Writing with Purpose

Learn the 4 storytelling frameworks to say (almost) anything

Whenever I interview founders for a thought leadership piece or upcoming blog post, they tend to dive right into their argument. They’ll site sources and experiences that led to breakthrough insights, and explain it to me in all its beautiful detail.

At some point - usually between tangents - I’ll stop the busy CEO and ask a stupidly simple question:

“Why are we writing this?”

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new idea, but if we if we don’t write with purpose, our message won’t have its desired effect.

This is the premise of Chapter 1 of Great Founders Write. I finished the first draft of this chapter (aka D1C1) over the weekend.

It’s not ready to review, but I do want to share the key takeaway: The structure of your writing should change depending on your purpose.

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There are 4 main reasons why we write:

1. To Inform - e.g., investor updates
2. To Educate - e.g., new employee handbook
3. To Entertain - e.g., brand marketing
4. To Persuade - e.g., sales, recruiting, and biz dev

Each purpose has its own ideal framework.

Now I LOVE frameworks. They’re like the strategy behind storytelling. But it’s a mistake to apply your favorite framework to every situation.

Here are the frameworks I recommend for each purpose above.

To Inform — Inverted Pyramid

Journalism majors in the audience will know about the inverted pyramid. The premise is simple:

1. Lead with the most important information

2. Follow up with necessary details

3. End with extraneous details/background info

The inverted pyramid framework was developed for practical purposes. Newspapers have limited real estate, so the most important information has to come first. Your editor can always lop off the end of your article to make room.

Today we have unlimited space to write, but that’s not necessary a good thing.

When writing to inform, lead with the most important information. Don’t make the reader guess where you’re going — especially if your news is consequential to them.

To Educate — Narrative Non-Fiction

TED Talks have a very distinct style.

They always start with a story. When I was a boy, my father took me to feed the ducks at Olander Pond…

The story seems completely off-topic until, inexplicably, the speaker pulls out an insight — the thesis of their talk. Those ducks taught me the secret to success: Never stop paddling.

Then the speaker dives into the meat of the presentation — the research, evidence, and key points.

Finally, they reference the story in the beginning and issue a Call to Action. Just like the ducks at Olander Pond, keep your head above water and keep kicking.

This style is not exclusive to TED Talks. Nearly every personal development book is written in the same way: The narrative non-fiction framework.

1. Hook

2. Thesis

3. Key points and supporting research

4. Callback to hook and call to action

When writing to educate, facts and figures aren’t enough. Parables - stories that teach lessons - help the reader remember your key points.

To Entertain - Hero’s Journey

Judd Apatow says that great comedies are written like dramas.

In other words, they are written with the Hero’s Journey.

The granddaddy of writing frameworks, the Hero’s Journey is thousands of years old. And it still works.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

• There’s a hero with aspirations of glory, adventure, justice, or vengeance

• But there’s a challenge, obstacle or villain stands in their way

• The hero meets a guide, who teaches them how to fight

• The hero defeats challenge after challenge, until they meet the final boss

• It’s the fight of the hero’s life - will they succeed?

• In a moment of insight, or rebirth, the hero overcomes and defeats the villain.

• Glory, adventure, justice or vengeance is achieved.

• The hero returns home, a different (and typically better) person than when they started.

Once you know the Hero’s Journey, you’ll see it everywhere from Star Wars to Superbad. And if you want to entertain your audience, it’s the go-to framework.

Founders don’t normally entertain for its own sake. The Hero’s Journey can be useful if you want to educate or persuade in an entertaining way. It’s also valuable when looking at the customer journey as a whole. The customer is the hero, and you’re their guide. How will you help them achieve their glory?

To Persuade — Copywriting

Persuasion is a powerful tool - one wielded for good and bad. It’s also the subject of many excellent books for founders, such as Influence and Never Split the Difference. 

I won’t rehash the lessons from those books - I highly recommend you read them too. Instead, let’s look at a practice that may be - word-for-word - the most persuasive writing craft on earth: Copywriting.

Now, I recognize there isn’t a single framework for copywriting. There are many. My favorite is the Life Force 8 framework from the classic copywriting book, Cashvertising:

1. Survival 

2. Food and beverages

3. Freedom from pain and fear

4. Sexual companionship

5. A comfortable place to live

6. To achieve, keep winning, keep up the Jones’s

7. Protect and help loved ones

8. Social approval

These are the 8 most fundamental human motivations. The more you can use in your writing, the more persuasive you can be.

However, don’t go overboard. Your readers are smart and can smell bullshit.

What’s next?

Would love your thoughts on these frameworks. Is there anything I’m missing? What else do you want to know about “Writing with Purpose?”

Now that I’ve started writing, I think I’ll be able to complete one chapter a week. I’ll continue to summarize them in these posts. Down the road, I’ll share the drafts to get your feedback.

The next chapter is “Writing with Empathy” (notice a pattern?). Can’t wait to share.

Thanks for being a part of this journey with me.

P.S., A couple people had issues with the comments section last week. I just double-checked that comments are turned ON, so you should be good. If not, just send me an email.