If you told 16-year-old me that I’d make a living as a writer, I’d have laughed in your face and told you to shut the fuck up. I absolutely hated English in school and struggled with writing in general. In fact, I still can’t spell for shit. Luckily, technology enables me to get by.
Believe it or not, I accidentally ended up becoming a copywriter! Yes, I studied advertising, and yes, I ended up in advertising, but in the beginning, I never considered specialising. I thought I could get away with calling myself a ‘creative’.
Out of Uni, I’d partnered with Jake Pole, and together we were hybrid creatives. This worked for about two years without any problems. Then one day, Chris Badley, our creative director at Bray Leino, said, “Which one of you twats is the writer?”. And we didn’t have an answer. So he told us then and there to decide because the account team needed to know who to assign the copy jobs.
I’d always scamped up (illustrated) our ideas to present and had a keen eye for dressing sets on TVC shoots, so I thought I was better suited to being the Art Director. But it came down to Jake being better at Photoshop than me. So, from that day forward, I somewhat reluctantly specialised in copywriting.
At the start, I felt like an imposter. Even more so, knowing that clients were paying big bucks for my words. Fortunately, writing is a skill you can quickly improve when you apply yourself. In fact, writing is a much more creative process than people give it credit for. And it's the creativity that keeps me disciplined. I love the process of selecting and ordering words in a way that’s rhythmic and impactful - it’s an art form.
I’ve been gifted with some amazing mentors over the years, who’ve not only been patient and taught me techniques but allowed me the freedom to learn from my own mistakes. And now that I’ve got junior writers reporting to me, I can pass this mentorship on. I learn a lot from them too, especially when it comes to TikTok, Twitch and other new-fangled channels.
The best advice I ever received was ‘read your work aloud.’ It’s simple. Whether it’s a headline on a billboard or an entire website, read every single word back to yourself. Chances are you’ll find better ways to word things, improve the structure and make it flow more naturally. I used to hate longer copy pieces - I always felt there was more room to become unstuck and be exposed as a fraud. But the reading-aloud tip helped me overcome this fear. Now I see longer copy as a golden opportunity to take readers on a ride.
Recently, I’ve been deepening my understanding of writing and exploring it beyond the world of advertising. I was itching to develop a narrative and characters that do more than just sell a product or service in the space of 30 seconds. That’s why I’ve given screenwriting a go and just finished the pilot of a dystopian sci-fi thriller called ‘2222’. Obviously, I’d love to sell it and see it created. But even if nothing ever comes of it, it’s been an enjoyable process that will help improve my craft. Let me know if you’d like to read it and/or have industry contacts I can send it to.
I’ve also got a sitcom in the works and I’m toying with a short stand-up comedy routine. This is all self-taught and builds on the skills I already have. A willingness to learn and improve goes a very long way.
And if I can write for a living, anyone can!
