The Writing Guy: Recent Episodes
Scott Keyser
A daily exploration of the written word from a seasoned writer and writing skills trainer, to help you improve your English writing skills. The pod covers persuasive writing, therapeutic writing, rhythm, poetry and poetic meter, grammar, punctuation and voice.
The world recently lost a special woman whose lifelong commitment to duty gives the lie to this much-abused, over-used word.
Moved and inspired by the final of the BBC 'Strictly Come Dancing' show, Scott draws parallels between writing and dance.
I'm buzzing after a wildly successful coaching session with a client. In this episode you get to hear the 17 things James is gonna change about his writing (SDK - Spelling Doesn't Kount). Ta-daa!
Inspired by a successful session coaching a client in persuasive writing, Scott shares how together they turned a sow's ear of an email into a silk purse.
On the day that he celebrated a life lost and took to the streets to help preserve hard won freedoms, Scott looks at the origins of 'protest'.
Want a safe, legal way to shift your mindset fast? Plus the Word of the Day, courtesy of Susie Dent.
Having whittled rhetorica down to 15 simple techniques (from 21), I've just had further endorsement from a client of their power.
These are the four readability ratios that bid writers et al should track religiously to improve their writing.
Inspired by James Knight's iMA colour-based language system, Scott invites you to write in a way that appeals to all four colours.
3 quick and easy ways to humanise factual, technical text in your bid responses. (The evaluator will love you forever.)
Besides a lovely testimonial, Scott shares what his coachee will change about her bid writing.
A leading light on the climate crisis, Monbiot espouses a new approach for living within planetary boundaries.
Inspired by a great coaching day with a client, Scott shares three vital aspects of a well written bid.
Scott indulges his love of history and poetry to recite his own poem, 606 years and one day after Henry V's famous victory.
Indulging his love of Shakespeare, Scott recites the famous St Crispin's Day speech from 'Henry V'.
Scott reads and comments on the language of the Saturday Guardian's article 'Forces of nature'. The article looks at the impact of arrest on climate protesters, including long-time activist and actress, Jane Fonda.
Scott looks at the origins of this ancient, Germanic word and Brian Cox's use of it on BBC's 'Question Time' to stop two politicians squabbling.
Scott attempts to explain this increasingly common error, and gives three ways of resolving it.
Scott shares Before and After versions of email snippets, from a recent client webinar.
Walking: humans have walked the earth for millions of years. It's in our DNA. Scott muses about the link between rhythm and persuasive writing.
Today is the 955th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Scott chronicles its impact on English and its marker as the end of the Anglo-Saxon era.
Moved by a message from 'The 12 Week Year's' Brian Moran, Scott explores the impact of an elemental idea wrapped up in a simple question.
Scott reminds us of the magical power of two simple, personal words to use in our writing.
To celebrate episode 200, Scott reads a letter from a native American arrested (and shot with rubber bullets) for peacefully protesting against a pipeline that will move 760,000 gallons of tar sands oil a day from Alberta to Lake Superior.
On World Mental Health Day, Scott reads a short extract from Robert Macfarlane's book 'The Old Ways'.
Scott reads Robert Macfarlane's introduction to 'The Old Ways', hailed as one of the great works of nature writing.
Rather than 'we-ing' all over the prospect, Scott asserts that showing we understand their pain points is a better way to get their attention.
On National Poetry Day, Scott shares his draft poem inspired by William Blake's iconic hymn, on the subject of choice.
Vying to be among the first people in the world to comment on today's speech, Scott looks at the PM's consummate and amusing use of language and rhetoric.
Scott laments the Labour Party leader's uninspiring keynote speech, which failed to blend the radical and the reasonable, to mix fire with ice.
Scott corrects the Business Secretary's wordiness and shares a saucy limerick about Welsh gorse.
Inspired by a poster outside a shop in Aberaeron, Wales, Scott reflects on what buying a piece of art means.
George Dubya's personal, heartfelt letter to the new President in January 2009 partly rehabilitates my opinion of the outgoing one.
In his final reading from 'The Old Man and The Sea', Scott recounts the old man's harpooning of the magnificent fish
In praise of Hemingway's evocative style, Scott reads a short passage from this wonderful story.
Scott reads a paragraph from 'The Old Man and The Sea' as an example of how the Nobel Prize-winning writer broke the cult of difficulty.
