Sexy phrases, must-use terms, inspiring motifs. They’re like the sparkles that make a cupcake feel special. Sprinkle them generously over all your writing.
Us writers tend to be in love with our words. Sometimes a great way to be inspired to craft a story – be it a business think-piece, or just a fun socials post – is to become obsessed with certain words – and then plan to use them!
North Star words have a special je-ne-sais-quoi . They call to your soul and let you know that you HAVE to use them in a piece. They’re often beautiful words or phrases in their own right. Ideally, they should be unusual, slightly enigmatic words. Words of distinction, if you will…
They keep you on track tone-wise, and often, they’ll keep you inspired too!
They could also be the high-compression, insider jargon words that show you’re in touch, elegantly conveying great chunks of meaning in as few words as possible.
Often clients will give them to you. If you speak to the right people, they’ll casually drop these bombshells during interviews, at times not even realising how wonderfully intelligent it makes them sound. It’s our job as writers to capture those little fragments of magic and weave them into our storytelling.
Other times, you might stumble upon them during stints of desktop research. Or you might hear them in a completely different context, but you realise they’re exactly the words you need, to inspire you to get going on a story.
If you’re writing a piece about the Renaissance, for example, you might choose, “enlightenment”, “perspective”, “humanism”, or “mastery” as your champions, or maybe even “chiaroscuro”, if you’re feeling extravagant.
Once, when writing a bio of a shrewd businessperson succeeding in a difficult industry, I knew I had to use the words “cut-throat market”, “cunning”, and “out-fox”. I don’t know how I knew. I just knew.
These magic words – be they titbits of jargon, or just rare, exquisite specimens that capture something of the essence of what you’re grasping at – are like the hooks in well-crafted phrase within a piece of music: they stick in the mind, and sell the story.
So, next time you need to write something, try this: Before you even start with the blurt-it-all out roughest-of the-rough brainstorming & ideation drafts, think of some appropriately inspiring North Star words. Then, do the vomit draft. Eventually, when you get to around draft 3, 4 or 5, it’ll start to become clear how these magic words fit into your overall narrative.
If it turns out the story is better without the North Star word, that’s OK too. Don’t be afraid to kill your darlings and jettison what no longer serves.
If you use AI to assist in ideating, or getting over blank page syndrome, you can also use your North Star words in your prompt; (“Include these important words and phrases somewhere in your output”).
I find some the best pieces of writing come about when I start by finding the magic words that keep me inspired and on-track.
Mike Whyle - Writer & Creative 