The 8 stages of writing copy

Copy. The Internet is full of it. 

In fact, it is so saturated with textual content that it can be tempting to forget that it was written by someone. Sometimes it has a lot of time and effort put into it. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I’m one of the people who puts a reasonable amount of time and effort into it. Here’s the slightly chaotic process of writing copy in my experience. 

1. Get the brief

Before any project I send over a list of questions that aim to gather all the information I need from the client. They’re fairly generic but I will tweak them for each job and sometimes add a curveball if I think they might be up for it. Not everyone’s up for it.

Their answers are where a lot of the inspiration comes from. The biggest thing it helps with is making sure I’m speaking to the right people. Knowing your audience is essential for good copy. If your client doesn’t know who their audience is, well, then you’re both in trouble.

2. Research

As any seasoned copywriter will tell you, this bit’s super important. And yet is so tempting to avoid.

The best research happens all in one go without interruption and before any words of the main copy hit the page. However, my process often consists of opening a source, reading a paragraph… aaand we’re back to the notes. I only get one sentence in before realising I’m stuck. So, I head back to the research for the next scrap of information. 

It’s all a bad hangover from my English degree where research would very much be shoehorned into an essay to suit the argument rather than research informing the essay as a whole. 

It’s very inefficient and often doesn’t result in the best work. When I actually allow myself to stop and feast on research my energy for writing is so much greater. I’m not just running on fumes. The stuff explodes on to the page rather than splutters. 

3. Plan

Planning makes the whole thing a whole lot less daunting. When you can see the bare bones structure of a piece it’s more inviting. You can zoom in on bits of the whole, knowing that you are in roughly the right place.  

My planning process isn’t that regimented. Usually in the process of planning, each bullet point will gradually get larger as I get more into it. The engine begins to whirr and I start to take off (man, all the metaphors today!)

But this isn’t bad. It means I’m getting into the groove and I’m ready to actually start writing. It’s tempting at that point to just dive straight in but I try and stick at it until I have the whole thing outlined. 

4. Blank Page

The blank page is obviously tackled far easier as a result of having the research and plan. Sometimes though, I do just dive in – like this blog post actually. It’s fun to allow your mind to take you wherever it wants you to go.

However, for many jobs the blank page is often a barrier you have to overcome. The only strategy for success is to start writing and not worry about whether it’s any good or not. Only you are going to see it. You can always come back to the blank page if it’s not working out. It’s quite liberating when you do as well. 

5. The 2-paragraph slump

I’ve written a bit. Yay! Time to go on Twitter…

It doesn’t take long for me to give myself a pat on the back for having written something. I undeservedly give myself a break and the 2 paragraphs usually stay there for quite a while before procrastination realisation takes hold.

6. This sucks

Writing is one big merry-go-round of glee and despair. At some point, I’ll keep writing, deleting, writing, deleting and nothing is quite working. It all sounds a bit crap. It doesn’t really fit the brief and I can’t find the answer. The best thing to do I find is take a break. Freshen up. The ideas will come back.

7. The flow dude!

It’s lovely when you get here. Riding the wave of creativity. Coming up with great ideas, spitting fire, totally in the zone. This is why I do what I do. This is where all the fun is. Well that and money appearing in my bank account.

8. The Edit

The editing and proofing stage is a bit calmer. At least you’ve got the words, you just have to shape it, tone it a bit. The crushing weight of the unknown is no longer there.

Having said that it’s still quite tough. Realising it’s too long and having to seriously cut it down and then cut it down some more is a challenge. But I like it. It’s the scientific part of the job if you like. Trial and error.

Fitting the largest possible amount of information and the biggest punch into the most digestible package. It’s word engineering. Formula 1 marketing.

Ok, maybe that’s a bit much.

That is the rollercoaster that is the writing process. There is a whole other range of stages and emotions I can go through in the redrafting process, post-delivery to client, but I’ll keep those to myself…