JOHN HARRISON +
J H +
copywriting
ATOMIC AUTHOR
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Within both the atom and the Atomic Author, opposite forces exist.
Within the atom sit both:
- The positive proton
- The negative electron
Within the Atomic Author sit both:
- The writer adding
- The editor cutting
The opposing forces don’t neutralise each other in either the atom or the Atomic Author.
Instead, they allow great power and great copy respectively. They’re independent, opposing forces that sit within the same shell.
The writer and the editor
Good copy is the result of these two opposed personalities, the writer and the editor.
The writer [+] | The editor [—] |
|---|---|
Drunk | Sober |
Vomits | Cleans |
Messy | Structured |
Words are cheap | Words are expensive |
Abundant | Restrictive |
Care free | Careful |
Shotgun | Sniper |
Types fast | Deletes fast |
No idea is a bad idea | Most ideas are bad ideas |
An artist | A judge |
The marble | The chisel |
Give your heart to the writer and your mind to the editor.
Write drunkenly, as if words cost you nothing. Spill them onto the page in the order your heart fancies. Vomit them and let them land where they like. Don’t stop to clean up. That’s not what the writer does.
Then switch.
Edit with contempt for the writer, judging each word coldly, half condemning them before hearing their plea. Default to the delete key, cutting away the thicket to reveal a path to clarity. Do it knowing each additional word costs you in efficiency. Demand that each word fight for its place.
Jekyll & Hyde
Man is not truly one but truly two
Dr. Jekyll
Switching between writer and editor is hard.
There is no easy formula to throw down our throats.
The hardest move is from freshly written copy. It all reads so well at first. But that's because you're still the writer. You need to forget all those writerly thoughts that guided the work.
You can transform into the editor with three formulae:
- Time
- Mental fortitude
- Someone else’s help
Time is both the most realistic and the most powerful. The longer you leave it, the larger the problem you’ll uncover. Thirty minutes later you’ll see typos and awkward sentences. Four hours later you’ll see entire paragraphs you can delete. A day later you’ll see structural errors.
Returning as the editor
You’ll return untainted and ready to rip it apart.
Be brutal, be ruthless. Don't hold onto something just because it's beautiful. Ask yourself whether the words, and the order you put them in, do the thing you want them to do.
You can't offend the writer because they're not in the room right now.
After the editor puts the work on trial, become the writer again. Switch between writer and editor, over and over.
Writing Atomic Copy as the Atomic Author are the two foundational principles that guide everything I write, and on which my seven writing principles are built.