The Rapid Decline of John Grisham

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

I can still remember when John Grisham's "The Firm" came out -- it was an instant best-seller and a book I rapidly read through.

Secretly, I suspect, I'm a frustrated would-be lawyer. I don't think I'd really enjoy *being* a lawyer, but I do think I enjoy thinking about being one. Consequently, I find myself drawn to legal thrillers (as Grisham used to write).

"The Firm" was a good book - for 90 percent of the book. I felt he copped-out a little at the end, by making the main antagonist, essentially, the Mafia.

Of course, this wasn't his first book -- he had an earlier one -- but this was the one that put him on the map.

Quickly, Grisham began pumping out books - more quickly, perhaps, that anyone this side of James Patterson.

And, some of them were really pretty good -- "Runaway Jury" is still one of my favorites by him, "The Client" was pretty good, as well.

But, somewhere along the way, Grisham became a fan of the non-ending ending. And, that's disappointing.

He first veered away from being, what I would consider, a legal writer, some time ago. And, for sure, that diminished some of my interest. He stopped focusing on the nitty-gritty and his books became more of a "soap opera starring lawyers" genre. But, at least the endings were fulfilling.

I just recently finished two of his books -- the first, "The Associate" was an utter disappointment. A young lawyer, who had witnessed/been an accomplice to a rape years earlier in college, is 'recruited' by computer hacker thugs to steal information. He finally gets the FBI involved, and a sting is set up, but the cons catch on and flee, never to be heard from again. In other words, a lot of nothing happens.

From the book's Wikipedia page:

Janet Maslin of the New York Times stated, "Mr. Grisham so often writes similar books that the same things must be said of them. The Associate is true to form: it grabs the reader quickly, becomes impossible to put down, stays that way through most of its story, and then escalates into plotting so crazily far-fetched that it defies resolution. Kyle McAvoy is another of the two-dimensional yet terrifically likeable heroes who come to life on Mr. Grisham’s pages only to evaporate later. It’s easy to predict what choice Kyle will make at the end of the novel. It’s impossible to imagine, let alone care, what his life will be like once the improbably wild furor surrounding this one lone law-firm recruit is over."

Somehow, this "non-ending" apparently has become his go-to manuever. Following "The Associate" I immediately read his next novel, "The Appeal." This had a lot more grit to it. Town in Mississippi has been the site of toxic dumping that resulted in a cancer level 15x the national average. Two small-town lawyers win a $40 million lawsuit against the manufacturer, who is then approached by a firm that helps "win/fix" elections. Through less-than-honorable ways, the firm helps a candidate who is more sympathetic to the plight of manufacturer's liability win an election over a previously heavily favored incumbent. The verdict is overruled; the case is dismissed; and the manufacturer goes on, happily ever after.

Now, what this *doesn't* tell you is how much Grisham builds up the protagonists -- the two lawyers that are struggling to keep their firm (and the hopes of 300+ clients awaiting the outcome of this case) -- to be extremely sympathetic. The antagonist -- the CEO of the manufacturing company -- is near-devil-like. Even the patsy candidate is barely likeable. The lines are drawn very tightly.

Of course, at the last minute, the new judge has a personal tragedy in his life that -- we think -- may help him make the *right* decision (and uphold the verdict); although, as I was reading the book, I kept thinking what a convenient (and, as such, ridiculous) premise this was -- the weekend before he's set to make his decision, *something* happens to make him rethink HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

But, it's even worse than that; even faced with this new information, he still makes the wrong decision, and the bad guys ultimately win.

Admittedly, both of these books, on some level, were inspired by real-life information. And, I'm certainly not one to say "the good guy always has to win." But, I'm trying to determine why Grisham seems to think it's more important to keep his audience in suspense; as compared to the characters in his novels.


Easy for me to say, of course; considering the wide array of New York Times bestsellers I've penned already; but a reader can only know what he likes -- and I'm starting to feel like Grisham has been mailing it in for a while.

With the move of Richard North Patterson away from legal thrillers and into more political stories; that effectively leaves Scott Turow as the only true legal-thriller writer I know of (and he only comes out with books every 4-5 years, it seems; although "Presumed Innocent" is still the gold standard of legal mysteries).

