Vanessa Van Edwards learned from Neil deGrasse Tyson that his books are made of every eyebrow-raising remark he's tested on strangers. She now does the same: watches for moments that make people react in her teaching and conversations, then builds her book outline from those moments alone.
if it doesn't raise eyebrows, it doesn't get to go in the book. Neil deGrasse Tyson— I was watching one of his interviews and it was like the best writing nugget ever. He said, "My books are the culmination of every eyebrow-raising thing I've ever said." Meaning Neil deGrasse Tyson is so freaking smart and he writes books about astrophysics. So what he said he does is he goes on airplanes and he talks to the person next to him and he just starts telling them things. And when they raise their eyebrows, he knows he's got a point that's actually going to hit home. And he takes notes every time he raises someone's eyebrows. When I heard that advice, that changed my writing. It also changed my video making. As I was teaching, I just watched the eyebrows, and I'm like, what got you intrigued? What just made you lean in or say, I need a little bit more of that? My outline for this book was every eyebrow-raising thing I've ever taught.
