Drama. Structure. Next Step.

Twelve Ways To Jumpstart Articles

© 2007 by Sean D’Souza. All rights reserved. Published by Psychotactics Ltd. No part of this publication may be
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Contents
Stepping Through Structure 1
Taking A Walk Through More Structure
The Cheat Sheet 2
The Instant Reference Guide
No. 1: Start With An Unfolding Story 3
Why Stories Create Instant Drama
No.2 : Use A Different View 4
How to look at cats from the mouse-view
No. 3: Disagree With Your Headline 5
Are We Off To A good start, or what?
No. 4: How To Use The Power of Senses 6
Why Seeing, Doing, Hearing, Eating Is Kinda Good
No. 5: The Obvious Factor 7
Why Swinging from Obvious to Not-So-Obvious Gets Attention
No. 6: Create A Problem 8
The Simplest Way To Jumpstart An Article
No. 7: Every Day Activities 9
Starting Up A Video In Your Brain
No. 8: Traumatic Moments 10
How Claustrophobia Creates Instant Drama
No. 9: The Power Of Lists 11
Why Listing Makes Sense
No. 10: Rant and Rave 12
Going Bananas Is A Good Thing
No. 11: The Impossible 13
Impossible Start Ups Are Easier Than You Think
No. 12: Using Curiosity 14
Easily the greatest driver of them all
Jumpstart, eh?
Often the hardest thing to do is to start.

Starting creates momentum, no matter how pathetic that momentum may be. And
once that momentum gets rolling, it’s much easier to move ahead. So how do we
move ahead?

There are several ways to jumpstart an article

Almost all of the ways specifically hark back to the ‘disconnected object’ you learned
about earlier in Lesson 3. But can we expand on those ways? Can we indeed find
ways to jumpstart an article, approaching that darned article from several different
angles?

The answer is yes.

And in the pages to follow, we’re going to learn just how to do it.

So come along with me on this merry ride, as we learn a whopping twelve ways to
jumpstart an article. This is a quick reckoner, so if you ever get stuck, you can quickly
refer back to this set of notes. And just for good measure, I’ve created a little cheat
sheet as well, at the very start of these notes, that you can print out and paste on your
computer or near your desk.

Enjoy!

 

  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course

The Cheat-Sheet
1) Start with an unfolding story, much like the 6pm news does each evening.
2) Start with historical event being re-told. Use a different angle (e.g. helicopter view)
3) Disagree with the headline. (e.g. “Sales is stupid” for an article on sales).
4) Use the power of senses (e.g. Sound, Smell etc.: The room smelled like cheese).
5) Ask a predictable question. (e.g. Would $300,000 p.a. be enough of an income?)
6) Create a problem. (e.g. Imagine the economy crashed a week from now...)
7) Describe an everyday activity (e.g. Brushing your teeth)
8) A traumatic Moment (e.g.David McDonald carries a $5 note. It’s the only note he
had when he headed north four years ago).
9) Start up a list of things (e.g. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superman).
10) Rant and rave about something (e.g. I get really mad when people leave lights on)
11) Start with the impossible. (e.g. Could you earn a year’s income in a week?)
12) Create Curiosity. (e.g. The people of Valencia are celebrating)

 
  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course
No 1: Start with an unfolding story
Notice how the news anchor folk get your attention? They always start off with
an unfolding story. And no you don’t have to be a news anchor to work out how
to unfold a story, because you’ve done it many times before. You’ve done it when
you’re talking to your friends, or telling a child a story, or simply when making a
presentation of sorts. So let’s see some examples:

Example 1: News Anchor:

Today a child was found abandoned at Melbourne airport. At first, it just seemed
like she was lost. But a closer look at security cameras found that she’d been
abandoned by her caretaker, now identified as the child’s father. The police named
the child “Pumpkin”, as she was wearing clothes made by the prominent clothing
manufacturer, ‘Pumpkin Patch.’

Example 2: Talking to friends:

We were crossing the bridge when it happened. For no particular reason, the bridge
started to rumble. We thought it might be an earthquake and feared the worst, but in
fact, it wasn’t an earthquake at all. It was simply....

