Member-only story
6 Proven Ways to Captivate Readers
No tricks or gimmicks needed to reel people into your personal stories or thought leadership pieces
The BBC published a fascinating article a few years ago entitled, The Dying Art of the Great Song Intro.
In the 80s, on average, lead singers of bands didn’t sing their first lyric until more than 20 seconds into the song. However, when the article was published in 2017, that number dropped to five seconds — and I have a hard time imagining that ship has since turned.
Whether we agree with it or not, hooks matter. If you don’t grab people’s attention in the first few sentences, they’ll move on to the next shiny title.
One of the best parts of having a catalog of past stories and articles is that patterns emerge regarding the techniques that work best for us.
Over the last five years, I’ve given 100+ storytelling workshops to universities, businesses, and creator communities. By learning how to grab people’s attention (and of course, keep it), I’ve been asked to help out on numerous best-selling books, landed a book deal of my own, and work as a strategy consultant for entrepreneurs and executives who want to build a stronger relationship with their audience.
In addition to sharing my three favorite ways to kick off personal stories, we’re going to explore three ways that my friend and collaboration partner, Darius Foroux, immediately engages readers in his thought leadership pieces.
How to stick the first lines of your story
1. Drop readers into the middle of a conversation
Imagine you sit down at a bar and hear a woman say to her husband, “How do you ever expect me to trust you again?” If you’re anything like me, you’d forget immediately about your late car payment as you’d be dying to know how their conversation plays out.
When writing stories, the same rule applies. Dropping people into the middle of a conversation is a surefire way to pique your reader’s curiosity. Then backtrack to fill in only the relevant details readers need to know before driving the dialogue and story forward.
