SEPTEMBER 2005

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Persuasive Writing Tips
By: John G. Johnson

On the writing continuum lay numerous modes of writing, from technical, at one end, all the way to creative writing at the other end. Somewhere along this continuum lies a writing method called persuasive writing.

Persuasive writing is designed to evoke a reader response - powerfully enough - to influence or change their thoughts or actions. This type of writing is quite easy, providing you follow some the time-tested rudimentary principles, some of which will be outlined below.

Even if you have no interest in this writing strategy, it is important for you to at least familiarize yourself with some of the tactics used, simply because, whether you know it or not, you may have been the target of this writing style. And knowing at least what some of these techniques are will alert you to when people are trying to sway your way of thinking with persuasive writing, solely for their benefit.

Three ways to get someone to accept your opinion/slant are:

I: Persuading through authority
II: Persuading through emotions
III: Persuading through reason/logic

I: Persuading through Authority

Your message will be more receptive if the reader is aware or perceives that you are an authority on the subject you are writing about. For example, if Bill Gates wrote to you about the future of computers the chances of you absorbing what he is discussing will be higher, as opposed to, let’s say, a massage therapist you have never heard of writing to you about the same thing.

II: Persuading through Emotions

Moving people via their emotions are a powerful form of influence. Weaving sensory specific words together to create vivid images and sounds and put it together in a narrative form is a good way to arouse emotions.

Here is an example:

From Justin’s perspective the world uncontrollably spun at breakneck speed. Dirt, gravel, and leaves whizzed passed his eyes, some slapping and ricocheting off his face, splitting flesh. Justin, trapped inside the car, pinned by his seatbelt, could only watch Eric being sucked from inside the car. Justin yelled, screamed, hoping is actions would keep Eric inside.

The car rolled down the precipice, non-stop, slamming into boulders, bouncing off tree trunks, like a basket ball, continuing to roll.

The next thing Justin remembered was waking up in the hospital, feeling and seeing bandages holding most of his limbs together. And that was when heard the news – Eric died – and he survived the ninety foot-foot death roll because he wore a seatbelt.

This experience taught Justin that - seatbelts are an important tool in a car… because they save lives!

III: Persuading through Reason/Logic

Deduction (deducing) and Induction (inducing) and are two kinds of reasoning processes.

Inducing simply means that you arrive at the conclusion by first leading with convincing facts. A pyramid structure is a good analogy to think of. The pyramid’s foundation acts as the conclusion and the supportive claims, its building blocks, rest on top.

Deducing is just the opposite. You begin with a premise (conclusion upside down) and support it with persuasive facts. Again, think of deducing as a pyramid flipped upside down; its foundation, acting as the premise, is on top. And facts (building blocks) below support it.

Here are examples:

Induction

I can feel my heart beating in my chest.
I have the power to move my limbs.
I can hear myself think.
I laugh when I hear a funny joke.
*** Therefore, I conclude I am a living human being.

Deduction

*** I am a living human being because…
I can feel my heart beating in my chest.
I have the power to move my limbs.
I can hear myself think.
I laugh when I hear a funny joke.

Tips: As a guideline, a minimum of three dynamic supporting cases are good to use. But note - the strength of your claims are what determine the power and impact of your reasoning.

Furthermore, it helps to have the ability to see the other person’s point of view. This will help you to package your content in a manner that best conveys your intention.

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Creativity Strategies
By: Laurie Nadel, PhD

“What if I can’t?”

This question alone is capable of blocking your creativity. It presupposes a failure that hasn’t happened yet.

Anxiety is the disease of the “what-ifs”. Paradoxically speaking, the fact that you can ask “What if” questions means that you are being creative. “What if” questions are intrinsic to generating new ideas, coming up with new possibilities, trends, patterns and solutions. In order to ask the question, you need to focus your attention in the quadrant of your mind* that is able to perceive possibilities and imagine outcomes. To do that, you have to be creative.

Anxiety is the dark side of creativity. In order to create anxiety about a future failure that has not yet happened, you need to direct, edit, and star in your own personal disaster movie. And you need to find a way to make that movie so bright, compelling and powerful, that your mind and body believe it has already happened. Without realizing it, you find yourself IN the movie, experiencing what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to fail. I don’t know any film director who can accomplish that. You have to be really brilliant in order to bring your body/mind to a complete halt just from watching a movie!

Research shows that bright, creative, intuitive people are more prone to anxiety than others. In my 14 years of coaching entertainers, writers, performers, composers, artists, and entrepreneurs, I can honestly say that I have never met a stupid person who can generate anxiety. Really good anxiety is worthy of an Academy Award. That doesn’t mean you have to like it. Nor do you have to live with it. Anxiety can bring your life to a halt. It definitely can put a cramp in your creativity.

What can you do about it?

I’d like to share with you an exercise I developed for myself when I was blocked.
I realized that all my what-if questions were blocking me from getting creative ideas. I was so stuck it felt like I was sitting in front of a brick wall.

Bingo! One morning, as my “what-ifs” were dancing around in an ominous, circling formation that made me sick to my stomach...(as in, “what if you never finish this book? “ ”what if you’re a total failure?”), I realized that I REALLY WAS LOOKING AT A BRICK WALL. Like Euripides sitting in his bathtub, discovering the principles of displacement, I had an “aha” experience. Grabbing a pad, I wrote down each of my “what if” questions...and then projected them onto the brick wall as graffiti:

“What if I can’t?”
“What if I fail?”
“What if I’m too old?”
“What if I’m not good enough?”
“What if I never finish this book?”
“What if I’m a total failure?”

You get the idea, right?

Then I chose to float to a place on top of the wall, and sat there with my legs hanging over the far side of the wall. As I looked over the wall, I saw wide open green fields and meadows with gentle paths that curved as far as the horizon. Gently and safely, I floated down to this new side of the wall and experienced the freedom that came from no longer staring at that brick wall. Those questions that presupposed defeat were literally behind me. I was now free to imagine, to dream, and to get back to my writing**. You can, too....

An Exercise to Unblock Your Creativity.
1. Get a pad and pen and capture your negative thoughts, fears, and beliefs.
2. Write them down.
3. Rephrase them as “what-if” questions
4. Visualize a brick or concrete wall in front of you
5. Write the “what-if” questions on the wall, like graffiti
6. Imagine that you can float up, gently and safely, to the top of the wall.
7. Hang out for awhile and notice how the new side of the wall looks, sounds, and feels different.
8. When you’re ready, float down, safely and gently, to the new side of the wall.
9. If you start to wonder, “what if this won’t last?” Or “what if this isn’t real?” Stop and repeat the exercise by putting up a new wall with your latest “what-ifs” as graffiti.

Repeat the rest of the exercise. You may have to put up several walls along the way but your body/mind/spirit will thank you.

This exercise works with many different anxiety issues.

Dr. Laurie Nadel spent the first twenty years of her career in journalism, working for such major news organizations as Newsweek, United Press International, Reuters Television, the United Nations news service, ABC News and CBS News. She then obtained her PhD and is now a sought after counselor and psychologist, world-wide lecturer, and a best-selling author, her most recent books being Dancing with the Wind and Sixth Sense. Dr. Nadel was recently featured in Newsday. The article is worth reading.

For more information on the 4 quadrants of your mind, and to take a quiz, please visit Dr. Laurie Nadel’s website: www.laurienadel.com