“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 […]
Making Your Minor Marvels More Mysterious May Magnify How Much They Matter Read More »
“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
Let’s Be Honest. You and I Are Both Liars. Read More »
“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
Stagnation is the Mind Killer, the Little Death Read More »
“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
Universe Hacking and Other Fun Persuasion Tricks Read More »
“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
The Wise Man of the Wasteland Reveals His One Weird Trick Read More »
“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
Propaganda for Fun and Profit. But Mostly Profit. Read More »
“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
Bloody Eyeballs Are Happy Eyeballs Read More »
“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
People Are Seventeen Forever on the Inside Read More »
“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
The Second Principle of Magic (And How To Use It to Guide the Decisions of Others…) Read More »
“Men value things in three ways: as useful, as pleasant or sources of pleasure, and as excellent, or as intrinsically admirable or honorable.” – Mortimer Adler, Born Dec. 28, 1902. Let’s make today about practicality. We write to sell things. That’s our goal. Our duty. And to do that, we have to make people see
Shortcut to Creating a Perception of Value in Absolutely Any Piece of Information Read More »
