The one where I give you 10 writing tips to make your words sing…

Things you learned in high school but probably haven’t thought about since.

Ok. Come with me on an adventure back to Year 10 English. But don’t worry, this time it’s going to be way more fun, less hormonal and (hopefully) without all the awkward, lanky-limbed self-consciousness.

Because like it or lump it, those writing techniques your teacher was trying desperately to impart are actually extremely helpful as an adult. Whether you’re writing for your own business, dabbling in some creative prose or just need to mix up your social media captions, these 10 simple writing techniques have stood the test of time for a reason. Experienced writers use them without even thinking and now you can too. Let’s go.

(And yes, Mrs. Chaffer, I DID just start a sentence with ‘Because’. Sorry not sorry!)

1. The Rule of Three

He arrived for the date sweaty, tense and way over-dressed.

The Rule of Three is one of those writing techniques people use constantly without even realising it. Things grouped in threes feel more satisfying, memorable and rhythmic to the human brain.

When we’re consuming content, we’re usually being treated to a hidden rule of three. Most stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. Or a setup, some conflict and a resolution. Even fairy tales use it – the three little pigs, three wishes, Goldilocks and the three bears.

We can see examples of it in iconic phrases:

• Blood, sweat and tears.

• Lions and tigers and bears.

• Friends, lovers, or enemies.

• Reduce, reuse, recycle.

• Eat, pray, love.

• Sex, drugs and rock & roll.

• Snap, crackle and pop.

• Ready, set, go.

If a sentence feels flat, try to group your ideas in threes.

Take this phrase, for instance:
I needed coffee, breakfast, therapy, endless cash and a one way ticket to Italy.

Or:
I needed coffee, therapy and a one-way ticket to Italy.

The second feels polished and intentional. There’s a natural cadence to it rather than a rambling, disjointed laundry list.

So remember: One feels lonely, four feels crowded, but three is where the magic happens.

2. Alliteration

She winced as he waved and waltzed his way towards her.

Alliteration, the repetition of the same sound in nearby words, is used far and wide – from advertisers and pop stars to journalists and screenwriters. Coming from the Latin “littera” meaning “letter of the alphabet”, it’s been a tried and tested writing tool for almost four centuries!

Even when we read silently, we hear the sounds in our heads and there’s a memorable musicality to the flow of an alliterated group of words. The repeated sound gives a phrase texture and feels satisfying to say.

Brands love using this device to create unforgettable names:

• Coca-Cola

• PayPal

• TikTok

• The Good Guys

Film and television titles use it all the time:

• Sex and the City

• Gilmore Girls

• The Fast and the Furious

• Pretty Little Liars

Even celebrity names have that sticking power in our brains because of a double up:

• Marilyn Monroe

• Charlie Chaplin

• Amy Adams

• Steven Spielberg
  

Alliteration is especially powerful in headlines. It’s a great way to make your titles, catchy, instantly noticeable and easier to remember:

• “Messy Modern Motherhood”

• “Coffee, Chaos and a Crumbling Cathedral”

• “Simple Secrets to Public Speaking”
  

A word of warning though – good writers use alliteration in moderation. A few thoughtfully repeated sounds can enhance your language, but use too many and you’ve created a Dr Seuss-style tongue twister. Keep it cool, calm and collected. Capiche?

3. Show, Don’t Tell

He clapped when the drinks arrived and her eyes subtly widened in horror.

Instead of explaining an emotion or situation, allow your reader to experience it. Don’t just tell them; place them right there. Show them. Make them feel it.

Great writing does this with:

• dialogue

• movement and action

• sensory details

• imagery

In our dating example above, I could have said “the date was awkward”, but allowing you to imagine the guy clapping too enthusiastically and the woman silently cringing is much more powerful.

The reason Show, Don’t Tell works so well is because readers remember scenes and details more than adjective-laden explanations. People connect to specific moments, not overviews.