Example 3: Telling A Story To A Child:

I remember when you were just two years old. Your parents were really afraid that
you weren’t speaking that much. You’d say very few words to begin with. And then
for no particular reason, you’d construct whole sentences. You’d be out grocery
shopping with your parents, and you’d say a whole line like, “The cars are in the car
park.”

Action Plan:
So how do you use this unfolding story to jumpstart your article?
Simply start out by telling a story. A story is dramatic by itself, and if simply rolled
out, immediately gets and keeps the attention of the audience.

Possible Mistake:
Don’t overdo it. The story can’t run for over. Run the story for a couple of paragraphs
at best. Then pull back to the main ‘angle’ you’re writing about.
If you write about the story too long, you lose the reader’s attention. It’s easy to get
all hung up about your ‘wonderful’ story, but remember the why you’re writing
the article in the first place. It’s to get the ‘angle’ across. The opening is just the
attraction device, and should stay that way. Don’t let it take over more than just a few
paragraphs at best.

 

  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course

No. 2: Use a different view
You don’t always need a different story. You just need to tell the story from a different
angle. So what do I mean by this? Well, imagine you’re telling a story about a young
buffalo being attacked by a bunch of lionesses. That story may almost appear too
gruesome to some. But what if you changed the angle? Maybe you looked at same
story from the angle of the lioness having to feed her now starving cubs. You’ve now
looked at the same story from a completely different angle, haven’t you?

Creating an opening, doesn’t need you to re-tell a story. It simply needs you to look at
the story from a completely different angle. It could a story from history told from a
ground angle, and now you’re telling the story from the top of a bus, or a helicopter,
or from the angle of the audience, or the speaker or...waitaminit what am I talking
about? Here’s what I’m talking about:

Imagine yourself in a helicopter over Milwaukee, USA, on the shiny morning of

June 13, 1998.

You look down casually on the criss-crossing tangle of roads on Interstate 94, and
then do a double take. You can’t believe your eyes.

It seems like there are hundreds of moving objects on the highway below. Maybe
even thousands. You watch in horror as a veritable sea of black advances like
warrior ants into downtown Milwaukee.

You hastily reach for your binoculars and your heart goes thump, thump, thump.
Thousands upon thousands of Harley bikers, swathed in trademark leather and
shining chrome bikes seem to be almost invading the city.

What should you do? Maybe you should call the newspaper. The police perhaps.
Surely Milwaukee needs some sort of warning.

But it’s too late. The bikers are already in the city.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.psychotactics.com/artmarketingsecret.htm

See how the drama was created by getting into a helicopter and describing the view
from the top? Now imagine you’re talking about your cat. What if you looked at your
cat from the angle of the mouse hole? Or what if you looked at your cat from the
angle of the next-door dog? Or what if you looked at your cat from the angle of the
next door cat? Or the neighbour who hates the cat? Or the little girl with the pigtails
who loves the cat? Wouldn’t each angle bring a different sort of drama to your story?

And more importantly, won’t it jumpstart your brain to see details and an unfolding
story that it may not have been able to see before?

Simply look at ordinary stuff from another another angle, and you’ll find drama un-
folding immediately. This is simply because your brain gets bored with the ordinary,
and is able to focus immediately on the ‘different angle,’ What’s really cool, is that
customers will love the different angle as well. And as I said, that’s really cool!

 
  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course
No 3: Disagree with your headline
The logical thing to do in an article is to let the reader right down the path you’re
taking them. So why not be a little illogical? Because the illogical way is often the
best way to jumpstart an article.

And when you disagree with your own headline, you’ve really got a customer’s
attention instantly! So how do you disagree with your own headline?

Notice how the headline talks about ‘increasing your prices.’

But almost instantly, the opening paragraph talks about
‘reducing your prices.’ Which as you can tell, is the exact
opposite of the headline. And then there’s the article about
‘The Godfather offer’ that creates its own drama. See how the
opposite stance really works?

Here’s how you disagree with your own headline

So if your headline is about ‘saving money’, then let your opening start with
‘spending money.’ If your headline is about ‘keeping stores open at 6pm,’ then start
with ‘closed shutters at 6pm.’ If your headline is about ‘getting feedback,’ then start
with the opposite of ‘feedback.’

Can you find a way to start an article with the opposite premise?

