Sometimes your writing needs to be nice and polite and professional and all that responsible adult horsecrap…
Then sometimes it needs to transform like The Hulk and turn your restrained voice into a raging monster of hyperbole that grabs people by their eyeballs and drags them right down the page and into your world.
Exaggeration is one of those tools that are so far ignored that when you start to use it. The results were shock you.
Boring writers don’t want you to know that humans don’t respond to reasonable statements. We respond to emotion and intensity.
Now I’m not saying go over the top where you’ll be dancing that fine line where compliance might come back and bite you in your ass…
I’m talking about the type of exaggeration that amplifies your personality to make things more fun to read and ultimately more fun for you to write.
You think anyone remembers mild mannered Bruce Banner? Hell no.
They remember the raging Hulk smash machine that destroys everything in its path.
When you need to hook someone’s attention, subtlety is for suckers. You need to become larger than life. You need metaphors that would make English teachers weep with terror. You need adjectives that violate the laws of physics.
Don’t tell me your product “improves workflow efficiency.” Tell me it “obliterates productivity roadblocks like a tactical nuclear warhead.”
Don’t say your service “helps with stress reduction.” Say it “wrestles your anxiety to the ground and makes it cry uncle while your peace of mind does a victory dance.”
The world is drowning in vanilla content. Be the writer who shows up painted green.
Stephen Walker
P.S. When people tell you you’re being “a bit much,” that’s when you know it’s working.