Taylor Swift is the master of showing, not telling in her songwriting. She doesn’t just say “I miss you”; she talks about the scarf in the drawer, the autumn leaves falling, dancing in the kitchen. She places us there and the moment becomes ours.

Good writing often feels cinematic, playing like a movie in our minds. Readers like to infer the emotion themselves instead of being handed it outright.

Instead of: She was stressed.
Try: She paced around the room stuffing hot chips into her mouth, staring at the clock.

Instead of: He was lonely.
Try: He watched Instagram stories for two hours and cried himself to sleep.

It’s just as useful in professional writing as it is for fiction.

Instead of: This Melbourne café is very popular.
Try: At 10am on a Tuesday, every table is full of people pretending to work on their screenplays.

Show, Don’t Tell is ultimately the difference between someone saying “you had to be there” and actually making you feel like you were. We want to be immersed; not summarised-to.

4. Repetition

She kept checking her phone.
For a distraction.
For a lifeline.
For an excuse to get out of there.

Repetition creates rhythm, emphasis and emotional weight. When used intentionally, it can make a sentence feel memorable, persuasive or even funny.

Song lyrics use repetition constantly:

• “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.”

• “If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.” (repeated so many times it becomes impossible not to remember.)

• “Work, work, work, work, work…” (a tiny repeated phrase = massive cultural impact.)

• “We could’ve have had it all.” (a repeated phrase creating emotional intensity)
  

When something repeats, our brains automatically pay attention and attach meaning.

Think of these iconic phrases:

• Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.

• Reduce, reuse, recycle.

• Location, location, location.

But remember: there’s a difference between accidentally using the same word five times and strategically using repetition for rhythm or emphasis. The best repetition should feel almost invisible. Readers should feel the effect before they’ve consciously noticed the technique.

Very demure. Very mindful.

5. Save The Cat

But then he knocked his beer all over his pants and his cheeks flamed red. She instantly softened, realising how nervous he was.

Save The Cat is a storytelling concept penned by screenwriter Blake Snyder. In order to make a protagonist instantly more likeable, we have them doing something heroic very early on in the story, like saving a cat from a tree.

It’s a selfless, vulnerable or redeeming action to get an audience instantly on side and invested in someone’s journey, especially useful in flawed or problematic characters. It makes us care.

Some of the best characters have been flawed individuals; anti-heroes we’ve grown to love:

• Mad Men’s Don Draper is notoriously unfaithful, but we witness his softer, emotional side in the first episode.

• Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods is incredibly self-centred, but we instantly see her sincerity.

• Fleabag is messy and self-destructive, but her humour and emotional honesty make us root for her straight away.

Save the Cat works so well because readers don’t connect to perfection; they connect to humanity.

In non-fiction writing, including relatable details or anecdotes can make people instantly emotionally invest in your writing. Even blogs, essays and newsletters need warmth, trust and personality.

Instead of opening an article with: Writing is an important communication skill,
You could say: I once spent 45 minutes rewriting a text message that simply said ‘Sounds good.’

Instead of opening your newsletter with: The ways I exceeded in my business this week,
You could be more honest and say: I spent the first two days of the week as an emotional mess, but here’s how I got myself back on track by Wednesday.

Once people are emotionally connected to you, they’ll follow you almost anywhere.

6. Be Conversational, Not Jargony

They both laughed reading the pretentious menu – ‘A deconstructed artisanal breakfast experience featuring a rustic avocado medley’. “It’s smashed avo on toast”, she said bluntly.

This one’s simple. Just write like you speak. If you wouldn’t say it aloud, it’s most likely not going to work in your writing. People trust language that feels human, genuine and accessible. Not full of convoluted meanings and impressively big words.

Ask yourself – are you writing to be understood, or are you writing to be admired?

The goal shouldn’t be to sound intelligent. The goal should be to make the reader feel intelligent.

Less: Leveraging strategic solutions…
More: Here’s the thing…

Less: Please do not hesitate to contact us regarding your enquiry.
More: Feel free to get in touch.