Examples at:
http://www.psychotactics.com/artgodfather.htm
http://www.psychotactics.com/artraisingprices.htm
  

  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course

No 4: Use The Power Of Senses
Get your reader to pick up something.
To imagine something.
Smell something.
Sing something.
Eat something.
Hear something.
See something.

Using the power of senses immediately gets your reader to pay attention
But why would they want to pay attention? Simply because once you tell the reader
to smell something, see something, hear something or do something, their brain
automatically does exactly what you’ve asked them to do. That’s the power of the
senses.

So if you’re going to start up an article, be a sensei of the senses. :)

 
  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course
No 5: The Obvious Factor
You wouldn’t think that the obvious question would get a reader’s attention, did you?
Well it does, especially if it’s so obvious that the reader has to do a double-take to
wonder why you’re even asking the question.

But there’s a method to this madness of asking the obvious question.

It lets you pull the reader into the article with the obvious. And like it or not,
curiosity is what we all have, and we’re pulled into the article, wondering when the
article is going to change direction.

And within a few paragraphs, your article does indeed change direction. It takes on
a factor of unpredictability that takes an engaged reader deeper into the article. This
‘predictablility factor’, predictable as it seems, actually acts as a disconnector.

So how do you create this predictability factor?

1) You talk about the obvious.
2) You make the customer agree that it’s obvious.
3) You switch it with the ‘not-so-obvious.’ (which the reader is expecting anyway)

In many cases, the obvious, if too obvious, gets the reader’s attention. When things
are too plain, the reader wonders if there’s somehow a catch; somehow a twist of
sorts. And when you quickly provide the ‘not-so-obvious’, the reader is instantly
involved. In the piece above (which you can find at http://www.psychotactics.com/
artenough.htm) you’ll find that the piece swings from the obvious: getting $20k
more per year, and then incredibly the article gets you to turn down the additional
money. This sudden swing from obvious to not-so-obvious gets my attention.

 

  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course

No 6: Create A Problem
If you’ve read the Brain Audit (http://www.brainaudit.com) then you’ve most
certainly understood the simple concept of how the brain is attracted to ‘problems.’
And simply stated, the ‘problem’ brings up drama.

In the early days of Psychotactics, almost all the articles started out with ‘problems.’
Every single article seemed to have the same simple formula. State the ‘problem’; ask a
few problematic questions; and then head down to the meat of the matter.

And it worked, and still works. It’s just that now, after all these years, and many
hundreds of articles later, we’ve found more than one way to start out an article. But
for several years, we used an opening that generously used ‘problems’.

And you can too.

As you can plainly see from the articles above, each of the opening paragraphs start off with a problem.
In some cases you can simply state the problem. In other cases, you can use the power of the question to
bring out the problem. You already know what problem you’re solving with the article you’re about to
write. So the best way to start is to present that problem upfront, to instantly get the reader’s attention.
No 7: Everyday activities
What’s so darned interesting about every day activities like say, ‘brushing your teeth?’
Well, they’re obvious, and the obvious tends to get the reader’s attention. What
makes this obvious factor a little different, is that ‘everyday activities’ start up a movie
in your head.

So when I say: Imagine you were brushing your teeth. Well, almost immediately, the
brain can visualise the concept of brushing. And it can almost see the colour of the
toothbrush. All of this visualisation is happening in a fraction of a second. So it’s not
like you’re seeing this rollout on a 10 foot screen, but you’re seeing it all the same.

Getting your reader to focus on an everyday activity is a good jumpstart, because

it specifically deals with the ‘knew’ factor. They already know what to expect. And
then it’s quite simple to bring up the ‘new’, which then gets the reader well and truly
involved in your article.

Yes, you may not prefer sugar in your coffee. Heck, you may not even drink coffee. But
the act of putting sugar in coffee is a downright everyday activity. And that everyday
activity activates the ‘video’ in your brain. You can easily visualise putting sugar in
coffee, or the act of driving down the road to fill some petrol. These everyday activities
get you engaged with the ‘knew’, and then it’s time for the ‘new’ to create the drama!
 

  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course

No 8: Traumatic Moments
Natalie holds a five dollar note in her hand. It’s not just any note. It’s the only money
Natalie had when she went up north seven years ago. No one gave Natalie a chance
to survive, yet alone make it in business. Now here she was, seven years later, looking
out on her $5.2 million dollar success story.

