I wrote my first poem when I was nine. The first verse went like this:
I want to be the captain,
The captain of a crew,
And sail across the ocean,
Across the sea so blue.
It was the start of a passion for writing poetry that lasted until the age of 18. Around that age, I also wrote my first short story; a love story that was never published.
A writer’s medium
After that I began to write a radio play. Radio is a writer’s medium – there are only words and sound effects. The pictures are created in the imagination of the listener. For almost two years, I was absorbed on and off by writing my radio play about a voice in the dark and the inner workings of the mind. I was too absorbed to realise that the entertainment value of my self-indulgent play was low. Writing the play was more like a form of psychotherapy for me and the play never got anywhere. But I had got a taste for expression and for shutting myself away in a room for hours just to write.
Don’t get in the way!
In the last term at university at the age of 21, it dawned on me that I had to go out into the wide world and make a living. I was looking around for a suitable career and decided to go into copywriting. So I went to study Advertising Writing at an art college in Watford. One of the first things I was taught is that you don’t write for yourself in advertising and you shouldn’t get in the way of the product. You have to be creative but your creativity is designed to sell and you have to follow the brief from the client. So my writing took on a new direction – I became a commercial writer.
Hidden meaning
The advertising profession is probably full of writers like me who would love to be writing a book or a poem or a play but find an outlet and an income for their creative talents in copywriting. I have a big admiration for poets, probably because I would secretly like to be a poet myself. I went to a poetry reading tonight in Canterbury by an American Franciscan priest called Murray Bodo who has written several books of poetry. It was inspiring to listen to him as he stood there, an imposing sight in his brown habit.
He said, “To be a poet, you have to let the poem lead you in the direction it wants to go and that’s not always the direction you want it to go. You shouldn’t apply self-censorship because that will make your poetry all sugary.” His poems had an honesty about them because he was prepared to expose some sides of his psyche in a frank, open way. Father Bodo also pointed out that you may need to read a poem several times before you get the underlying message. And sometimes the message can be interpreted in a number of ways.
Instant communication
Not so with advertising. You usually have a few clear sales points to make and you have to weave these into a short text as best you can. You have to keep it simple and direct so you can’t afford to let your writing become carried away, deep or flowery. Advertising has to be instantaneous and grab the attention.
Murray Bobo recited a poem called “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost that I found quite profound in its simplicity. The poem ends with this verse:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
I ponder on my own journey and my own profession. No one ever stands up in public and recites the words of a great ad. I have to face the fact that a copywriter’s work is anonymous and the prime goal is to move products off shelves, not to express yourself.
By Peter Goddard