How to Write a Kick-Ass Story

Issue #2373

• WEALTHY: Surprising news from the real estate market (Rick Pendergraft)
• HEALTHY: Diversify your plate, age less (Kelley Herring)
• WISE: Robert McKee on stories

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

• 4 points to writing a kick-ass story (John Carlton)
• We’re listening – what do you have to say? (Suzanne Richardson)
• It’s Good to Know… about your master information document
• Add "execrable" to your vocabulary

== Highly Recommended ==

Imagine Knowing of a Casino Where the Dealer Tipped His Hand Before You Made Your Move and Didn’t Care How Many Times You Beat Him.

When Would You Stop Going There?

This is nothing to do with games of chance, but I hope your answer to that question would be a resounding, "NEVER!!" Assuming you’re sane that is… Well, that is a virtually PERFECT analogy of the power of the insider signal!

It’s often said, "The Stock Market is just a big casino." And it’s true. But the important omission in that statement (to keep the masses out!) is the dealer in this casino tips his hand to the select few… the insiders.

Such powerful knowledge could make YOU very rich indeed… Click to learn more…

Is Housing Rebounding?

By Rick Pendergraft

The April Housing Starts report showed a surprising 8.2 percent increase. This is somewhat encouraging after seeing so many declines over the past few years.

While this might not signal a reversal for the housing market, it at least shows that the housing sector is stabilizing. And it is being reflected in the housing stocks. Most of them have made a slight reversal from their lows.

There was another piece of good news for housing from the April Retail Sales report. Of all the sub-sectors within the retail group, building supplies saw the greatest growth for the month. This could be a sign of things to come.

The S&P Homebuilders Spyder (XHB) has bounced back from its January low. The stock has recently moved above its 100- and 200-day moving averages. I find this to be encouraging for a long-term investment.

I am normally a short-term trader, but I know a long-term opportunity when I see it. The XHB is a great one. I would look to buy shares up to the $23.50 level and hold them for a year or more.

[Ed. Note: Investing in the XHB is just one way to give your funds a potential boost. If you're interested in learning what else can make your money grow, you'll want to learn Rick's embarrassing secret. It helped make him over $15,000 in 30 days - and it's so simple, a fifth grader could understand it. Learn more here.]

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Bring Your Story Home to Your Reader

By John Carlton

Let’s go deeper into storytelling, what d’ya say? My last article in ETR ("You, The Movie") seems to have hit a nerve.

In that article, I discussed the importance of storytelling as a skill, especially for copywriters attempting to persuade prospects to become customers. The brief exercise I suggested was aimed at sharpening your ability to weave a pithy tale… and the response was overwhelming. At last count, more than 160 folks posted their efforts in the new "comments" section on ETR’s website. (And I read every single one. Thanks, again, to everyone who participated. It was fun, wasn’t it?)

Today, if you’re up for it, I have another exercise that will help hone your writing chops to dangerous "street-wise salesmanship" levels.

But first… let’s do some triage.

In case you missed it, I reviewed specific submissions in the comments section. But, in general, if there was one glaring fault in the three-sentence stories that were posted, it was the lack of a clear punch line. This is the most common error rookies make (and it’s an easy fix, once you get hip to advanced storytelling tactics). Many of the narratives sort of "floated," without moorings. And while meaningful to the writer, the tales remained mysteries to the reader.

Great storytelling sucks people into your world. This is especially important when one of your ultimate goals is to use your writing to sell stuff. (Most legendary ads involve some type of storytelling.)

Even the most rollicking yarn can put people to sleep if it’s too complex, goes off on too many tangents, or doesn’t tickle the reader’s short attention span.

And most people are not natural storytellers… so they sometimes ramble off on quirky paths, repeating themselves, unable to clearly explain plot points, and bombarding the listener with irrelevant details. "Did I tell you about the UFO that attacked us? No? It was Tuesday last week. No, wait, it was Wednesday. Yeah. It must have been Wednesday, because I was headed to IHOP to meet Suzy for waffles. You know they have specials every Wednesday, don’t you?"

This is how people get strangled.

In my long experience trying to force folks to tell better stories, the first task is nearly always to trim the excess verbiage and fluff.

The outline to follow is: the set-up (the tease of the payoff to come)… plot elements (relevant details)… action (the fulfillment of the tease)… and punch line.

