Hello everyone, I have a rather problematic relationship with copywriting and I'd like to read your thoughts. My background is philology and linguistics, and I started as an in-house proofreader in a small company. Over time, the company grew and my position developed into an editor, then a copy editor, and at the moment it is a sort of hybrid that includes proofreading, editing, copy editing, and copywriting itself. Besides other things, I write blog posts and proof-edit product pages and other pieces of copy. It was a gradual development that I didn't quite predict, and now that copywriting occupies a larger part of my position, I feel sort of stuck with a discipline I'm not sure I want to do. #1 Copywriting is a very direct, bold, confident, persuasive style of writing. Everything that I'm not. I'm soft-spoken and timid, I have a humble personality, I don't like to show off, and I hate telling people what to do. (Ideal in a genre that literally relies on imperatives.) I don't see how such a person can ever become fit to write strong copy. #2 Copywriting needs brevity and minimum hesitation. For me, writing 4,000 words is easier than writing three. I also revel in complex sentences and I love hedging language. It just feels more honest than a strong claim I don't feel confident about. #3 Marketing was never among my interests. But copywriting can't work without it. So, as I try to educate myself in marketing and fill my knowledge gaps, I feel being pushed into learning about a field that doesn't resonate with me. I also fear I have an inherent negative attitude towards any form of advertisement — I automatically see it as exploitation. It's difficult to think of it as making an opportunity for people, rather than manipulation. #4 I'm not a creative person. I'm much rather an analytical type. I often read that creativity can be trained, but the more I try, the less I believe it. My writing has improved a lot over time, it isn't as hard anymore to write words from scratch; but it still doesn't go nearly as smooth as I'd wish. I don't imagine copywriting is effortless, yet I get stuck or need to rewrite way more often than I'd say is normal. So I might be good at the research part of the process, but the writing is always a struggle. The problem is that with my current position, there's no going back. At this point, it's very unlikely it will shift away from copywriting again. If anything, there'll be only more copywriting for me to handle in the future. And I don't want to lose this position, because despite this challenge, I love my job and couldn't wish for a better team. But every time I try to work on my copywriting skills, I feel how very much my personality protests, and I'm quite worried what will become of it. ------------------------ What do you think — is copywriting simply not for me and I shouldn't try to pursue something that doesn't align with my character? Or, "fake it till you make it" might be the solution?   submitted by   /u/Aiywe [link]   [comments]