Think about TV ads. Analyze. Ask questions.

 

 

Consider these ideas for your own compositions.
TV Set   Computer and Quill Pen
WHAT ARE THE TIME LIMITS?
HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE?

TV ad writers face two kinds of time limits: "real time" limits of the finished product (e.g. a 30-second spot), and the available "working time" of the composing process.

30-second spots are limited to about 75 words of copy, and perhaps (at the most) 50 quick-cut visual shots.

Fast talkers, or even speeded-up tapes, can increase this a little bit. (Often done with the legally required disclosures on some ads.) However, at some point, audiences cannot comprehend.

Thus, writers cannot do elaborate essays, but must write very tightly, focused on a few key ideas, on words and images well chosen for their intended effects.

Even most print-ads have relatively few words. Very few ads are straight copy, information or statistics, because audiences have limits on the amount of time they will spend reading.

Notice the pattern and timing of TV news interviews: the reporter does a brief set-up introductory, then a 30-second "bite" (in which the person, the talking head being interviewed says something), then the reporter repeats or summarizes.

Try this: as you write, pretend you are going to be interviewed on TV and asked "What's your point? What are you trying to say?"

Try to respond clearly and cogently, as if you had a fixed time limit of only a few seconds to communicate your key ideas. Write "cue cards" to prepare yourself. Don't ramble. Force yourself into a brief direct statement, without any qualifications, explanations, or examples.

"Working time" is always limited. Deadlines exist. Advance planning is essential. Allow adequate "lead time" for delays, revisions, approvals, or a committee process.

Ad agencies usually work months ahead of time preparing an ad. Large teams of expensive experts work long and hard to put together the few seconds we see so quickly.

In advertising, television, and movie production writers are under constant time pressure (as in many businesses); the ones who survive learn to plan their time.

Planning calendars, flow charts, and lists are very common aids for writers to specify, visualize, and remember time limits.

 

No one has unlimited time to compose: neither with fixed "real time" limits (in-class essays, oral reports), nor with more flexible "preparation" time.

Accept deadlines and the shortage of time. Deal with it. Don't waste time bemoaning our common fate. No whining or complaining about the pressure. Learn to work more efficiently. Plan. Prepare.

For fixed "real time" writing situations (SAT tests, oral reports, in-class essays) you must prepare, practice, rehearse in advance: not just a vague, general study, but a very specific preparation.

For example, oral reports need an actual speaking rehearsal for exact timing: use outlines and key words.

In-class essays often ramble if you don't take the first few minutes to decide on your thesis, overall structure and topic sentences. It's better to do a quick outline, even if discarded later, than to sit there immobilized.

SAT writing tests with a 25 minute time limit mean that you quickly have to state a thesis, then impose a structure, usually an introduction with a 2 or 3 part division.

The two major "time" problems are time-planning and procrastination: knowing what to do, and doing it.

Time-planning means a realistic estimate of your available time and your efficient use of it.

Convert the rigid time limits controlled by others into your own more flexible limits, self-controlled, to give yourself more leeway and options. For example, during the next ten days, you may have only a few small blocks of writing time actually available. Make a schedule or time-chart which visually shows your fixed time-slots (classes, jobs, dates) and your free periods. Next, divide your overall writing goal into smaller "chunks" (outline, topic sentences, a paragraph, a scene) with your own series of deadlines.

Know your own pace. Most people can sustain only a short period (1-2 hours) of intense thinking and writing. Know your own good times and bad times. (Mornings? Late night?)

Writing demands concentration, and often silence and solitude. Know the quiet and noisy hours of your own locale, including the rush hours at the library, the fax machines, and the computers. Anticipate delays. Allow time for revision, and time for rest.

Procrastination is often the fear of failure: we don't know what to do, or how to do it, or where to start. Many procrastinators brag: "I work best under pressure." Wrong. Failure rate is high during any urgency situation, but such self-delusion and denial simply provides an excuse.

 
| Welcome | Purpose | Audience | Limits | Structure | Attention | Confidence | Explicit | Implicit | Response| Omission |
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