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My Favorite Expert Advice on Writing the Stories of Our Lives, Gleaned From My Favorite Books on the Subject

by: Lisa J. Lehr

This outline is adapted from a handout I give to my lifewriting students. The points made here apply to writing in general as well as to writing our life stories in particular.

I. Why should we write?

A. Frank McCourt in Writer�s Digest, Feb. �99, p. 19: �But now I realize that everyone has a story. Nothing is significant until you make it significant. It�s not what happens to you, but how you look at it.�

B. Frank P. Thomas, How to Write the Story of Your Life: �God created people because He loves stories.� �Humans are happiest when we are creating.� There is a revival of activity today in search of our roots and family history.

C. Strunk & White, The Elements of Style: Writing is a way to go about thinking.

D. Rick DeMarinis, The Art and Craft of the Short Story: Storytelling is how we make sense of the world.

E. Robin Hemley, Turning Life Into Fiction: Writing is a discovery process. Part of the fun is learning why you wrote what you wrote.

F. Writer�s Digest, Aug. �00, pp. 20-21: You might find that the greatest rewards of writing�evolve during the process of bringing your ideas to the page. As you reveal more of yourself on the page, you might notice patterns in the way you think, behave, react to people and situations. This self-awareness can help you make better decisions, understand difficult situations, sort through feelings. It is a powerful way to find answers to some of your most difficult questions. And it can remind you that there are no easy answers�this is the root of wisdom. Life becomes richer, observations and senses sharper.

G. DeMarinis: Anyone will tell you his or her life story, given a little encouragement. It�s the human thing to do.

II. Why should we write well?

A. DeMarinis: Poor writing can falsify experience.

B. Various sources: Writing is rewriting. Craft moves from the back of the mind to the front during rewriting. Allow the first draft to be crude and ill formed.

C. DeMarinis: Say everything that needs to be said in as few words as possible.

D. Aristotle: �the proper and special name of a thing.�

E. Hemley: Words shape the way we view an event.

F. DeMarinis: Be conscious of word selection. Develop an ear for language. The sounds in a sentence can produce three-dimensional images in the mind.

III. Regarding truth, and the accuracy of our memories

A. P.D. James, in Reader�s Digest: �Memory is a device for forgetting as well as remembering. To that extent, every autobiography is a work of fiction, and every work of fiction is an autobiography.�

B. Robert Olmstead, Elements of the Writing Craft: Memoir is a narrative composed from personal experience. It depends on memory, which is somewhere between truth and how the writer sees the truth. Setting in a memoir is intensely personal and emotional.

C. DeMarinis: Story is always biased. Hidden in the fiction is need, and need is always truthful. We need sympathy and approval, and want to be understood.

D. The Write Stuff (a compilation): Memory is what people are made of. What�s remembered is never the event. Memory is faulty.

E. Hemley: What you have chosen to tell, and how, and what you have chosen not to tell reveal what kind of writer you are.

F. Hemley: Memory plays tricks. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. It�s more important for an event to work than to be true.

G. Tom Chiarella, Writing Dialog: Stating what literally happened is less important than interpretation of those events.

H. Olmstead: What makes an experience important?

I. Marcia Golub, I�d Rather Be Writing: Old memories are mysterious. A lot of what gives them narrative drive is trying to figure them out. Of everything that happened during childhood, why do we remember these things?

J. Dwight V. Swain, Creating Characters: How to Build Story People: It�s not the experience that creates the trauma, but the way the character reacts to it. (If you�re writing your life story, that�s you.)

K. Hemley: What�s most powerful is often what you most want to hide.

L. Hemley: Dig deeper�try to understand why a particular event stands out.

M. Hemley: Distance from a place enables us to see it more clearly. What you remember is what�s most important to you�the feeling it gave you. Description of a place should be anchored in the character�s consciousness; it says as much about the character as about the place.

N. Stephen Wilbers, Keys to Great Writing: �Given that all writing is to a degree fictitious��it can only represent reality�use the elements of artifice to your advantage.�

O. Pablo Picasso: �Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.�

IV. Getting started

A. William Zinsser, On Writing Well: Believe in the validity of your life!

B. DeMarinis: The very act of writing sentences produces more sentences. This sometimes leads to inspiration.

C. Hemley: ordering real life takes a lot of imagination and understanding.

D. Writer�s Digest, Feb. �99: Avoid chronology as an organizing principle. Instead, free-list key images.

E. Opening should be �crisp and economical� to grab the reader.

V. See my related article, �My Favorite Errors to Correct (Don�t make these mistakes, and your writing will rise above most other writing).� Happy writing!

About The Author

Lisa J. Lehr is a freelance writer and editor with a specialty in business and marketing communications. She holds a biology degree and has worked in a variety of fields, including the pharmaceutical industry and teaching, and has a related interest in personal history. She is also a graduate of American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI), America�s leading course on copywriting. Contact Lisa J. Lehr Copywriting www.ljlcopywriting.com, Lisa@ljlcopywriting.com for help with your writing needs.
This article ©Lisa J. Lehr 2005.