Focus on your reason for telling your story… which could vary from pure entertainment to providing insight to persuading someone to buy. When you’re done, you want your listener or reader to FEEL something. Happiness ("Aww, the puppy got rescued")… alarm ("My God, I’m gonna keep a loaded gun by my bedside from here on out")… astonishment ("My neighbors are doing what at night?")… or, yes, even greed ("Hey! I want that kind of deal too!").

The process can also be described biologically. Like this: foreplay… climax… resolution.

Stories, like sex, benefit from a focus on the goal. The less extraneous interruption, the better.

In other words: It’s not about you at all, even if you’re the star of the story.

It’s about your reader.

Ideally, he will "see" himself in your story. Or feel like he’s temporarily privy to the world you create with your words – a world he would not otherwise have access to.

Have you ever read a story to a child? Once they get a taste for it, just saying, "Once upon a time…" will glaze their eyes over, as they eagerly prepare themselves to be transported to a world far different than their own.

The concept of "transporting" is critical. You’re driving the story, and it’s your responsibility to keep it on the road. Your reader will abandon you at the first hint that you don’t know where you’re going. And he’ll despise you for getting his hopes up for a good tale if you then dash them with a feeble punch line.

That’s why striving for pithy, concise stories is so important for writers. Set-up… plot elements… action… punch line.

And the three-liner is classic. One of the best: "I’ve been poor. And I’ve been rich. Rich is better."

No need for any details. In this example, the words "rich" and "poor" carry their own payload of emotional backstory with them, because, in this context, nearly everyone will have a feeling about being rich and a feeling about being poor. A long-winded rant about HOW poor you were, or HOW rich you became, is excessive.

Concise, memorable stories pack a punch.

Even better, there is a segue into the life of the reader in that three-line beauty. "Rich is better" may seem like an obvious statement, but coupled with the set-up lines, it delivers a strong message that smacks of truth. You want to hear what else this guy has to say.

The flow of a quick story, told with feeling, is always ripe with implications for the reader.

However, good ad copy doesn’t rest on implications. It’s got to move quickly to specifics.

So here’s a simple tactic from my own bag of tricks that has helped bring many a story "home" to readers: First, you tell your tale, aiming for the kind of breathless prose that makes your prospect afraid to exhale for fear of missing a delicious detail.

Then, you deliver the punch line or the moral or just the ending. Don’t try any clever transitions back into your sales pitch. Instead, you merely say: "And here’s what that means for YOU…"

When reading fables to kids, any attempt to explain the moral would ruin the transcendent pleasure of listening to them. Ideally, you want the ending to rattle around in their heads, while they mull over the ethical implications and come up with their own conclusion. (Kids hate it when adults wag fingers and try to force lessons on them.)

But when you’re writing to adults, you no longer have that luxury. Especially with ad copy. Adults are so numb to incoming data, they will hear even a great story, store it away somewhere in their cluttered brain, and move on to the next volley of arriving stimuli without coming to any conclusion whatsoever.

So, as the copywriter, it’s your job to complete the thought.

You just continue the thread, going deeper into your sales message.

"I’ve been poor. And I’ve been rich. Rich is better. Here’s what that means for you: You can continue on with your life believing that ‘money can’t buy happiness,’ if that makes you feel better. But I’m here to tell you that having a pile of extra cash is actually a fabulous feeling… and your life will get better almost immediately. Plus, since I’ve already done the hard work of going from clean broke to filthy rich, I know all the shortcuts… and I’ll share them with you…"

Et cetera.

So, if you’re up for it… here’s your next assignment: Tell a short, three-sentence story (using the set-up, plot, action, and punch line outline). And then write a one- or two-line segue that brings the story home to your reader. Leave it in the "comments" section on ETR’s website here. 

You’re allowed to be nonsensical for this exercise. In other words, you don’t actually have to be selling anything. You can make it all up.

Just think – really, really hard – about how the punch line of your story MIGHT lead into a sales message.

Be concise, and bring it home to the reader. That’s the key to world-class sales messages.

You cannot "fail" at this exercise, because you’re just warming up your chops.

You don’t learn to ride without hopping into the saddle. And it’s okay to fall off, as long as you climb back on.

Again, I’ll read every submitted story, and comment as needed.

[Ed. Note: Think storytelling doesn't matter? Think again. John Carlton is an expert copywriter, a pioneer in online marketing, and a teacher of killer sales copy - and he's honed the storytelling craft to a fine point. From John, you can also discover how to get your hands on the kick-ass secrets of the world's smartest, happiest, and wealthiest marketers.

And be sure to read his insights, tactics, and advice on copywriting and marketing at his blog.]

