nepa blogcon 2015: words, words, words

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Words. Words. Words. Donna Talarico Independent content writer and social media/storytelling consultant Founder/publisher of Hippocampus Magazine

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Page 1: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Words. Words. Words.Donna TalaricoIndependent content writer and social media/storytelling consultantFounder/publisher of Hippocampus Magazine

Page 2: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Words.

• Starters• Storytelling• Sizzle• Self-editing• Send-off

Page 3: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Starters.

TOWN

Page 4: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Starters.

MAN_____________________

BOARD

you just me

_________feet feetfeet feet feet feet

Page 5: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Starters.

• Bob• Mom• Radar• Racecar• Never odd nor even• Some men interpret nine memos

Page 6: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Words.

Words are fun.

Words are your friend(s).

Page 7: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Storytelling.

What makes a good story?

Page 8: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Storytelling. • Characters• Plot• Setting• Point of view• Inciting incident• Rising action• Resolution• Emotion• Call to action• Memorable

Page 9: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Storytelling.

Page 10: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

• Stronger word choice – thesaurus!• Active voice • Clarity• Brevity • Literary devices (imagery,

metaphor, simile, alliteration/assonance, analogy)

• Wordplay

Page 11: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

Keeping your writing to a shorter length really benefits the reader, so why don’t you perhaps try to use fewer words in your next blog post or other type of content…

Page 12: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

…or,

Be brief.

Page 13: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle. • Is there a word for what you are

describing?– How many there are = quantity

• Are you using unnecessary phrases? – The fact of the matter is, it’s cold =

It’s cold.• Is there a more succinct way to say

it? – I took all of her jewelry from her

jewelry box = I emptied her jewelry box

Page 14: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

Alliteration is absolutely effective!

Page 15: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Words.

• “Bennett warmed to the idea of an ambitious Arctic adventure.”• From Hampton Sides’ In the

Kingdom of Ice

Page 16: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

• By way of a tale of a famous newspaper stunt, we meet an eccentric publishing tycoon, James Gordon Bennett Jr. We learn that this man heralds the kinds of stories the public wants to hear, but not without critics. – From my review of In the

Kingdom of Ice

Page 17: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

• Repetition can be effective. – He came. He saw. He conquered.

• And sometimes redundancy it can be blah, such as overuse of a name or particular term. Instead, change up your words and name references:– Donna Talarico is speaking at BlogCon. She’s doing a

session about words. The Lancaster-native is glad to be here. A former journalist, she really love words. “It’s true,” said the word nerd.

– Banana boxes later becomes Chiquita crates

Anaphora in action

Page 18: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

• Part — OK, most — of the allure of Iceland is its landscape of geological wonders. Volcanoes included. So I was both nervous and excited when, a week before my September 2014 trip to the little island country, a lava-filled mountain started to spew. Bardarbunga’s eruption closed some far-off roads and made for some pretty photos and videos, but its activity didn’t cause any air travel woes, unlike the 2010 explosion of Eyjafjallajökull, which sent miles of ash into the air and grounded flights to and from Europe for days.– From my article “Land of Fire and … Elves” (TheBlot.com)

Page 19: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Sizzle.

Passive• The ball was shot by him. A

score was made. • A cake was baked. • Clapping was heard in the

theater. • A fun time was had by all.• A baby was born. • Oops! Something went

wrong.

Active• He shoots! He scores!• Mom baked a cake.• The audience erupted in

applause. • Everyone had fun.• We had a baby!• Oops! You did something

wrong.

Sometimes passive is OK. Like when you don’t want to blame someone(as in my example in green), the person acting is irrelevant, you want to emphasize the subject or you need to be vague.

Page 20: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Self-edit.

• Let simmer• Read aloud• Print out a hard copy• Share• Proof vs. edit

Page 21: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Self-edit.

• Spelling• Grammar• Editing-induced errors

– You know the one: the ‘ol sentence rearranging and accidental leave behind of a word

• Weak words• Redundancy • Unnecessary or “fluff” words• Flow• Fact-checking

Page 22: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Send-off.

• Tools– A real thesaurus – Grammarly or similar– Word puzzles (Games)

• Resources– Copyblogger– Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist)– Paul Smith(Lead with a Story)– Not your usual reading material

Page 23: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

Any questions?

Web: http://www.donnatalarico.comTwitter: @donnatalaricoEmail: [email protected]

Page 24: NEPA BlogCon 2015:  Words, Words, Words

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