This article was posted on December 15, 2005

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More Article Pages 1 - 2

Writing The Perfect Sales Letter
by: David Hennebery

Before you actually write the e-book we are going to write the sales letter first. Now I suggest you write it in Microsoft Word and save it. Then we can transfer it to the main �Sales site Page� when we are designing our basic site in step 5

The main reason we are writing our sales copy before we ever write a word in our e-Book is because it hasn�t actually being created yet, which means there is absolutely no limit what you can write in your sales letter. The sales letter doesn�t fit the e-Book; it�s the other way around.

Now you can describe exactly what your e-Book will show to the potential customer. There are no restrictions on what you can write in the sales letter. When the sales letter is completed you can then incorporate all the ideas you have come up with into your e-Book

Your sales copy must do the following three things

� Get the attention of the prospects
� Communicate the benefits of the product
� Persuade the prospects into the desired action

Remember the most important part of your page design is your actual sales copy. A fancy website and graphics help but the key is in the words used

Sales letter Structure

� Header/Title
� Promises
� Testimonial
� Info product
� Benefit
� Bonuses
� Guarantee
� Summary

This is the structure that you should use for your sales copy. If you check out the best sales letter they will all follow this formula?

Header

The main function of the header/title is to grab the reader�s attention. The header should be displayed in a large, bold font. This demands your potential customer�s attention and intrigues them to read further on. Include your logo or e-Book cover (discussed later on) close to the header. If you header is not well designed you run the risk of losing the potential customer straight away. Spend time creating your header.

A Promise

This section promises the potential customer a huge benefit which is almost too good to be true. It�s ok if it�s a bit too unbelievable the testimonials will take care of that. Here is an example of such a headline

Discover how my 5 step affiliate programme can increase your income by 10,000 a month

Testimonials

In this section you include testimonials that old/new customers have sent you about your product or service. You probably don�t have any customers yet so email some potential ones your e-book for free in exchange for a testimonial. When you do start selling you can always ask a new customer for one.

Now the testimonials page has assured the potential customer that you can fulfil the promises you made in your header also you have gained a bit of trust from your potential customers so anything else you say that follows the testimonials page will be taken as true. This is the reason why the testimonial is placed at the top to gain trust right away where if it was placed at the bottom after presenting some good sales copy it may be already too late.

Info and product

In this section you will give info on what your product or service is about. You should show your customers a list of problems in this area. Agree with the customers, on how frustrating these problems can be and how you, yourself dealt with these problems. The key is to show the person that you have a deep understanding in this area and you are an expert on the subject. That is very important.

Next you must introduce your product as the solution to the problem. Then you must have a proper e-Book cover design. This is crucial. Many people have never purchased an e-book so you must give them some idea what exactly they will be purchasing

Benefit

This section is basically telling your potential customer of the benefits they will receive from purchasing your product. Show your potential customers the enjoyment they will get from using the product. Give them as much information on your product as you can. Use bullet points to emphasize the benefits. Put in another testimonial just to remind the person that it�s all true. Keeping their trust is highly important.

Bonuses

This is a powerful tactic used to increase sales. Including free bonuses with the purchase of your e-Book will increase the perceived value of the e-Book. Also a deadline on bonuses is also a good way to speed up consumer purchases. Bonuses also reduce the risk of money back returns

Guarantee

Offering a guarantee to your potential customers takes the risk off their shoulders. A good guarantee is the final bit in the jigsaw that will make the person finally purchase the product. The agreement is such that if the customer is not happy with their purchases then can get a full refund. You must remember that lots of your potential customers will be �first timers� therefore a guarantee puts their minds at ease. Guarantees can be 30 day, 60 day, or lifetime; however such guarantees must be backed up with an exceptional product.

Summary

This is one of the most important steps in the sales letter; this is where you close the sale. In this section you must include your most appealing benefit and finally ask for the order, because if you don�t they wont. Finally make it easier for them to order like an �order now� button shown below.

At this stage you should start to write your sales letter in Microsoft word we will concentrate on the html design and implementing the sales letter in it in section six but for now just concern yourself with writing your sales letter. To help you here are some of the web�s top e-book publishers sales sites. You can check out my own sales page at http://www.ebookprofitmaker.com

Sales Letter generator

Ok ill now offer you an alternative to writing the sales page yourself. Only use this if you are willing to spend some money. You may want to check out this piece of software that actually writes the sales letter for you. All you do is answer the questions it asks and you will receive your sales letter. You can find this software at sales generator here

Credit card Transactions

Finally you will need to find a credit card processor later on so your e-Books can be ordered. The one I seriously recommend is Clickbank. Ill go into them in more detail in section 6 but for now I want you to know that all these company�s, including Clickbank, have a set of rules that you must abide by to use their software. Don�t panic ill go through these rules now. Basically it involves putting a certain amount of details in your sales letter and product delivery page so you can be accepted by your credit transaction company. So here they are:

You must provide on your sales page:

� Detailed description of your product
� Buy now link
� Explain how the product will be delivered
� Mention how long the delivery will take

* remember theses are rules not suggestions

So that is everything you need to know on how to write your sales letter, hers a quick summary

We need to:

� Write the sales letter before the e-Book
� Sales letter structure must have , header, promise, Testimonial, info and product, benefit, bonuses, guarantee and summary
� You can have your sales letter made by Sales letter generator
� Certain set of rules should be included in the sales letter for the purpose of the credit card transaction company

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