Writing Tip

Writing Tip for PR Writers:
Good writing is the result of successful choices. Effective writing is strategic.

Tip #1: Choose a strong verb. (See 4 more tips below.)

Example: Famous line from a presidential speech. (True story.)

The lst draft of a line for President Ronald Reagan by Peter Robinson, the speech writer who tackled remarks to be made by then-President Reagan at the Berlin Wall in l989, when the Soviet Union was about to collapse:

"Herr Gorbachev, bring down this wall."
(Nah -- that doesn't quite work. The head speech writer didn't like it. Too weak, somehow. Lacks color.)

2nd draft: " Herr Gorbachev, take down this wall."
(Nah, says the chief speech writer -- that doesn't work, either. "Take?" That's as weak as "bring." Try again.)

OK. SO Speech writer Robinson gives the draft to President Ronald Reagan to find out directly what RR wants to say and how. And RR tells Robinson he had heard something on the radio about "tearing down the wall" -- and, yes, that's the message wanted to say to he crowd when he was to speak to them in Berlin at the Wall.

So the speech writer, Peter Robinson, goes back to Square One and recognizes that the president had a good ear for a strong verb. Robinson tries the line in German and rejects it. Then he realizes that the president himself had already come up with the rhetorical (i.e., persuasive) solution.

And the rest, as they say, is history -- one of the most oft quoted speech lines in recent history:

"Mr. Gorbachev -- tear down this wall."

[This TIP is taken from Christopher Shea's little piece in the Sunday NY Times (9/9/07) Books Section, based on a magazine article by speech writer Peter Robinson in Prologue, the magazine of the US National Archives.]

More TIPS: Aside from the strong verb, look at these other attributes of GOOD WRITING in this situation:

2. Choice of a strategic visual pronoun -- "this." The president was to be standing next to the Berlin Wall, so "this" was a more dramatic and immediate word to use than "the" (known grammatically as a "definite article").

3. Choice of a formal but not overly respectful form of address: The use of "Mr." (Gorbachev), rather than "Herr" -- because (a) the German term shows too much respectfulness and perhaps even impoloring weakness -- whereas "Mr."cuts the Soviet premier down to sizel; (2) "Mr." is not only English -- it's American -- which affirms the in-your-face cultural nationalism that the president sought in his communication.

4. Choice of a dramatic pause. Note the pause after "Mr. Gorbachev --." The strategic use of tempo is crucial for effective persuasive writing, just as it is for musical performance. After all, writing -- like music -- is an art.
The pause is what we call a NONVERBAL element of communication -- but of course it is a crucial part of the strategic composition of the MESSAGE.

5. Choice of syntax (or word order) : Note that the writer BEGINS the sentence with the command, but with the formal address: "Mr. Gorbachev -- tear down this wall." That line is more powerful than if it been syntactically arranged in reverse order: "Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev.")

Underlying these tips is the critical concept of rhetoric: the PR writer (whether in a speech or a pitch letter) is trying to persuade an audience. Persuasion is thus a function of understanding the audience's mood, grasping the situation, recognizing where and when the speech will be given -- and using that knowledge to select the words, phrases, images, references and even the rhythms that will do the trick.

PR, Rhetoric, Persuasion, Communication and Writing: Although not all PR writing is equally rhetorical (persuasive) -- news (press) releases emphasize the facts in a more journalistically "objective" way -- public relations, like much of politics and interpersonal relationships, too, is emphatically rhetorical: Very often, the bottom-line purpose of our communication is persuasive, whether overtly or subtly.

Writing is a strategic act -- an act of craftsmanship, of selection, of trial-and-error, of improvisation: all aimed at a specific objective which the writer either realizes initially or comes to understand during the writing process.

-- Robert E. Brown
Professor, Public Relations: Communications Dept.
Salem State College; Salem, MA 01970
rbrown@salemstate.edu
978 542 6436 (Salem State College Com. Dept. office)