(This post is part of a series about creating the MENs story. You can begin at the Introduction.)
How do you write a proper FCL story? Here are five tips to always be on track.
1. Never Delete Anything
All good writers will tell you to save everything, and there is no reason you should delete anything you write in our digital world. I use Google Drive for everything, so making unlimited versions of my stories, outlines, etc.
As you write, you will create details, sentences, and paragraphs that you later realize don’t fit the particular story you are writing now. How awful would it be to delete something today and recall it tomorrow to use it, but you deleted it?
2. Use an Action / Reaction Style of Writing
An excellent storytelling technique at the heart of the Fire Came Later Framework is the notion of action | reaction.
Something happens—the action, and then your character reacts to it—reaction.
It’s really simple, but the technique will help your writing stay on track, be hyper-focused, and align well with your story outline.
3. Write a ‘Full’ Story
The Fire Came Later Framework has five story lengths, from ‘Full’ to ‘Micro.’ Each is half as long as the next. You can create the perfect length story for your intended purpose with any of these lengths.
However, you should always invest the time writing the Full Story, then revising that for all the other lengths. It is much more efficient to cut a story in half, having all the rich detail in front of you than expanding on a shorter story and trying to remember things to add.
4. ‘Half as Long’
This rule of thumb will help you focus your writing and keep it on track. People have a limited attention span, and the worst writing is awkwardly worded, too long, run-on, etc.
Take any sentence you write and see if you can shorten it while keeping the ideas. The Fire Came Later Framework even has a ‘half as long’ writing tutorial to practice this.
It’s essential to keep your writing focused so your dream customer will pay attention and read all the way where your offer makes all the difference.
5. Pick Your Words Carefully
Jargon or industry-specific language can attract or repel. If your dream customer is knowledgeable, use it. If they are not, be careful.
Where is your dream customer on their journey? Do they have experience with solutions and the details of your market / niche, or are they at the beginning just realizing they have a problem?
The story you write needs to meet your dream customer where they are, and the language you use should be appropriate for that place.
For MENs
The Company
Philip, the founder of MENs needs stories of achievement and transformation of new members as they are mentored, educated, and nourished by fellow MENs members.
If he can clearly show this transformation, which can only be achieved through MENs, his story and company will succeed.
The Dream Customer
The dream customer isn’t part of a collective, doesn’t have mentors and support in their lives, and wishes to be better for themselves and those around them, but they don’t even know where to start.
The Story’s Character
Steve, the character in our story, is a 36-year-old portfolio manager at a Wall Street bank.
Conclusion
The story Philip should write will show how Steve went from an over-worked and unhealthy man into a healthy and well-balanced MENs member who is ready to mentor others.
Remember, this post is part of a series:
- Introduction – an overview of the process
- Pre-story – a few exercises before you create a story
- Story outline – let’s look at an aspect of the FCL Story Outline Framework
- Write – let’s understand how to write an FCL story (this post)
- Final story – one of the story lengths the FCL Framework helps produce
- Headlines – let’s write some headlines for ads, sales pages, email campaigns, etc.
- Story summary – let’s distill the story down to its essence
Each post will link to the rest, so it will be easy to see the entire process.
Remember, the FCL Framework helps create very specific types of stories—that will make your dream customers see you as their guide and your offers as their path to success.
Ready for the Fire Came Later Framework?
The FCL Framework is the best method for structuring and writing stories that create belief—belief in you as the guide and your offers as the path to their success.