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== Highly Recommended ==

Turn A Single $100 Investment Into A $2,000-A-Week Profit Machine

In the next seven days, 4,589 people will leave their jobs, never go back… and have all the money they will ever need.

I would tell you that these people are “very lucky,” but the fact of the matter is that there is no luck involved.

It’s happening everywhere. Ordinary people – including people who never finished school – starting their own businesses… and making in the neighborhood of $40,000… $60,000… even $100,000 or more a year.

Even though all these people are “ordinary” in some ways, one thing is certainly “out of the ordinary” about them:

Many used the same secret to start a business on less than $100. You can do it, too. Here’s how.

-Charlie Byrne 

ETR Insider Report: The Best Way to Get More of What You Want

By Suzanne Richardson

"ETR is a perfect example of horrible ’service.’"

That was the first line of a post on our SpeakOut forum. (Read the full post here.)

The minute I saw it, I snapped into action. I contacted our Associate Publisher, Charlie Byrne, and our Customer Service Manager, Sharika Kellogg. Even though Sharika was out of the office, she responded very quickly. First, she tracked down the problem and came up with a solution. Then she called the disgruntled subscriber, and, when he didn’t answer, sent him an e-mail explaining how she’d resolved the issue.

The thing is, ETR is not perfect. We make mistakes. But what we aim to do – and what any business should aim to do – is correct any errors, figure out why they happened, and prevent them from happening again.

We truly care about our subscribers. You are who we are talking to each and every day. You are who we think of when we create new products, write new articles, hire new employees.

And if we’re not doing something right, we want to know. Sharika and her Customer Service team are always standing by to answer your questions. You can contact them here any time.

But there’s something else you can do to ensure that you get exactly what you want out of ETR: Let us know what you’d like to see more of.

Are there writers you particularly love? Did one article really jump out at you and make you want to learn more? Is there a product you found to be super-useful?

Telling us what we’re doing wrong is a great way to get your problem corrected. But telling us what we’re doing RIGHT is a great way to get more of the same top-notch, valuable advice and information you love.

We aim to please. Let us know what you love… and what you want more of… by e-mailing us at ReaderFeedback@gmail.com. We’ll take every comment seriously. And we just might print your e-mail in Early to Rise.

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Protect Your DNA (and Beat Tastebud Boredom, Too!)

By Kelley Herring 

When it comes to eating fruits and veggies, straying from the "same old, same old" may help you age less, according to new research.

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that a diet with eight to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables representing 18 plant families was more effective in preventing DNA damage than one with the same number of servings from only eight plant families.

Beat tastebud boredom and slow the hands of time by stocking your freezer with a wide variety of organic, flash-frozen fruits and veggies. And vary your cuisine by making creative substitutions. Try hearts of palm in place of artichoke hearts, arugula instead of spinach, green mangoes instead of tomatoes. You’ll pack more DNA-protecting power (and pleasure) into mealtime.

[Ed. Note: Eating healthy doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice good food. For healthy and delicious recipes - plus exercise strategies, supplement suggestions, and other fitness motivation - sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.

And be sure to stop by HealingGourmet.com, where you'll find more healthful ideas from Kelley.]

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It’s Good to Know: Your Master Information Document

If you died tomorrow, would your family be able to put your affairs – especially your finances – in order? One way to make sure they can is to create a single master document that lists all your bank accounts, debts, assets, life insurance policies, Social Security benefit records, retirement accounts, etc. Include the account numbers, as well as contact information for the company, lender, or bank. Keep a copy of this document in a safe place – a safety deposit box, for example – and make sure family members know it exists and where to find it. You could also give a copy directly to your closest trusted relative.

(Source: The Simple Dollar)

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== Highly Recommended ==

What If There Was A Way To Legally Beat A Traffic Ticket?

“When Attorneys Get Speeding Or Traffic Tickets, This Is What They Do… No Points, No Increased Premiums & Definitely No Stupid Driving School. These Tricks Work Like Magic.”

If you’re like me then the simple sight of a police car in your rear-view mirror is enough to send shivers down your spine, but…

When the lights start flashing…

There Goes That Safe Driver Discount… Right? Not anymore…

Click here to read more.

-Charlie Byrne

Word to the Wise: Execrable

"Execrable" (EK-sih-kruh-bul) – from the Latin – means utterly detestable.

Example (as used by Owen Powell in The New York Times): "Meals consisted of the execrable MREs, which we often wolfed down to the chorus of incoming mortar rounds."

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008

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