Scott muses on why an attendee of a recent workshop who posted his writing confidence as 9 out of 10 had revised it down to 2 by the end of the morning!
Scott unpicks the meter and rhythm of a famous nursery rhyme, then plays fast and loose with it.
On the 20th anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers, Scott recites his poem '9/11', inspired by a recent visit to the Ground Zero museum.
Inspired by caring for his mother as she convalesces, Scott looks at the origin of this ancient word.
Scott commemorates the 2 September 1973 death of the great John Ronald Reuel Tolkien who transported millions of readers to Middle Earth and beyond.
Scott shares his experience of a magical play in the magical setting of the King's College Fellows Garden.
Helping a leadership coach client, Scott unpicks the all-important 'soundbite' that all leaders and business owners should have.
Reading from Henry Mayhew's 'London Labour & The London Poor', Scott introduces us to a 19th century street-seller who sold peaches to the Prince of Naples.
After joining the climate change protests in Central London, Scott explores the sorrowful history of St Giles, an area notorious for disease, deprivation and depravity.
Hard on the heels of yesterday's episode on the unmentionable c-word, Scott uncovers the etymology of the word 'taboo'.
In light of a recent study into the usage of swear words in English conversation, Scott looks at the origins of the c-word.
Scott commemorates this great poet, playwright, scholar...and alumnus of his old school, Westminster.
After remembering the death in 1850 of French writer, Honoré de Balzac, Scott shares more techniques for crafting powerful headlines and subject lines.
Inspired by Miriam Chigodho's phrase, Scott reminds us again of the power of plain English.
Former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was born this day in 1930 in Yorkshire. Scott reads his poem 'The Jaguar'.
With so many decision-makers working from home, the written word is coming into its own. Scott shares four techniques for crafting powerful email subject lines.
Scott remembers one of our great national poets, who was also a visionary, mystic, artist and inventor.
Scott works a simple phrase to show how altering the ratio between adjectives and nouns in a list can change the rhythm of the writing.
Scott shares the results of two 'before and 'after' polls in writing confidence he ran on his 28 July webinar.
Scott shares his Big Five drafting techniques in the form of a rather proprietary acronym.
Coinciding with the 62nd anniversary of Hemingway being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, Scott reads two passages from the great man's books.
I believe this is one of the most powerful ways of engaging a prospect through the written word. Yet most B2B writers are poor at it.
Inspired by Izzy, a family friend, Scott looks at the power of gratitude to change our state.
Scott shares a birthday with the controversial Cecil John Rhodes, founder of Rhodesia and diamond magnate.
Scott draws parallels between living in harmony with nature's rhythms and poetic meter.
Scott deepens his understanding of 'nounitis' and explains why verbs have so much more power than nouns.
Good stories engage readers neurologically, triggering chemicals in the brain that change behaviour. But the language we use to describe their impact relates to Old English and Magick.
Every writer wants to 'engage' their reader, but where does the word hail from? Scott tries to unpick its origin.
On the longest day of the year, Scott explains the meaning of the solstice and the origin of the term.
How to improve your writing skills. In preparing a forthcoming talk for a client, Scott wonders if the post-COVID business world is readier than ever for a more human writing style.
Scott unpicks a 16-word sentence that sounds more like it's been written by a robot than a human. Writing Human is a major way of improving your writing skills.
Scott thanks his small but growing audience for their listenership, reviews his highlights so far and asks his listeners for their topic suggestions (scott@writeforresults.com) — all in the name of improving your writing skills.
Can you guess which famous document - drafted in medieval Latin - Scott is reading from today? (Forgive his atrocious pronunciation!)
As birdsong washed over him at Stonehenge, Scott's thoughts turn (inevitably) to ancient language.
Applying Scott's 'Big Five writing techniques helped Kelly take her readability from 36.3% to 71.7%.
Scott builds a bridge between spelling and magic, inspired by James Essinger's book, 'Spellbound'.
Scott explains how he managed to help eight clients double, and in one case, triple their readability.
Scott uses the opening stanzas of Whitman's 'When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed' to remind us of three age-old literary devices.
Scott reads extracts from Mexican author Valeria Luiselli's speech for the Dublin literary award. Luiselli describes how reading fiction with her family helped them survive lockdown.
