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Chapter 13 The Incubation Process It’s fine to read about the real secrets of copywriting, but let’s get serious. One of these days you’re going to have to implement what you’ve learned and start writing copy. What are some of the mental steps required to write copy in general and how do you go about writing effective copy? Let’s establish a few things that you have learned already in this book and then take everything a step further. As you recall, I referred to general knowledge—the knowledge you have picked up simply by living—and specific knowledge—the knowledge you acquired while studying the specific product you want to write copy about. Assume you are now an expert on a particular product and you are ready to start writing. The first thing I would do is go over all the material you have on your subject and give a great deal of thought to what you have just read and studied. Do plenty of thinking about what you want to write. You may jot down some headlines and some of the copy points you would like to bring out. You might list those points that best describe the nature of the product you are selling and you might like to list some of the strong reasons that your product would appeal to your customers. Put all your thoughts down on paper. But keep in mind, you have not yet started to write the copy. This is just preparation. Take a break from your work and do something pleasurable while your brain incubates. Or don’t put a thing on paper and just think through everything you know about the challenge you have to solve through copy. You might even visualize the end result of your work. Maybe it’s imagining that a stack of mail has arrived showing what a great response you received. Maybe it’s your boss coming up to you and patting you on the back for a job well done. Once you’ve done all that, do something that may seem strange to you at first. Stop. That’s right, stop. Do something else. Forget about the project. Do something pleasurable—a stroll in the park, a walk down the street or lunch with a good friend. Whatever you do, let it be a total diversion from what you are currently working on, and please don’t even think of the copy project. Whether you realize it or not, you are actually working on the ad constantly even though you’ve put it out of your mind. Your subconscious mind is actually processing everything you’ve learned—all of that data that you have accumulated in general and all of the information in particular. And your mind is then taking all of that data and running it through everything you know about copywriting and communications, mentally preparing the first version of your ad copy. It is taking this information and working through the millions of permutations possible to come up with the best solution to your marketing problem. And you’re doing absolutely nothing about it. You’re just out having a good time while your brain is working like crazy. And ironically, if you start thinking about your project again, you interrupt this process and the results won’t be as good. This entire subconscious activity is called the incubation process, and the time you are giving to it is called the incubation period. Your subconscious is processing millions of bits of data like a computer in your brain running a very important program in the background. Then, while you’re taking a walk or standing in a shower or even daydreaming, suddenly that big idea will flash across your mind. Eureka! Then go to your desk and start writing down some of that good stuff your subconscious mind has created and organized for you. Your Mind Is Always Working Sure, you might think you can eliminate the incubation period. You never do. Even when the pressure of deadlines prevents me from taking the luxury of time to incubate, I’m still incubating but at a much more rapid speed. The results may not be as good, however. The time pressure only increases the incubation process and speeds up the assimilation of data in your brain. If you have the luxury, your copywriting and what you produce will improve if you balance the pressure of deadlines with time away from the project. This could also mean working on one project, then going to another and subsequently coming back to the first one. This is another way of allowing you the luxury of having your subconscious mind work on a project while you do something else. The incubation process actually works best with pressure of some kind. If you have no pressure, your brain will not work as fast or as efficiently. So it is a balance of various pressures that produces the optimum results. What causes pressure? We already know that time causes pressure but there are other factors as well. Ego for example. If you have a big ego, it creates a certain amount of pressure. This pressure can be very positive in the incubation process. For example, your boss expects you to produce some knockout copy and your ego won’t let you disappoint her. You’ve added to the incubation pressure. Your creative orientation plays a role, too. For example, if you are naturally creative, you have a big advantage over someone who is not. And finally, the environment plays a role. If you are in a creative environment that encourages those incubation activities required in the creative process, it will help the incubation process along. Just Allow It to Happen Now don’t show this chapter to your boss and say, “See, Joe Sugarman tells me to take a pleasurable walk in the park on company time and enjoy myself while my brain incubates.” That’s nonsense and not the purpose of this chapter. In this chapter, I just want you to realize that there is a constant process going on in the background of your brain. And with the proper balance, you can create blockbuster copy by allowing the incubation process to function. The biggest mistake a manager can make in a mail order company is to have the creative department in the same building as any other department in the company. Imagine the operations people walking in to see the creative people incubating—staring into space or taking a long break with one of their peers. “Those privileged bastards in creative really get away with murder” would be a typical comment. But the creative department needs that atmosphere in order to function to its optimum. If management imposed the same rules on the creative department as on the rest of the staff who have to function on a conscious level during their jobs, the end result would be a sure drop in good creative work. It’s important to keep the creative staff separate from the rest of a company because the copywriter needs a little more freedom to incubate and create. When it comes time to sit down and knock out that copy, discipline comes into play. You’ve got to let that copy come pouring out of your brain, forgetting about spelling and grammar. Remember, your mind takes the data you’ve accumulated and runs it through everything you know about copywriting, communications and life in general. Well, hold back the stuff on spelling and grammar just long enough to let the copy flow out freely. Left Brain versus Right Brain If you’re knowledgeable about writing and creative thinking, you know that there has been much said about the different hemispheres of our brains controlling different types of thinking. The right brain does the intuitive or emotional thinking and the left brain does the logical. Which side of the brain should write the copy? The right brain of course. Let the copy flow out of that right brain and let it pour out unencumbered by any left-brain restraints. The pouring out of that copy or idea is the culmination of the incubation process. It is the end result of all the mental activity that has been running in the background. And so, the axiom that I suggest you remember is: Axiom 10 The incubation process is the power of your subconscious mind to use all your knowledge and experiences to solve a specific problem, and its efficiency is dictated by time, creative orientation, environment and ego. If you’ve gone through the incubation process and then put your thoughts on paper, you’ve accomplished half the challenge of writing good copy. (Next comes the fun part—the editing process. We’ll have to wait for that process in later chapters of this book.) Now that you are mentally prepared to tackle the copywriting process, it’s time to decide how much copy you should actually write.