You Want To Pull In Readers? Tell A Story.

Copywriters know that one of the most important ways to attract people to an article is to write a jam up headline. Admittedly, I’m not the best at doing this as I believe others are gifted with a flair for the dramatic and thus it seems to come easy for them. Then again if you work at it, your headline can pull people in and once you have their attention your opening paragraph will either hook or chase away your readers.

What Lillie Had To Say

What is one of the best ways to capture readers? That's easy -- share with them an interesting personal story.

Last week, I visited Lillie Ammann’s blog and was treated to a delightful article that was far different from what I had expected to find. I’ve “known” Lillie for several years now, an accomplished writer and editor from Texas who is an encourager as well as a very good Christian witness. Lillie truly cares about her readers, acknowledging everyone who stops over by responding to their comments on an individual basis and posting a monthly wrap up where she thanks each commentator by name.

Lillie, who often shares instructive advice including how to sell a book, methods on how to improve your writing, or ways to accomplish a goal, recently decided to share with her readers a personal story about how she began to work with plants (greenery). I’m not going to spoil her write up – you can find it here – but I will tell you that I learned more about Lillie through that one story than I had in all of her previous accounts combined.

What was the difference this time? Lillie wrote a personal narrative.

Readers seem to like it when you write a narrative which is a fancy word for telling a story. It must be my Irish background that has me enjoying story-telling because when it comes to spinning a yarn, the Irish seem particularly good at it. In fact I know that they are – my Irish American father would often share an account from many years earlier and my mother would point out his embellishments! Still, his stories were always interesting, lively and certainly captivating!

Headlines And Opening Paragraphs

After coming up with a good headline, you’ll need to create a powerful opening paragraph that gets the attention of your reader. There is nothing worse than finding that the story fails to appeal in the very first paragraph – you have just one shot to get it right or otherwise risk losing your readers.

How you tell your story is up to you, but you have to give people reason to keep reading. Your story should build as it goes along with each point connecting until you reach the end. Some writers describe this process as setting the stage where you begin to build tension (anticipation) as you move forward.

Taking A Look Ahead

I must tell you that when I read a short story – especially if it is a good one — I will sometimes stop what I’m doing to take a peak at the ending. Not so much to spoil a good narrative, but in order to gauge how the writer plans on getting me through the various steps until the story’s conclusion. I’ll go back and finish reading the story just the way that it was meant to be read, but I’m a student of good writing and love how an accomplished writer weaves his or her tapestry to produce their masterpiece.

Of course, if your story has some sort of sales component to it, then ending with a call to action is important. In any case, you want your readers to absorb what you’ve written, taking in the story as a whole while enjoying the finer points which is exactly what Lillie managed to execute with her green thumb narrative.

Photo Credit: Horton Group

Be Sociable, Share!

•