And she still had that five-dollar note in her hand.

What you’ve just read is the power of the story, combined with the trauma. Trauma
brings attention. And when you look at it, what is trauma but another word for
‘problem?’ But trauma goes deeper than just ‘an itch’ or ‘a boil.’ It goes to the core of
human emotion. It’s a feeling of despair, of loneliness, of dark clouds getting darker
by the minute. And it’s that claustrophobic feeling that gets a reader’s attention.

Because almost inevitably, the reader knows that something must change. Something
good must happen. And so the reader is pulled into the vortex. And then it’s up to
you to create the link that will get the reader to slip-slide into the rest of your article.

Traumatic moments don’t have to be death-defying. They just have to be kinda

claustrophobic. The loss of money, being caught in a raging torrent, being stuck
in an elevator, the death of a loved pet, or even as we saw, the chilly wind of
silence on a teleclass. These are all horrifying quiet, claustrophobic moments.
Starting up an article with a moment of pure claustrophobia will get an
audience’s attention every single time.

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  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course
No 9: Lists
Lists are a good way to get an article roaring away. So what are ‘lists’ and how do we
create attention with lists?

Well, let’s look at a window. What can you do with a window?

You can clean it.
You can look through it.
You can ogle at your sexy neighbour.

Notice something. When I start out the article, I didn’t tell you it was a window. I
just said you could clean it, look through it, and ogle. But somewhere in your brain,
you worked out what I was talking about. And then of course, I would reveal to you
that I was indeed talking about a window.

Starting an article with ‘lists’ is a good way to get started, if you have the
‘disconnected object’ in mind, but can’t work out how to connect it to your article.

So if you’re talking about ‘clarity of communication’ and the disconnected object is

the ‘window’, you don’t have to strain your brain to work out how to start the article.
All you have to do, is describe what you can do with the window.

You’ll soon find you can take this concept of ‘lists’ and use them to jumpstart several
articles. Did I say several articles? Well, I’d use it sparingly, because this method of
jumpstarting an article stands out quite a bit. And if you were to use it too often, it
would be counter-productive to getting the reader’s attention. But yeah, when you’re
stuck for words, ‘lists’ makes a good starting point for you.

These openings are mere lists. And they’re listing things we know well. Well
enough to literally guess what’s being spoken about. Lists form a good backup
when you’re stuck, and need something to start up an article really, really fast.

11  

  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course

No 10: Rant and Rave
Ok so you’re an angel. And you don’t like to rant and rave. But it doesn’t matter who
you are, or what you do, something will tick you off.

Like dripping water.

Or pop-ups on websites.
Or how small businesses waste money on frivolous ‘business expenses.’

We all have pet peeves

And sometimes it’s good to just vent. Rant and rave about your pet peeve, and it will
bring out a personality that will get your readers interested not just in your article,
but also in the side of you they’ve never seen.

So let’s rant and rave, shall we?

Example 1: Why Writing Two-Hundred Headlines Is Plain Nonsense

I detest dumb copywriters.

Dumb copywriters will tell you that you need to write two hundred headlines.
And then choose one headline that works for your sales letter.

That’s easily the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

Because it just tells you how little that copywriter knows his craft.

Example 2: Why You Run Out Of Ideas For Articles

You think you’re going to run out of ideas if you write too many articles, right?

Well, you’re wrong.

The truth is the less you write, the less you’re going to write.

The less you write, the less ideas you have.

The less you write, the less you’re confident of writing.
The less you write, the less you’ ll get across a point.

And this point is not restricted to writing articles.

Your presentations will be not as effective.
Your sales pitch will not be as effective.

Your communication will most certainly be not as effective as it could be.

Ranting brings out the ‘real you.’ And it’s easy to rant, because no matter who
we are, we will end up ranting about something or the other–and often the rant
will be directly related to our business. Well, don’t waste the rant. Put it down on
paper. And you have an article that’s more true to life, and more energy-filled than
anything else you can write.

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  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course
No 11: The Impossible
The impossible is a biggish problem.

Imagine earning $100,000 in a week.

