The Writing Frameworks I Keep Coming Back To

In the age of information overload, writing effectively could be the difference between being heard and being buried. Writing isn't just pen on paper or hands on keyboard. It's akin to speech, which is akin to thought. The better you can write, the clearer you can think and the clearer you can speak. There are some people that get heard every time they speak. Barack Obama, Simon Sinek, MLK Jr. Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs. These are people that can get complex ideas across without sounding like a smart ass and in a comprehensible manner. They weren't necessarily born that way. They're not superhuman in that everything that comes out of their mouth is gold beneath the hood. While they say different things, they're usually saying it in the same way. Your favorite movies, your favorite songs. They're different, but they follow the same structure. In fact, structure is magic. It makes complex ideas palatable to our constantly distracted minds. Structure is not a set of arbitrary rules that some Harvard professor invented in the year 1950. It isn't even rules. It is patterns. And the reason structure has stayed so long is not because people have chosen to use them. It is because they work. In the many years of human content books, plays, speeches, stories, songs there are only a few that get remembered. And the ones that get remembered get imitated. Well, why do these pieces of content get remembered? It is because they make us feel something. It turns out that there's only a few ways for us to get to feel something. So in fact, structure is the subconscious language that speaks universally to the human heart. Anyone can learn to command this language, whether it is to feel heard, not stumble over your words. Command presence. Articulate complex but valuable ideas in a way that people are drawn to it. After studying writers like Dan Ko, Paul Graham, Jordan Peterson, and and writing over 100,000 words across Quora and my blog, including some of my draft content that should go out soon. Here's what I found that works Screw grammar. Get your ideas across. Write in a way that would make your English teacher from high school have an aneurysm. In the real world, nobody cares if you followed the right punctuation, grammar, or whether you know what a semicolon does, as long as it's legible, fun to read, and valuable. Give people a chance to read your writing. Here are a few things that I've noticed most great writers use. It applies primarily to informal essays and content meant to drive action, whether it is to drive purchases, get emails, or anything along those lines. They use short sentences, white space, emphasis through capitalization or italics, rhetorical questions, simple words, not jargon. Buzzwords turn people off. So be down to earth. Use ellipses. You can extend your words for emphasis. Don't be afraid to use passive voice. Create concise, quotable ideas and cut out as many useless words as possible. There that could have just been cut out. Useless words make it airy, spaced out and easy to read. Have you ever opened a book, see giant paragraphs and just start skimming immediately? Make your writing appealing to read and reward your reader by letting them make vertical progress. Focus on conversational rather than grammatically correct. You're not getting any points from your teacher, your reader, or your customer for following the right grammar. In fact, never Write above a 6th grade level. Google what an FK score is. Trust me on this the Two Frameworks for Persuasive Writing There are two meta frameworks that I found that encapsulate all all the structures that great writers use to get their ideas across. In fact, can you guess which one I'm using to talk to you right now? The first is a problem centric framework. You're in pain and you don't realize how bad it is. The first one from this is a problem amplify solution framework. First you need to identify the problem, then intensify the pain and frustration and then deliver your solution. This works best when the audience already knows they have a problem but haven't acted it out yet. Here's a great example of this structure in use. Read it in depth and you'll understand exactly how it works. The next one is called quest. Qualify, Understand, Educate, Stimulate and Transition. First you need to qualify your reader. Make them feel it's for them. Show that you understand their situation, then educate them on why it matters. Stimulate desire for change and then transition them to action. Also known as your call to action or cta. In this one, the Q and you qualify and understand are the most important. It works because you must write for the same person across all your writing. Zero in on a single person. Maybe it's someone you know, maybe it's someone you made up that encapsulates the entire demographic that you're trying to talk to. Have you ever read something and you feel like it was written just for you? Go back to it. It probably did some sort of variation of quest. Let people feel that you're talking directly to them through your writing. Here's another good example of this that you can refer to. The second meta framework is an outcome centric framework. Something amazing exists and you don't have it yet in this Aida Attention, interest Desire action seems to work the best. You must first hook their attention by giving them a surprising stat, bold claim or relatable scenario. Deepen interest by connecting to their situation, showing that you you understand them. Number three make them desire the outcome, paint the after state, make them feel the FOMO and create social proof. Number four have a clear action step that they can take going forward. This is your cta. This format actually works the best for copywriting. You're not giving away the sauce just yet, but you want them to take the desired action to get there. Here are three famous examples, particularly from ads that use this framework and you can refer to them. I've linked them in the article in the description below. In fact, the dollar bill ad I thought was really good. It kept going on for pages, but seeing how it actually worked in action was quite impressive. The next one for an outcome centric framework is a before after bridge framework. In the before section you paint the current state, then you show the transformed future and then finally you explain how to get there. This format is highly effective for transformation focused content because people viscerally feel the gap between where they are and where they want to be. Here are two great examples again by Dan Ko that show this principle in action. So how do we actually use these frameworks? What we need to first realize is that each of these frameworks in both the problem centric and outcome centric frameworks creates a gap tension. It creates a gap