Nicolas Cole argues stories work like products: you need to pitch the benefits upfront to grab attention. A hook should sell what readers get—witty dialogue, high-stakes settings, unique world-building—the same way a mop ad sells cleaning power.
Stories are products. The same way we give Instagram or TikTok attention, we are giving a story attention, which means the same way we would sell a product by educating the person on the benefits of this thing, we're just doing the same thing and the story is the product. Say I wrote a sci-fi story and at the top I'm like, "Hey, if you're really interested in futuristic post-apocalyptic sci-fi stories, below the paywall what you'll find is really witty banter characters that go back and forth always arguing about the situation, and you'll find planetary collapse," that they have to navigate. All I'm really doing is listing the benefits of reading the story. I'm trying to sell you on why you should give me your attention. That's no different than me selling, like, a mop. "This mop cleans up 50% more water." It's the same thing.
What Every Writer Gets Wrong About Their Audience #writing #creator #writingtips