This towering scholar and lexicographer (dictionary compiler) died 28 May 1843, after publishing 'An American Dictionary of the English Language'.
27 May 1994 the famous Russian writer and dissident returned from exile to his homeland, where he remained till his death in 2008.
26 May 735 AD, the Venerable Bede died in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear. He'd written 'The Ecclesiastical History of the English People' in 731 AD, a work of immense erudition.
Emerson, US poet, essayist and philosopher was born 25 May 1803 in Boston. Scott shares some of his timeless wisdom with us.
Scott celebrates the 80th birthday of one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time and his early protest songs.
Building on episode 132, Scott reiterates the role of structure in communicating with the reader.
Inspired by Barbara Minto's 'The Pyramid Principle', Scott explores the concept of layers or levels of ideas.
Scott celebrates his twins' 22nd birthday and the death, in 1984, of Poet Laureate, Sir John Betjeman.
In a grand reveal, Scott unveils the two best spots in a sentence to place the word you want to emphasise.
On the day that John Kerry, US climate envoy, says that as yet uninvented technologies will save us, Scott looks at the origin of the word 'doom'.
'3 days of peace & music' said the poster for this iconic Rock festival, August 1969. This was misrepresentation: they omitted the word 'magic'. Scott honours the poetry of the song, 'Woodstock'.
Public sector procurement departments need help nailing specs and drafting compelling RFPs and ITTs, then matching them with robust marking schemes.
Scott shares a LinkedIn post that in 100 words conveys love, respect, courage and honesty.
Too many business writers structure their writing like a school essay. Scott suggests a much more effective approach.
Scott tries to sharpen the distinction between the objective or purpose of your communication and its main message. Do you think he succeeds?
Aristotle identified three persuasive appeals: ethos, logos (logic), pathos (emotion). Logic makes people think, but emotion makes them act.
On this day in 1954, Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4 minute mile on the Iffley Road track in Oxford, despite 'sub-optimal' conditions and training. Scott considers the role of mindset in any task, including writing.
From mega bids to subterranean fantasies, Scott celebrates Alice Liddell's birthday - the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's famous book.
Scott does a quick and dirty post mortem on the mega bid he recently finished (after six months!).
Scott reminds us that writing with no authorial personality is missing a vital dimension.
I've started writing pro bono for a new environmental organisation called 'Lawyers for Net Zero'. My writing research led me back to a book on my shelf called 'ClientEarth', which won the Judges' Choice award in the first Business Book Awards in 2018 (I was one of the judges). Both ClientEarth and Lawyers for Net Zero are fighting climate change through lawyers and the law. I commend the book and the work of both organisations to you.
Today, 23 April, is the birthday (and death day) of William Shakespeare, who introduced 1700 new words and phrases to the English language. Scott shares a handful of those with us, plus shouts out to David and Ben Crystal as authorities on the Bard.
Scott muses on the significance of today in light of Joe Biden's emissions announcement and the Moxie - a box that turns carbon dioxide on Mars into oxygen.
Scott's audit of two bid questions exposes how badly written they are, making it even harder for the bidders to respond.
Inspired by a church service of prayer and protest against violence against women, Scott looks at the etymology of the word 'bless'.
Scott recites the hymn 'Eternal Father, Strong to Save'. Can you hear or feel the wave that the perfect iambic tetrameter creates?
'Eternal Father, strong to save', written in 1860 by William Whiting, is a perfect example of rhyming couplets in iambic tetrameter.
A work of amazing scholarship, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary was seen as the pre-eminent English dictionary until the OED 173 years later.
With Lincoln's 15 April 1865 death scene as an example, few things are more powerful than a good story well told.
Quick and dirty analysis of the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence, of which he was the main author.
When I am heart-sore and in need of reassurance, I often turn to William Sieghart's 'Poetry Pharmacy', which prescribes poems for different mental states. Thank you, William.
The verbal and floral tributes to the passing of the Prince hark back to an ancient meaning of 'tribute'.
This is how Hunter Biden, son of the US President, describes what addicts like him have inside them.
The written word is a vital tool for building a new morality based on the sanctity of all life, not just human.
Abstract language does not create images in the reader's brain. And that's a problem, 'cos most people think visually, ie in pictures. So keep your writing concrete, definite, specific...and real.
We as writers must work hard to make the reader's job easy. This is our duty of care to the reader.