between the current painful state and the desired better state. It tells them what they know versus what they need to know. It tells them where they are versus where they need to be. But beyond that, there's actually more frameworks that we can use. Here are some story frameworks that are incredibly effective because people love reading stories. Information is great, but a story really puts it in people's mind in a way that simple text and frameworks can't do it. And just like anything else, there's only a few types of stories that get retold over centuries that humans have existed. The first one, and the one that people like the most is the underdog, the Rackstar Riches story. I started in a garage with $200. Now we're the number three coffee roaster in America. This is like the story of Steve Jobs when he first created Apple. He started it out of a garage and now it's one of the most highly valuable companies in the world. We love hearing about it and coincidentally or not it sounds like the before after bridge structure. It sounds like I started here and I got here and this is how I got there. Relate with the audience in the before stage. People who may be in that rags stage, show them the result of where you are where with your riches and show them how you got there and thus how they can also get there. This is kind of how all autobiographies work. And the best ones really harp on the before After Bridge framework. The second story framework is the David versus Goliath or the Overcoming the Monster framework. Big Tech was selling your data. We built the first truly private messenger. This one kind of sounds like Problem Amplified solution. It's just missing the amplified stage in too much detail. The third one is mission or quest framework, making a backpack tough enough to survive four years of college without it falling apart. Since this one is the quest story framework. I really wish it fit the quest informational framework, but there's a few gaps. This one actually sounds more like Aida because you kind of want to know how the backpack survived those four years. And then the story can be like, well, here's how you buy the backpack. The fourth one is a transformation. Sarah went from three hours of sleep to running marathons. Her secret our sleep protocol. This also sounds like the before after bridge framework. The fifth one is a discovery or voyage framework. I spent two years in Japanese kitchens. I brought back the knife that changed Western cooking. This one also sounds like Aida. The sixth one is a comedy framework. Our CEO wore the prototype backwards on live TV and it became our best selling design. This one doesn't fit in anything else. It's a special one, but incredibly powerful because it's difficult to do and if you do it correctly, then it pays. The seventh one is Tragedy. I lost my brother to distracted driving. I built the app that's now required in 12 school districts. This one is like Problems amplify solution or request framework. And it also hits hard. This one's kind of difficult to do correctly because it feels like you're taking advantage of a bad situation. So now you ask me, what do I do with this information? How does this benefit my life? So you have a bunch of frameworks now in your tool belt. Having the tools is one thing, using them is another. Here's how to actually pick where to use each framework. It all starts with audience purpose and context. Keep in mind some piece of writing you have in progress. Maybe you want to go over it and see how you can incorporate what I'm talking about. Let's start with the audience. Write for the same person in all your writing. Zero in on a single person that encapsulates your entire demographic. This lets you have consistent messaging throughout your writing. Once again, don't you feel great when you feel like a piece is written just for you? Don't you want to go through everything that author's ever written? And the more it feels like it was written just for you, you feel like throwing your money at them. This is what you want to do here. Once you have a single person in mind, write out the following what is their problem? How bad is it? What fixes it? This is the Problem Amplify solution framework. Then write what might grab their attention. Why should they care? What do they want? What do you want them to do? This is the Aida Framework. Then write. Who is this for? What do they struggle with? What do they need to know? What do they want? What should they do? This is the Quest Framework. And finally, write where are they now? Where could they be and how do they get there? This is the Before After Bridge Framework. Once you're done with this, judge which one is the most compelling. If you're struggling to decide and continue, think about the purpose and context of your writing. Who are you writing or why are you writing and why are they reading? Are you selling something or driving action? Do you think the reader will benefit from their action? Then it'll be the Aida Framework because you're not giving away the action immediately. You want them to take this action, like buy my course, subscribe, or whatever it is. Then think about does the reader already know they have a problem, but maybe they don't know how bad it is or they don't have a solution? Are you trying to demonstrate the value of your information? Then write in the PAS framework number three. Are you trying to build an audience and is the audience really specific and you can relate to them? Then it'll be the Quest Framework Number four. Do you have a great transformation you can show off? Do you think the method will benefit the reader? Then it'll be the Before After Bridge framework. So now what? Don't try to memorize these frameworks. Internalize them. It takes time for that to happen. So in the meantime, bookmark this video and come back to it when you're actually writing something. So for now, pick something you've already written. Grab a notebook and open your notes app and answer the four questions in the audience section. Which set of answers is the most compelling to you? Outline the framework you think works best. Don't write like a brain dump. This isn't free writing. Free writing has its time and place and I love it. For getting ideas out. But this is writing to get people to feel something. Get the first draft out as fast as you can and let it marinate. The good ideas come later when you're walking down the street or at the grocery store. Then you can come back and start writing. Shonda Rhimes says she walks through five miles of writing crap and doodling and trying to have an idea and surfing the Internet and hoping like hell not to get so distracted that you give up before she gets to the good stuff. And she's written 11 seasons of Grey's Anatomy. There's no such thing as writer's block. There's just laziness. If you keep dumping out