Yes, we can have fun writing in government

By Lucy Ellis, Senior Speechwriter, Privy Council Office

I’ve loved writing since I was a kid.

I love how the right expressions can create a vivid word picture, how a well-placed semi-colon can knit two ideas together, and how things just sound good in a list of three.

For the record, I also love how much the Deputy Prime Minister’s writing team enjoys a good em-dash (see the budget 2023 speech for reference).

My comms career started in web and social media. This was back in the days when Twitter was called Twitter and had a 140-character limit. I also happen to love analytics and a good excel spreadsheet. So, I can tell you, objectively, that our most engaging social media content was written in the first-person plural with a human voice, emotions, newsworthy updates, and easy to understand language.

We also used spacing and line breaks to make the tweets easier to scan.

In 2018, I stumbled into speechwriting. With a bit of luck and good timing, I found a career path that I never knew existed. Speeches, like social media, work best when there is a deliberate effort to connect with an audience. It sounds obvious. Of course communications products are meant to engage an audience. But our writing can either invite people along for the ride, or inadvertently put up walls.

These are some of my favourite techniques for bridging the gap between us and our audience. And at the end of the day, writing with an audience in mind just makes the task more fun.

Bring people in

My grade 9 English teacher taught me to never use the first person in formal writing. I spent the next few years contorting myself into awkward sentences using the third-person pronoun “one.” Well, one does not speak like that in real life. If one did, one would be egregiously annoying.

We, our, and us are the magic words to create a sense of belonging, connection, and shared ownership over a challenge, a solution, or both.

There’s a time and a place for the formality of “the Government of Canada,” but if we can avoid it in communications and use more personal language, we should. When the Clerk talks about values and ethics in his speeches, he talks about “our” code. Not his. Not the public service’s. Ours.

Rhythm matters

I’m not saying to write in iambic pentameter. But take a moment and think about the flow and cadence of your writing. Break up long sentences with a short one. Play around with different verb moods. Perhaps a fragment.

As an English major, I’m giving you permission to sometimes break grammar if it will improve flow. (Hides from editors). That being said, you should avoid the passive voice at all costs. The passive voice is not wanted by anyone.

Speeches, like plays, are inherently meant to be heard. That means speechwriters must think about how our words will sound in a speaker’s voice. Other forms of government writing, like news releases or media responses, also benefit from having a more varied rhythm; it just keeps it interesting.

Structure is key

No one likes listening to chaos; a speech with an unclear destination is confusing and uncomfortable. A gripping introduction, clear thesis, obvious signposts, and thoughtful conclusion will all help an audience to keep up with the speaker and remember the main message.

Bring back the joy of writing

Writing is a skill to be sharpened and a craft to enjoy. I think that we get the most out of our work when we bring ourselves and our passion into it.

Happy writing!