He do the police in different voices: essay advice and apologies to TS Eliot

For those who are going to be up late, by candlelight or by the tiny lights emitted by neurons firing in the brain, here are a few snippets from a book, written a while back, called Made To Stick. 

The Heath brothers were at the leading edge of using data from their classes to come up with strategies that make writing appeal to others.

Since then, the number of books following the cognitive path of this one, has swelled and bulged,  become a genre in and of itself. But these guys provide useful advice for grabbing attention, keeping it, and making communication in the digital age concise and successful.

What follows are a few quotes along with a few of my comments. For those writing essays for classes, applications, or anyone with a writing deadline, stick to what sticks. Our brain knows more than "we" do.

Are you willing to take that risk?

Heath Brothers

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"For our idea to endure, we must generate interest and curiosity"

This abstract generality is still worth sticking in (pun intended). A good place to take drive on the wild side.

"Shut up and drive." 

This sentence, used to begin a conversation or an essay, accomplishes what the generalization says to do. It grabs the reader (or the driver) and puts them in a world in which the ears and eyes are ready. For what?  Journalists call this a hook.

"This is the Curse of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily re-create our listeners’ state of mind"

T.S. Eliot's original manuscript opening to "The Waste Land"

T.S. Eliot: "After such knowledge, what forgiveness."

Step aware from the car. Slowly. Make no sudden movement. Spred your arms wide. Fingers too. Now turn around. 

These words scare you into awareness. You need to do the same with your brain when you are thinking of who is reading your words. They are not in a position of power. You are. You can use your words to intimidate, or seduce, or create a sentiment unknown to me. But you have to know that what you know is not what they know. Use this power wisely.

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Editing super-fluidity helps you add more details, helps the reader see and hear, helps you keep your mind agile and active.

"We’ve seen that compact ideas are stickier, but that compact ideas alone aren’t valuable—only ideas with profound compactness are valuable. So, to make a profound idea compact you’ve got to pack a lot of meaning into a little bit of messaging. And how do you do that? You use flags. You tap the existing memory terrain of your audience. You use what’s already there."

Take off your belt. Empty your pockets.  Put your watch and wallet in the manilla envelope. When you make bail, these items will be returned to you. Now step over there for your mug shots. Turn to the left.  (Flash) Straight ahead. (Flash) Turn to the right. (Flash.)

Nicolas Cage in "Raising Arizona"

"People are tempted to tell you everything, with perfect accuracy, right up front, when they should be giving you just enough info to be useful, then a little more, then a little more."

The phone is over there. One call. Don't call your mother. You need a lawyer.

"The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern." 

Yo, dude, what'd you do? Who'd you kill? What they bust you for?

"So, a good process for making your ideas stickier is: (1) Identify the central message you need to communicate—find the core; (2) Figure out what is counterintuitive about the message—i.e., What are the unexpected implications of your core message? Why isn’t it already happening naturally? (3) Communicate your message in a way that breaks your audience’s guessing machines along the critical, counterintuitive dimension. Then, once their guessing machines have failed, help them refine their machines"

I decided I couldn't shut up and drive. I decided to say something. I did it and I'm glad.