Imagine being able to tell the exact nutrients in strawberries at the supermarket.
Imagine being able to go on a three-month vacation each year.
Imagine being able to increase your customer list by 30% in a month.
Imagine being able to reduce salt intake by 40% by reducing three types of food.

The impossible isn’t quite as impossible as it seems. All of the above can be achieved,
has been achieved, and will be achieved in the future. But we’re not debating if the
above is possible or impossible. We’re looking at how to jumpstart an article.

And in your business, there’s always a factor of the impossible, or at the very least, the
incredible. And it’s your job to use that impossible factor to start up an article.

Mistakes are not supposed to make you money. Mistakes lose money. So when the
article starts up by saying you can directly profit from a mistake, the article is
headed down the impossible path. What’s impossible about the angle you’re going
to cover? And how can you take an angle, find an impossible side to that angle, and
immediately create a power-driven start for your article?

13 

  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course

No 12: Ah, Curiosity!
In a way, curiosity is what makes us read.

So when I say ‘use curiosity’, I realise I’m not saying much. Because in every instance,
we’re going to read because of the factor of curosity. If we already knew every word
we were about to read, there would be no need to read the article at all.

And yet, we have to focus. This exercise isn’t about the reader alone. It’s more about
how you can jump start an article. And if you look at the article from an ‘un-curious’
angle, you’re going to find it impossible to focus.

So if you were to describe everything on the desk in front of you, you’ll get stuck.
And your so-called jumpstart will fizzle.

Of course, this brings us full circle.

When we started this course, the most important thing we learned was the ‘angle.’
That if we had an angle, any angle, we could create drama. That angle also helped us
focus. It also helped us build structure. And now, as if to underline it all, that very
same angle is the key to jumpstarting an article.

If you want to really get bogged down while writing an article, choose a ‘general’
topic, instead of an ‘angle’ based topic. And then you’ll lose your jumpstart, and
you’ll almost certainly lose the curiosity factor.

If you want to use curiosity as a jumpstart, you must take one angle. And then the
curiosity flows like a gusher. And as you turn the pages, you’ll see just how it’s
relatively easy to start up an article when you choose an angle.

See how you can create angles from one topic: Turn the page to see how a single topic
can be expanded, and the opening paragraph can create enormous curiosity.

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  © Psychotactics.com | Article Writing Course
Can you see the angle? Yes, the main topic is ‘speaking’ but there are several angles to
the speaking business. And these articles create a factor of curiosity on several angles.
The more you focus on angles, the more you’ll create an opening that has a very high
level of curiosity.
Follow Up. Follow Up. Follow Up. Follow Up. Follow Up. Are we repeating ourselves?
As you can clearly see, the past few pages are showing you exactly how one topic can lead to multiple
angles. And how each angle then creates a factor of curiosity. And how you actually want to read more on
each of the topics. If you do the same (that is: create an angle), you too will be able to jumpstart an article.
And that concept of Writer’s Block (whatever that is) will disappear forever!

Note: These articles are not on Psychotactics. They’re on http://www.5000bc.com

Summary
Yes, I know it’s the same as the cheat sheet, but hey a little revision always helps.

1) Start with an unfolding story, much like the 6pm news does each evening.
2) Start with historical event being re-told. Use a different angle (e.g. helicopter view)
3) Disagree with the headline. (e.g. “Sales is stupid” for an article on sales).
4) Use the power of senses (e.g. Sound, Smell etc.: The room smelled like cheese).
5) Ask a predictable question. (e.g. Would $300,000 p.a. be enough of an income?)
6) Create a problem. (e.g. Imagine the economy crashed a week from now...)
7) Describe an everyday activity (e.g. Brushing your teeth)
8) A Traumatic Moment (e.g.David McDonald carries a $5 note. It’s the only note he
had when he headed north four years ago).
9) Start up a list of things (e.g. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superman).
10) Rant and rave about something (e.g. I get really mad when people leave lights on)
11) Start with the impossible. (e.g. Could you earn a year’s income in a week?)
12) Create Curiosity. (e.g. The people of Valencia are celebrating)
 If you find anything that bugs you, please click on
the bug above to send me an email. Nothing is too
small or too big. And if I can, I’ll be sure to fix it.
sean@psychotactics.com

PO Box 36461, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand

Tel: 64 9 449 0009 Email: sean@psychotactics.com