No-one has ever emotionally connected with:

• “circle back”

• “move the needle”

• “thought leader”

• “utilise”

Ultimately, you want to sound like a human someone could imagine having a coffee with, not an unapproachable robot.

7. Kill Your Darlings

She noticed the way her stomach fluttered when he laughed; the most musical, joyful, genuine laugh she’d ever heard in her life.

His laugh was like sunshine.

Way back in 1914, the British academic Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch wrote “Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings”.

The phrase was later simplified by author Stephen King in his book On Writing, famously saying "Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings."

Basically, edit, edit, then edit some more. Cut the fluff, the fat, anything that doesn’t serve the piece. Sometimes, we must sacrifice some of our favourite, cleverest pieces of writing to the altar of clarity. If it distracts from your core message or theme, it has to go.

A good rule of thumb to remember: if removing a word doesn’t change the meaning, cut it.

•  “In order to” → “To”

• “Due to the fact that” → “Because”

• “At this point in time” → “Now”

Another tip: never publish your first draft. Professional writers know that writing is rewriting.

If a sentence feels exhausting to read and like you need to stand and do three yoga stretches and have a sip of water and reply to a text and feed the dog all before the sentence has finished, it’s probably too long.

8. Vary Sentence Length

All of a sudden she realised she liked this guy. A lot.

If every sentence is the same length, writing becomes boring and robotic. Changing it up creates rhythm, momentum and keeps a reader engaged. That’s what you want.

Sometimes, less is more.

A short sentence can change the pace.
Creating emphasis.
Landing.
Like this.

And other times you want to create a little more flow, a little more intrigue, a little more imagery. The point is to make it enjoyable to read.

The white spaces can hold just as much power as the black lines.

9. Arrive Late, Leave Early

She was desperately unlocking her door and pulling him inside. It was the best sex of her life. But when she woke, he was gone.

This is a phrase we say a lot in TV writing – arrive late to a scene, leave early. Bad writing often “warms up” before getting to the real point, but it’s always more impactful to get to the best bits sooner.

A lot of writing improves when you cut the first paragraph. Especially in today’s attention economy when readers may only stay with your episode or your article for a scarily brief period of time. We instantly know if we’re interested in something nowadays and if not, there’s a billion other shiny, sparkly things waiting in line to grab us.

In creative writing, this looks like:

• Starting a scene as close to the most interesting, active part as possible.

• Ending the scene before all the energy disappears.

• Leaving your audience wanting more (another episode, turning another page).

• Cutting out all unnecessary greetings and long exits. Audiences can imagine these parts themselves.(If you watch the great TV shows, you’ll almost never hear a “hello” or a “goodbye”.)

In non-fiction writing, this looks like:

• Skipping unnecessary setup.

• Getting to the most interesting parts faster.

• Wrapping up before over-explaining.

Even in blog posts, articles, captions and newsletters, we want to create momentum, energy and curiosity.

Get in, make your point, then get out. Simple.

10. Know how you want your reader to feel at the end

He’d left a note on her kitchen bench – “I’ve never met anyone like you. Sorry I was weirdly too much at the start. Beautiful girls make me nervous. x”

If you’re clear about the theme, message or emotion you want to leave your reader with, your writing becomes more focused.

People often don’t remember exactly what you’ve said. They remember how you made them feel. That’s the irony of great writing. It should be so artfully created that it almost feels invisible. Feelings are our currency; not adverbs and adjectives.

Do you want your reader to feel:

• Amused?

• Understood?

• Challenged?

• Nostalgic?

• Comforted?

• Energised?

If you’ve read this far, I hope you feel inspired and empowered to use some of these writing tools for yourself. Choosing even one or two to focus on can take your writing to the next level.

And remember… You don’t need to sound like everyone else. You just need to sound like you!

Until next time, this is your local wordsmith signing off.
x Rachael

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