content, at least some percent of that is going to be good. Not all of it has to be good. Either way, if you think all your writing is good, then you're in for a big surprise. Here's a bonus tip. Write right after you wake up. You because you censor yourself less, you cross out things less. And write more because you're still in that waking up, groggy state. Once you're done writing, give your brain a moment to catch up. In the meantime, consume a wide variety of content across many disciplines. Work on other projects and talk to people that think differently from you. This helps you improve upon the audience and context portion of your writing and lets you incorporate quotes and examples that make you seem like a well read, informed individual that I know that you are. So to recap, answer the questions in the Audience Purpose Context section. Decide which framework is the most compelling. Get a first draft following the outline out. Don't censor yourself at this stage. Then take a break, consume other high quality writing, and then finally come back and edit further. This leads to my next point. This leads to my next point. I want to share with you the concept of a swipe file. I have a swipe file for absolutely everything. Tweets, tiktoks, blog posts, landing pages, YouTube videos, quotes, phrases, aphorisms, anything that stood out to me and that my brand could relate to. This is because my brand is the set of 1 ideas and 2 delivery methods that I like and that my audience can relate to. It can consist of things ranging from writing frameworks to mediums like text, video, audio, short form, long form that I am repackaging into the content that I'm sharing. It is crucial that ideas are repeated in various delivery formats. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. That is the whole point of the video that you're currently watching. A strong swipe file becomes incorporated consciously or subconsciously into your brand and is indispensable if you don't have one already. Start today Anything Works Notes app Google Docs I actually use Trello because it helps me organize it by topic and lets me move things around in an easy way. Here's some other stuff that can go in your swipe File Personal stories organized by topic written in one of the story frameworks from above. You can reuse the same story and write it in multiple different frameworks. Metaphors Anything that you see being repeated and that people seem to relate to. Statistics. Anything that stands out organized by topic. Something that you might have seen others sharing or read somewhere. Quotes. Great quotes could launch a whole article by themselves. Don't go crazy though, because there's a lot of quotes out there. And once again, organize by topic because many of them repeat themselves in different ways. Pick and choose the most punchy ones that get the point across quickly. Be candid. Finally, when writing your solution or your call to action, be honest. Please don't make exaggerated claims or things like buy my course and you'll become a billionaire, because people can tell. On the other hand, people will register and appreciate honesty. The risk of lying far outweighs the reward. If the product or idea is good, you won't have to lie. The unfortunate reality is a lot of people try to lie because they think that their idea or their product is just not good enough. They want to get better than other people doing the exact same thing as them. And that's why they think they have to make numbers up or make exaggerated claims. And it just seems like that it doesn't work in the long run. Which is kind of the point of what I'm sharing with you. This is how to make a long lasting, reputable brand that you can put your name across with full confidence. And when you feel confident, the customer feels confident. They'll even pick you over competitors that try to fabricate their figures and make outrageous claims just because they see you as more trustworthy. We're almost near the end of the video and I want to address some questions that I believe would come up. As someone who's listening to this video, why do these frameworks work and do they work on everyone? In my opinion, they won't work on everyone, and that is by design. Problem, amplify, Solution and quest are built upon the premise of disqualification as you describe and amplify the solution and the problem. Readers who do not relate stop reading. This is a good thing. The more specific, relatable and unique like nobody understands me like you do. The higher your conversion rate will be, because the people who finish your article are going to feel satisfied and heard. To do this, you must genuinely understand your audience. Dive into their problems. Consume the same content they do. Talk to them if you can. Put yourself in their shoes. Try to reply to people in tweets, in newsletters, in videos. See how they think. Let's say I'm trying to sell a skincare product where the primary audience is women. In this case, I don't need to amplify the problem as much because someone that is already reminding themselves of the problem every morning doesn't have to be reminded of it. I would instead lean into the Aida framework and capture their attention through phrases like it's not your fault, here's why. Or Supermodels use this something that doesn't remind them of the problem that they're acutely familiar with, but identifies them and indirectly qualifies them. Much of what you write shouldn't reinvent the wheel. Find posts on TikTok and X and videos on YouTube that already speak to their audience and then steal that language. Learn to speak like your audience does and you will appeal to them. Do what already works instead of guess. Secondly, why should someone listen to your content over the millions of other pieces of content and creators on the Internet? So something I didn't address yet is credibility. In order to get someone to trust you, you must show relatability but also results. Have you tried the solution you talk about? Does it work for you? If not, who does it work for? Does someone else you researched use it and you know it works for them? Change the credibility language based on who your audience is. Younger audiences prefer that you show that it has worked for you recently. Older audiences prefer track records and expertise. Technical audiences prefer numbers, charts and methodologies. So that's it for this video. I genuinely hope that this helps you and that you have a great launching pad for your next piece of writing or your piece of content in general. Through talking through this information, I've understood these frameworks much better than I did before and if anything is unclear, please let me know in the comments. I talk about these things so that my thoughts get tested by others, so your contribution would be incredibly valued. Thanks for watching and see you soon.