Trombones, swooning, and hanging onto every word...

Early on in his career, the late, great, Francis Albert Sinatra realised how important a very special breathing technique was to the way he sang.

And to the way people reacted to his voice.

The technique was called circular breathing, and he learned it by watching big band leader Tommy Dorsey play the trombone.

Using it, he developed a style of singing that allowed him to stretch a musical phrase far longer than normal.

He took fewer pauses for breath.

He learned to do more with the air he had.

As a result, young, impressionable teenage girls…and just as many slightly older impressionable ladies… hung on to every note Frankie boy sang.

And they kept on hanging on.

And on…

Then some of them promptly fell over.

Chests heaving.

Gasping for breath.

They hadn’t learned the art of circular breathing.

But they had perfected something else.

The art of swooning with sheer emotion.

Or, as they call it in the medical profession, lack of oxygen.

Years later, many of the fans of Elvis, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (and many others) suffered the same fate.

They hung on to every word The King, John, Paul, and Mick sang. Screamed their heads off. Then promptly keeled over.

Clever writers know this phenomenon.

They know that getting their readers to hang on to every sentence they write is like reaching out and touching the Holy Grail.

But they know it has nothing to do with religion.

Or music.

And everything to do with rhythm.

Not the kind that moves bodies.

But the kind that moves words.

And, more importantly, readers.

Put simply…good rhythm in a sentence makes it eminently more readable.

Bad rhythm in a sentence sucks.

Big time.

The words you use. The way they scan. The pauses in between the phrases. The breaks in between the sentences. The length of the sentences. The way your readers say them in their heads.

Get it all right, and you could have them hanging onto your every word.

They’ll probably read whatever you write.

They might even become big fans.

But as for swooning, don’t hold your breath...

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The above is an extract from my book Ad Lib. Like its sisters Ad Hoc, and Ad Infinitum, and Ad Interruptus (still in the melting pot), it's about creativity, advertising, life, and lots of stuff in between.

You'll find the first three, along with my other books, Love & Coffee and Heaven Help Us. In print and ebook. Waiting for you. Just look here:

Ad Lib: https://amzn.to/2kd4LKf.

Ad Hoc: https://amzn.to/2Nx8GL8

Love & Coffee: https://amzn.to/28IWaHq

Heaven Help Us: https://amzn.to/2nkQ1Jk

So grab a coffee, grab a chair, and grab a sneaky peek.

Then grab a copy...like...now!