Why it's vital to nail the information design of your bids and tenders before working on the text.
On the birthday of the Queen of Soul (Aretha), Scott uses a royal triplet to talk about three linguistic strands in our language.
When writing a bid (or any sales copy, for that matter), if there's no discernible, navigable structure for the reader to follow, they're going to lose the will to live and stop reading. Pity the poor evaluator!
'The road to hell is paved with adverbs' (Stephen King). Replace needy verbs + adverb with one strong verb.
In response to the public backlash, the draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has been delayed till later in the year. The right to protest has won this battle, but not the war.
My short poem to Sarah, who was abducted close to where I live, then murdered. RIP Sarah.
Nowhere is the written word more important than in how we draft the laws that govern us and allow freedom of speech and the right to protest. Part 3 of the PCSC Bill is a clear and present threat to those freedoms.
777 years ago today, at the foot of a small mountain called Montségur in the French Pyrenees, 210 cathar heretics voluntarily burnt to death rather than recant their religious beliefs.
George Orwell, of '1984' fame, urged us all to use language to preserve our freedoms, which are now under threat from the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill going to Parliament today
Abstract language makes the reader work harder to get your meaning. Scott shows how to cure this ailment.
We need to enlist the aid of what we find easiest to do - speech - to help us with what we find hardest - writing.
The title alone of this poem captures my wobbly uncertainty about life as we await news of the fate of local girl Sarah Everard, who was abducted close to where I live. I pray for her safe return.
Scott unpicks the 61-word statement issued by the Palace in response to Meghan's allegations in the Oprah Winfrey interview
Good ideas should stand on their own. They don't need dressing or tarting up. If you find yourself being wordy, challenge the quality of your content first!
Thanks to his beans-only diet, Windy suffers from literary flatulence. But you don't have to. The cure is simple.
Inspired by the verse play, 'Cyrano de Bergerac', how do we write with dash and panache?
If you're suffering with anxiety like me at the moment, read (out loud) this beautiful poem. Is it better than valium? You be the judge of that.
Scott looks at a couple of the rhetorical devices in Lincoln's 1863 Gettysburg address that make the nation-forming speech iconic.
Passivitis - over-use of the passive voice - is the carbon monoxide of business writing. Good writers have a CO alarm in their locker.
Informal and formal synonyms for 'tired'. Plus, we meet the next writing troll, Slippy.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author of this 1855 epic poem written in trochaic tetrameter, was born today, 27 Feb.
Abstract, non-concrete language is not clever: it just obscures your message to the reader. Abstruse, ie hard to understand, is a close cousin of abstract.
Avoid the Hysterical School of Writing, which tells rather than shows. To persuade your reader, you must show more than you tell.
Thomas Bowdler, an editor who gave a new word to the English language, died this day in 1825. And Gushy, writing troll #3, lives on!
Metrical dissection of the original and final version of one of English poetry's most famous lines.
Does Eliot surrender his spirit here to the will of God? That's how it feels to me, but what do you think?
Eliot talks about the people walking in spiritual darkness, refusing to surrender to their true divine nature. ✨ We are separated both from our nature and Mother Nature, which Scott believes is the root cause of the climate crisis. In other words our relationship with ourselves governs our relationship with all living things.
Part of Eliot's Marian poetry, ie his worship of the Virgin Mary, whose colour is blue and whose purity is symbolised by white.
Eliot describes his ascent of a staircase, looking back down at the characters (states of mind?) he meets. Is this the mystic spiral of spiritual ascension?
A reading of this short passage ('Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree...'), on Day 2 of Lent
A great exec summary must give more than facts and figures. It must also convey a sense of the spirit and intention behind them.
Cocky thinks he can wing it and dive into drafting without planning. Think again, Cocky!
On Valentine's Day, what book or piece of writing do you love? Scott quotes from TCM, written in 2000 about the impact of the internet on business...and the unmistakable sound of the human voice.
Rhythm sits at the heart of life and, according to Virginia Woolf, the heart of writing. Why?
Scott turns the instruction manual of a fridge-freezer into iambic hexameter. (He needs to get out more.)
Speech is the source of the wave-like rise and fall of the English language; we spoke before we wrote.
What's the difference between rhythmic prose and poetry? The rhythm of a poem is ordered and organised. This is what gives it its penetrative power.
