“Dr. Lee, how bad is it this time?”
“It’s not good, his heart just can’t support his weight.”
Near death story leads like this are all the rage in supplements world. And for good reason.
“People are bored shitless” (to quote John Carlton)…
And opening your sales letter with a dramatic moment can reel in people eager for a brief thrill in their day.
But here’s the thing…
Near death experiences aren’t the only way to create drama in your lead.
Switch on a soap opera and you’ll see all sorts of dramatic mechanisms in play:
Shame…
Humiliation…
Forgiveness…
Sacrifice…
Betrayal…
Or a moral dilemma.
All of these can be powerful ways to kick off your sales letter.
Want to give your lead even greater emotional impact?
Connect your dramatic moment with something intangible that’s lost.
This could be the loss of a friend’s respect…
Seeing the look of love disappear from a partner’s eye…
Or betraying the trust of a child.
Because here’s the thing…
To reel readers in, your dramatic moment has to create a sense of emotional loss.
Because it’s emotional loss that propels your hero into action…
And to go on a journey to turn their life around before it’s too late.
So the next time you sit down to write a story lead…
Think about how you can give it the drama of a soap opera…
And the emotional impact of something intangible that’s lost.
