June 2018

Let’s say someone you know walks over to you sombrely and says:

“I’ve got some bad news”

No doubt you’ll get a sudden knot in your stomach and a hankering to know just what the news could be.

What’s the cause of that sudden anxiety?

Well, lets face it…

Your first thought is naturally; “how will this affect me?”

Can’t help it. Can’t fight it. It’s human nature. Even if the news will only affect you by proxy that’s the first question your mind and body asks.

That’s why WIIFM is so important when trying to sell something.

‘What’s in it for me?’. WIIFM.

That’s the most important question to answer – way before anything else, way before you even try to engage in a sale.

If you haven’t answered that in your sales call/article/advert/email then any conversions will be due to blind luck.

(image credit: The Telegraph)

I’ve been trying to do some screenwriting recently.

It was actually the first kind of creative writing I ever really did.

Because, as a kid (and as an adult), I’m the kind of person who couldn’t just watch a movie and enjoy it, I’d want to do my own version.

Anyway, I re-watched the movie ‘When Harry Met Sally’ the other day.

Why?

A) Because it’s a successful film that I really like

and

B) because it’s a very dialogue heavy film, and the dialogue is great.

After watching it I found a copy of the script online and, man, even when written down that dialogue is still incredible.

It crackles and sparkles. The screenwriter, Nora Ephron does an amazing job.

You can see why Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan agreed to star in it.

As someone with more than a passing interest in acting I’d bite my agent’s hand off to be in it if I was sent the script.

(Although, I’d probably be kind of shocked as I don’t have an agent…)

Is your writing alive? Does it jump off the page and grab hold of the reader? Is it compelling?

If you answered no to any of those questions maybe you should try and turn that no into a yes.

(image credit: Columbia Pictures)

for struggling writers everywhere