artful use of repetition to persuade (2:53)
- Activity: anaphora
- Epiphora: another type of artful repetition (1:27)
- Activity: epiphora
- Asyndeton: removing the 'ands' and the 'buts' (1:34)
- Activity: asyndeton
- Polysyndeton: putting in extra 'ands' and 'buts' (1:30)
- Activity: polysyndeton
- Chiasmus: the persuasive power of a criss-cross pattern (2:25)
- Activity: chiasmus
- Antithesis: why opposites attract (3:40)
- Activity: antithesis
- Hypophora: posing a question to your reader (2:48)
- Activity: hypophora
- Alliteration: using repeated sounds to make your point (2:27)
- Activity: alliteration
- Assignment: revisit the employee manifesto
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Dr Clare Lynch, award-winning instructor and Cambridge writing tutor
Writing with Confidence: Writing Beginner to Writing Pro is taught by Dr Clare Lynch of Doris & Bertie, a London-based agency that works with anyone who needs to write as part of their job. Clare also teaches writing skills at the University of Cambridge.
A professional writer, Clare helps corporate clients communicate more clearly and engagingly with their customers, employees and other stakeholders.
Over the course of her career, Clare has honed her techniques for getting under any reader’s skin – and crafting messages that instantly resonate with the target audience. Techniques she now shares with her over 76,000 online students.
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