Persuasive Writing Tips and TechniquesPersuasive Writing that will Have Your Readers Chomping for More If you write from the heart, people will automatically love your book. Yeah right and tiny elves will also sneak into your house at night and clean it for you, if you wish hard enough. If that were the only criteria, poets would be millionaires. Whether you are writing a children's book or sci fi novel or romantic adventure, as a writer you have one job. You must grab your readers attention and emotions and keep it focused on the world that you create, with the use of Persuasive Writing. The reader doesn't know or care about your motivation or the countless hours you spent writing your book and probably never will, until your last name ends in Rowling or Tolkien. If your first line doesn't grab them, your book will go right back on the shelf. Persuasive Writing 101 Persuasive Writing: So how do we write a killer first line, paragraph and page? 1) Action baby. Ex. Your main character is racing away from the class bully, will he make it home in time? 2) Keep the details to a minimum. Do not spend half the page describing every facet of your character's eyes, hair and delectable or horrendous body. These details can be laced throughout the book. 3) Grab their emotions on this first page and keep them. Get them anxious about your character, curious, intrigued, laughing at their predicament. Draw them into your character's world and until they feel compelled to find out what happens next. 4) Target your character's problem. Make it something that the reader can relate to. Ex. ( excerpt from Tales of the Romantically Challenged by Caterina Christakos) Have you ever been totally and completely in love? Love so intense that your hands shake, your heart pounds and you can feel cold sweat trickle from your armpits down your sides, as you pray that there are no accompanying odors? I have and for me it was like watching a really gory horror flick, from between widely spread fingers. A part of me was completely repulsed, yet at the same time, felt compelled to follow through to it’s bloody end. 5) Know thy reader. Go online to the chat boards that host your genre of writing. Ask other writers what has been successful. More importantly, ask readers what their favorite books are and why? This information is invaluable and better yet won't cost you the price of hiring a research assistant or firm. Test opening lines on them. Most people are more than willing to give you feedback. Take the constructive feedback and throw out the rest. These are just a few techniques for persuasive writing. For more tips or personalized help in writing or marketing your book go to:
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