“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” – Francis Bacon, Born Jan. 21, 1561. You’ll see me waffle on whether what sales copywriters and ad men do is “art” or not. But whether it is or isn’t – that’s irrelevant to whether the methods of CREATING art are useful to us… Read More →
Let’s Be Honest. You and I Are Both Liars.
“All writers are liars. They twist events to suit themselves. They make use of their own tragedies to make a better story… They are terrible people.” – Nina Bawden, Born Jan. 19, 1925. You ain’t no journalist. You ain’t no oracle. We are making shit up to manipulate people’s emotions, and thereby their behavior. That… Read More →
Stagnation is the Mind Killer, the Little Death
“Agitate! Agitate! Ought to be the motto of every reformer. Agitation is the opposite of stagnation – the one is life, the other death.” – Ernestine Rose, Born Jan. 13, 1810. One of the best tricks I know for starting a “push” conversation in the mind of a stranger is to acknowledge their frustrations, and… Read More →
Universe Hacking and Other Fun Persuasion Tricks
“We have been endowed with the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within and to find them automatically in the outer world of our environment.” – John A. MacDonald, Born Jan. 11, 1815. Many diatribes on the “power of positive thinking” center on this kind of idea. That vision can instantly lead to… Read More →
The Wise Man of the Wasteland Reveals His One Weird Trick
“The man who interprets Nature is always held in great honor.” – Zora Neale Hurston, Born Jan. 7, 1891. If you want to be the guru/expert/wizard in your chosen fields of expertise, you must become an interpreter of nature, as it occurs in that field. You are the wise man. The oracle. A wizard of… Read More →
Propaganda for Fun and Profit. But Mostly Profit.
“It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.” – Jacques Ellul, Born Jan. 6, 1912. I say often that being able to persuade other people is about as close as you can get to having a real life superpower. It makes life easier. It… Read More →
Bloody Eyeballs Are Happy Eyeballs
“Don’t forget that the only two things people read in a story are the first and last sentences. Give them blood in the eye on the first one.” – Herbert Bayard Swope, Born Jan. 5, 1882. That’s why your opener should fuck the reader in the brain, right through their eye socket, planting the seed… Read More →
People Are Seventeen Forever on the Inside
“I’m 48 years old, not a kid anymore by any definition, but here is a universal truth that every adult at some point will realize: We are all always 17 years old, waiting for our lives to begin.” – Harlan Coben, Born Jan. 4, 1962. You can write pretty persuasively for people of any age… Read More →
The Second Principle of Magic (And How To Use It to Guide the Decisions of Others…)
“The second principle of magic: things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed.” – James G. Frazer, Born Jan. 1, 1854. It goes this way with the sharing of ideas, too. Contact with the mental machinery of… Read More →
The Written Word Makes Audible Music in the Mind of the Reader
“He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.” – Joseph Conrad, Born Dec. 3, 1857. This is why your work needs to read the way people speak. Because the mind’s ear… Read More →
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