idea, then works to bring it into living form. And as E.B. White
said, “There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”
You create Hypnotic Writing in the rewriting stage. You take
what you have and you whittle it—sculpt it—polish it—to per-
fection. Let me try to show you what I do with a few specific
examples:
“The door was opened by Joe.”
Say that’s a line in an article you’re working on. It’s not bad, but
it isn’t good either. It’s too passive. A minor tinkering can help this
line out.
“Joe opened the door.”
Getting better, isn’t it? Now we have someone doing something.
That’s active and muchmore involving. There’s life in the sentence
now. But is it hypnotic? Nope. So let’s try again:
“Joe kicked open the door.”
That would grab your attention, wouldn’t it? But I think we can
do better.
“Joe kickedopen the door!”
Nowwe have an irresistible line! Start your story with that one
and your reader is bound to go on to the next one.
Everyline has to work to keep your reader’s attention. The radio
is calling, the television is calling, the phone is ringing, the sun is
shining, the refrigerator has food in it, there’s a new movie at the
theater—your lines have to keep your reader nailedto the page, or
you’ll lose them to any or all of the above. There are simply too
many distractions in the world for you to offer mediocre writing.
You don’t have a choice. You mustrewrite your material to perfec-
tion. You must!
Take my Thoughtline sales letter. Because my money was riding
on the success of that letter, I neededit to work. If you come to your
writing with the same attitude, that you mustwin, that your whole
career is riding on this, then you will makeit work.HYPNOTIC WRITING