There’s a simple way of doing this. Read it out loud. If you find there are words and phrases that you wouldn’t say face to face, rewrite them. There are other benefits. As David Abbott pointed out, ‘Like many copywriters, I read my copy out loud as I write. It helps me check the rhythm of the line and ultimately the flow of the whole piece. I often adopt the appropriate accent or tone, though my general “reading voice” is laughably mid-Atlantic.’ Incidentally, this technique was used by a master craftsman in another field of mass communications. Frank Sinatra, the finest interpreter of the popular song, also read his lyrics out loud. This enabled him to get the inflections right and achieve the conversational delivery that characterized his style. To hear what I mean, pour a Jack Daniels and google his ‘Medley: The Gal that Got Away – It Never Entered My Mind’. But not yet – we’ve got a book to finish.