Anyone else have any favorites in the legal thriller arena that I should be checking out?

Writing Prompts: The Tale of Gandhi as Erotic Fiction ... And Go!

Last week, my friend and I looked to 'get inspired' about writing. As I've mentioned, I do my best writing when I'm depressed; and I've done an extremely good job of staying upbeat. But, we still entertain our dreams of writing.

Realizing (as I'd said earlier) that good writing starts with good characters, we sought out some writing prompts sites, in an effort to 'spark' our thinking. Hopefully, we would come up with something that would lead us into a path that could snowball.

That didn't happen.

It would be great if there were databases online that combined things that made sense. A wily and courageous rogue-like character with questionable morals and commitment issues facing a stable and secure life with no adventure -- how does he deal with the change? I can work with that. Instead, what you get is the writing prompts version of MadLibs -- there's no consideration given to whether the items pulled from the databases make sense together; just that where a subject is called for, a subject is provided; and where an adjective is called for, an adective is provided.

And, as such, you end up with "prompts" like these -- these are "fusion" tales:

• The story of Jack and the Beanstalk envisioned as a legal drama tale. 
• The story of Noah envisioned as a high-school comedy tale.
• The story of the Odyssey envisioned as a cyberpunk tale.
• The story of Cinderella envisioned as a blaxploitation buddy tale.

Or, perhaps you can could up at the What If-inator:

• What if ... the fall of Mankind from the Garden of Eden involved zookeepers?
• What if ... Leonardo Da Vinci had access to antidepressants?
• What if ... Saint Peter was a football player?
• What if ... Lewis Carroll was indirectly responsible for the McCarthy Trials?
• What if ... Ronald Reagan was the descendant of Christ?

Of course, the more you try to achieve, the more chance there is for absurdity. The 'fully-fleshed out' stories have 1-2 components that could be decent; but the combinations are far more comical:

• The story must have a gazelle involved in the middle. The story must involve a robe in the beginning. A character becomes intoxicated, but the intention behind the action is not what it seems. A character is hateful throughout most of the story. During the story, a character gets a demotion.
• The story must have an elephant in it. The story must involve a hatchet in it. During the story, a character is forced to go shopping.
• The story starts on a battlefield. During the story, there is an attack. A character makes someone a meal. A character becomes calm during the story. During the story, a character eats something they haven't had in a while.
• A character gets a new hairstyle. A character becomes controlling during the story. The story must have a merchant involved in the middle. The story starts during a party. During the story, there is a sudden change in temperature.
• The story is about a psychologist and an unbalanced scuba diver. It starts in an arctic country. The issues of faster-than-light-travel and its effects on economics is a major element of the story.
• The story is about a rude gym teacher who hates a blacksmith. It starts in a mansion in a small city. A rebellion against technology plays a major role in this story.
• This is an odd-couple-teams-up tale with a focus on the war between the sexes. The story is about an antisocial beastmaster. It starts in a firehouse in an outpost. The story begins with someone discovering a report about themselves, climaxes with spying, and ends with a religious ceremony. The differences alien societies may have regarding romance is a major element of this story.
• This is a gross-out comedy. The story is about a grave robber. It takes place in a small city on a desert planet. The differences alien societies may have regarding business is a major element of this story.

I don't know if there's even ONE  idea there that's viable without doing a copious amount of narcotics. And, even then, I'd put my money on writer's block.

Finally, one particular prompt tries to get you to tie your story to a more familiar iconic series; for example:

• The giant robot story where the robots map to the four color process of printing (CMYK).
• The screwball comedy story set on a space station where the different sections map to the twelve Olympians of Greecian Legend.
• The dramatic story about communications officers where the characters map to the trinity of father-mother-child.
• The dramatic story about fences where the characters map to the four seasons (spring-summer-autumn-winter).
• The story set in a world where the crimes recognized by the legal system map to the twenty-six letters of the Alphabet.

(hmmmm....actually, that last one is pretty cool -- I guess, even a broken clock is right, twice a day!)

So, we're where we started -- no real inspiration; no real ideas; a whole lot of laughing. For all my would-be writer friends -- how do you come up with ideas? Any good sites you know of to spark the creativity mojo?

