I’ve just finished watching Saving Private Ryan again. Honestly still one of the greatest war films of all time…
I’m still on the medical war-hound metaphor / analogy kick.
So if you block or unsubscribe it’s cool. Casualty of war or whatever eh?
Anyways, let’s get cracking…
The one thing people forget about is how they’re going to suck someone in to their world.
Why?
There’s a constant fight for eyeballs on your work and what you do
That’s why…
So it brings me to THE HOOK (AKA THE OPENING)
Your opening isn’t a gentle handshake, none of that floppy I can’t be arsed grips everyone gives.
You need it to feel like someone is jumping up and down on your chest like a full compression to get that heart beating again.
So you’d hit them with something like this;
“Your business isn’t struggling. It’s having a fucking cardiac arrest. And while everyone else is suggesting chamomile tea, I’m bringing the paddles.”
Why does it work?
Because nobody browses WebMD when they’re bleeding out. They want the doctor who’s seen some shit.
Plus browsing WebMD will ALWAYS give you the wrong info.
When you’ve go their attention you slip THE EVIDENCE right in there.
Although you don’t just show your scars, you need to show how you got them through all of the pain etc and how you made it out alive.
“I’ve watched 537 businesses flatline from this exact wound. Want to know why I can spot it? Because I was patient zero. Here’s what cardiac arrest looks like in slow motion…”
The Pattern:
Show the battlefield ( The market )
Count the bodies ( The problem )
Reveal your dog tags (Your credentials and solution )
THE SOLUTION (AKA THE COMBAT MANEUVER)
No time for PowerPoints in a firefight. This is war.
“Stop the revenue bleeding NOW: [Immediate Action Step]”
“Stabilise your customer base HERE: [Tactical Move]”
“Prevent future hemorrhaging INSTANTLY: [Strategic Plan]”
CLARITY VS. CREATIVITY:
Bad: “If gardens were a business, sometimes our dreams need careful pruning…”
Better: “Your profit margins are bleeding out. Apply pressure here. NOW.”
Best: “Here’s the tourniquet. Here’s where it goes. Pull hard. I’ll explain why while you do it.”
WHY THIS WORKS:
Your readers don’t need:
Your clever metaphors (Although I do use them to teach)
Your writing awards
Your extensive research
They need:
The solution, delivered clearly. Right fucking now.
When someone’s bleeding out, they don’t care about your style. They care about not dying.
The emergency protocol (Aka template) will look like this:
Identify the wound.
Show the scar.
Hand them the sutures.
Guide their hands.
Stop the bleeding.
THEN tell the story.
Here’s a final example for this point as someone who is currently writing a set of horror stories which will be turned into a novel or 10.
This is the type of story or insight I might share into my world if I was getting people in.
Three manuscripts. Eighteen rejection letters. The latest one sitting in my inbox like a death sentence.
“While your concept is interesting, we don’t feel it’s quite right for our list.” The translation? Not scary enough to make anyone lose sleep.
I remember the exact moment I realised I was writing ghost stories when I should’ve been performing an exorcism. It was 2 AM, reading Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary,” when my cat jumped onto my lap. I screamed so hard I spilled coffee all over my own lifeless manuscript. That’s when it hit me. My stories weren’t making anyone spill their coffee. I started dissecting my nightmares instead of my imagination. That recurring dream where my teeth don’t just fall out, they crawl back in while I’m sleeping? That went into Chapter One. The time I saw my reflection blink out of sync? That became Chapter Two. My protagonist stopped being a vessel for clever plot twists and became the thing readers fear becoming. She didn’t accidentally discover the monster. She realised she’s been one all along, wearing human skin like a borrowed coat.
Every scene that didn’t raise my heart rate got cut. Every “spooky” description became visceral. The haunted house wasn’t just old. The walls warped and it breathed when nobody was watching. The shadows didn’t just move. They whispered your name. Now? That manuscript that used to collect rejection letters makes beta readers check their locks twice. One reader wrote: “I had to put it down at 2 AM because I couldn’t convince myself my bathroom mirror was safe.”
The secret wasn’t writing horror because I loved it. It was writing horror because it terrified me first.
And yes, I still check my reflection every morning, just to make sure it blinks when I do.
Want to know what happened when I finally stopped trying to write the next best horror novel and started documenting what keeps me awake at 3 AM?
That’s a story for another sleepless night and this is why you should follow me and grab my books.
(Notice how we turned personal failure into psychological warfare?)
So if you’re a writer who is sharing your journey with the world.
YOUR story is just as important as the story you’re writing. You need to connect with people so they can connect with your work.
If you get that part of the psychology down. You’ll have fans for life.
I’m off to go pull some more ideas from Cashvertising…
Stephen Walker