Poetry uses our standard pronunciation of words - the rise and fall of syllabic accentuation - to give us meter and reinforce meaning.
In the mistaken belief he can 'wing it', Cocky's issue is that he dives into drafting without planning - and always regrets it. Don't make the same mistake.
Lazy takes the easy option and writes about himself. Don't fall into that troll trap: rather, write about your reader. You'll get better results.
The voluntary sector is the Perfect Aristotelian Storm of Rhetoric: Credibility, Facts and Emotion. Are your comms ticking all three?
RV (Reader Value) must be equal to or greater than the brain calories the reader expends (RC) to get your meaning.
RV (Reader Value) must be equal to or greater than RC (Reader Calories) expended to get that Value.
If you lace your writing with too much abstract language, you'll make your reader work harder than they want to to get your meaning.
Your opening pages set the tone for the rest of your communication and (should) give your reader a mental map to navigate the rest.
Ethos, Logos, Pathos - coined by Aristotle 2400 years ago - are as valid today as ever.
We can use the pattern of three both on a micro-level, ie in words or phrases, and on a macro-level, ie structurally, as in the 3-act play.
One of the most common rhetorical devices is the tricolon, or list of three. Join the persuaders down the ages who have used this device mercilessly to influence their readers or listeners.
Scott rails (again) against lifeless, abstract, technocratic writing and looks at omitting needless words - inspired by that gem of a book 'The Elements of Style' (Strunk & White).
US National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, used anaphora to great effect in her inauguration poem, 'The Hill We Climb'. Scott explains what the rhetorical device is and how it works.
B2B, corporate writing is suffering from an epidemic of S.O.W.s. They represent lazy, lifeless writing that makes readers' eyes glaze over. Avoid them or find everyday alternatives.
To make the writing process efficient and effective, we must plan. Planning - the most creative and the most neglected part of the process - separates thinking from writing.
At Joe Biden's presidential inauguration yesterday, US Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman recited her soaring poem, 'The Hill We Climb'. Scott looks at one of the many poetic devices she uses - alliteration.
On US President inauguration day, Scott pays homage to Dr Rudolf Flesch, inventor of the Readability Stats in MS Word. Flesch fled his native Austria in 1938 and settled in New York, eventually becoming a US citizen.
This handy function in Word, based on the sterling work of Dr Rudolf Flesch, scores the readability of your writing - and other people's.
Contractions are a useful device for making us sound more personable, more approachable, less corporate, more human.
Personality is the missing link in most business writing, ie taking a position on a topic, or writing with levity, flair or irreverence. Scott cites an example from former client, 'The Economist'.
Scott shows how easy it is to write plain English with some examples, plus a C.R.I.S.P. reminder of the five main benefits.
Varying your register multiplies the range, energy and vitality of your writing. A fun look at synonyms for common words.
A key concept in writing, register is the scale of language formality. Scott explains how it works and why it matters.
Scott rails against emotionless, dehumanised, technocratic writing that fails to connect with the reader.
How replacing one formal word in a mega bid document with a more personal word can transform it and lessen the burden on bidders.
Nounitis - the over-use of nouns - is a common condition afflicting corporate writing. Scott shows you how easy it is to cure it and add impact to your writing at the same time.
More examples from literary greats of the iambic pentameter, plus some of Scott's novice attempts.
Rhythm - whether in poetry, boxing, daily routines or constellations traversing the heavens - lies at the heart of almost everything we do. Scott indulges in a riff on rhythm, from a skate park in south-west London.
A poem I penned May 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, whose neck was knelt on for nine minutes by Police Officer Derek Chauvin. The murder ignited the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Power of 'You', multiple personality disorder and why 'audience' doesn't serve good writing.
Two interesting findings from 2012 research into the use of language in legal documents - further making the case for plain English.
What we as writers choose to focus on makes a world of difference to our empathy with the reader.
Scott walks through the 21 persuasive writing techniques of his 'rhetorica' book and toolkit
Why reading our writing out loud and verbalising our thoughts are two of the most powerful things we can do to improve our writing. Plus, the triangular relationship between voice, breath and spirit.
How Latin helped me understand English, how an English king found his voice, and why you should always read your writing out loud.
This pod's three interconnected themes: love of writing and the English language; connection (with the reader); humanity. Where my love of writing began.