As I walked up the stairs of a footbridge I saw two swindlers ready with a coupon, waiting for me to reach the top, ready to sell whatever bullshit they have planned.
I cast my eyes down and turned the volume of my headphones to full so that I could avoid them completely, but I failed.
They handed me the coupon and got a big donation from me in a mere five minutes.
It was the most effective sales pitch that I have ever been a victim of and I don’t know if my money went to a legit NGO or I got conned.
But I still don’t regret giving money because, in those five minutes, they taught me everything about writing that mattered.
You’ll hit the bullseye with this approach
I walked up the stairs fully prepared to reject their pitch and walk away quickly from them, but I got sucked into a conversation.
“You’re very lucky”, said the first guy as he approached me with a big smile. It was an intriguing opening that made me stop on my way.
My plan to walk away shattered quickly as I asked him, “What do you mean by that?”
“Your forehead indicates you are very lucky and determined to achieve all your goals, which you will do in time.” This statement had me remove my headphones altogether.
I was hooked and he knew it.
He used a vague positive statement based on zero evidence to hook me in a conversation that’ll later cost me a pretty penny.
I have done extensive research on the Barnum effect , the phenomenon that makes us believe in horoscopes, but I still fell for this shit.
He threw lots of vague worthless statements at me that made me stand still. I am aware that this pseudoscience uses the existential human condition to make you feel seen.
But I am also a writer who can’t back down from an intriguing conversation, hence the big donation. He left no stone unturned to sell me to myself.
Every good story starts the same way
I avoided eye contact but I failed for a second which was enough time for him to engage me in a conversation.
“ You’re a very lucky person, indeed.” This sentence stopped me in my tracks, no volume is high enough for me to ignore this statement.
I got invested the minute this statement left his mouth. There was no turning back, I knew I was trapped.
This sentence alone is the reason why I stopped to have a chat with him. The hook is what gets customers interested. So, start with a hook, something that is sure to reel in people.
It takes deep thinking and a lot of trial and error to land on a great hook, but you’ll get better at it with practice. That’s the secret to good quality writing that keeps the reader on the page.
Satisfy your reader's curiosity simply by doing this
The hook got me invested, it made me ask several questions one after another. I am not a superstitious person but I am a writer with a curious mind, every conversation for me is a small window of opportunity.
I justify my curiosity by being a writer, but if you were in my place there’s a big possibility you would have done the same.
A stranger locks eyes with you hoping to gaze into your soul, and blurts out “You’re very lucky”, it’s a bit creepy but not enough for me to back down.
You can’t ignore a statement like this, it’s too juicy. So I got sucked into this charade. The conversation flowed easily as he threw more random facts at me.
That’s the important part that most of us miss, the hook will get the readers on your blog, but only a good intro will keep them interested.
Your work doesn’t stop at the hook, you have to keep things interesting so that the reader moves from one line to the next, that’s the essence of storytelling.
You read a line, react to it, accept that reaction, and then you instantly follow your intuition to pose a question.
Write to answer your readers' expectations, you need to ignite their curiosity to ask questions that you need to answer to the best of your ability.
That swindler did it well, he answered my questions with questions to engage me in a discussion.
I was invested and he knew it, so he milked his skills to get me to donate more money, which I ended up doing.
The body language of your prose matters
The conviction that this man had made me stop in my path. It wasn’t just the hook but also his body language that made me stand there for 10 minutes.
He looked me dead in the eye and told me that my overthinking was the reason I had no mental peace in my life. It’s a bold claim but alas a generic one.
Most people overthink and mental peace is rarer than a peacock spider. Generic statements are the reason pseudoscience businesses flourish.
I am not a superstitious person but my parents are, they have got my birth chart read by an astrologer. But I have never participated in these superstitions directly.
If anything I avoid being sucked into the vortex of superstition so I stay away from these practices and the people who practice them.
But this man’s belief and conviction compelled me to listen and learn. I might not have learned much about myself but I ended up learning a thing or two about writing.
- Give your full attention to the reader, the reader should be able to connect with your words and by association with you.
- The prose should make the reader either question himself or find the solution to the problem that he didn’t know he had.
- Make your readers feel good by sharing your failures and shortcomings with them to be an empathetic writer.
Conclusion
This swindler is a real salesman, he’s a master at selling the plight of the poor in the most empathetic way that you’ll feel guilty for not donating
He threw a barrage of generic statements at me that made me think about my character and personality, his strong conviction fogged my rationality.
But more than that this short conversation gave me a chance to gaze into the reader’s mind. To improve my writing to fulfill their basic needs.
- Start with a juicy hook, something that compels them to read the next line.
- It’s your responsibility to keep them interested after getting them hooked.
- Structure your prose in an easy-to-read way that helps them navigate the body better.
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