Characters vs. Plot

Yesterday's post on writing struck a chord (as I actually received comments on a blog post, for a change!) so, I thought I'd continue.

My friend and I have talked about doing collaborative writing for a while -- we definitely complement each other. The issue has been finding an idea.

But, while we were talking yesterday, an interesting point was raised. Which is more important, characters or plot? Yes, they're both important; but, if you had to pick one -- one to start with; one to make more important; which would it be?

Going back to one of my earlier posts about creativity, I compared the TV show Lost with the movie Cloverfield - both were done by JJ Abrams; but, whereas Lost succeeded on two levels (appealing to both the diehard fans and those who want to just be entertained for an hour), Cloverfield wasn't nearly as successful. Take away the innovative filming structure (camcorder-like) and the copious marketing, and Cloverfield is basically just a retread of old monster movies.

And, I think, perhaps, that's due to the lack of character development done in the movie, whereas on Lost, characters were far more fleshed out.

When you think of popular TV shows, most of them have memorable characters. Perhaps the most famous one that bucks that trend is Law and Order (Dick Wolf, the creator, has long said that no actor is irreplaceable on his show -- the plot is the most important part). So, in that respect, Law and Order succeeds against the odds.

In terms of writing, I hold that a good character is the starting point; my friend is more convinced that plot is the glue (which is ironic, as I suspect, in our writings, I would be doing more to push the plot along; and he would be responsible for developing the characters).

So, which do you think is *more* important -- is Law and Order the exception, or should more shows follow its lead (for example)?

Maybe I Should've Written a Novel

When I first decided to write a blog post every day for a month, I figured it was no big deal. My biggest concern, initially, was ensuring I scheduled the time each day.

Now, a little more than a-third of the way through, I'm wondering what I was thinking. Again, it all comes back to creativity. But, in the case of a blog, there are many more factors to consider.

Example - if I were writing a novel or a short story, I could look in the day's paper; find an article (a school executive caught re-routing money; or Monday's lead story on CNN about child prostitution, or - maybe even better - yesterday's story on a new lizard species). All of those could provide excellent fodder for an excellent work of fiction (primarly because they're all true).

But, if I'm writing a blog, I'm not writing fiction. And, why would I write about any of those things -- and what would I write about them? Stealing money from schools is bad. Child prostitution is bad. Eating lizards is just plain ol' yucky. I don't know that anyone is tuning in here to learn my views on those types of subjects.

I also can't really just mail it in. First off, to stop now would be to admit failure. That's unacceptable. Secondly, I've learned there are a decent amount of you reading -- even if you're just lurking -- including, in some cases, some fairly high-level people in companies. I'm not going to devote a whole post to why eating lizards is yucky. There has to be a larger purpose to each post.

And, this still differs from creatively writing for work. If I'm asked to write a press release or an internal communications piece, I can be creative with that (maybe there should be a video on the intranet; maybe the press release needs a sidebar, graphical piece; maybe the point-of-view can be changed to make it read more first-person than third-person) - but there's always a leaping-off point. There's no such luxury here.

To be sure, I already have ideas for some future posts -- some funny, some far more meaningful; but I definitely don't have 19 more ideas for the month. And, to be sure, the parameters of this style of writing is far more limiting than I'd expected. I've helped others with writing their blogs; and I've subscribed to the theory of executives writing blogs on internal networks; but trying to come up with a new topic each day that is cathartic, meaningful and pithy -- all at once -- is certainly not easy.

Still, I recognize the benefits. Being out-of-work, even though you may still try and stay "up" on trends; and still continue to practice your skills; it's no comparison to actually doing it. Now, each day, I force myself to brainstorm and execute one post (that tends to be around 500 words -- about the size of an average press release). While the style is certainly more colloquial and casual, it's still a process, and that -- on its own -- makes this worth it.

Is Facebook Killing the Blog?

While it's popular to think that Facebook started the whole "social media" movement, it's also incredibly untrue. In fact, it's far more likely that the blog was the first form of social media -- it signaled a change from static, one-way communication to a more fluid conversation that took place online.

However, with the rise in popularity of Facebook, are blogs now completely passe?

Like many, I use Facebook to broadcast details of my life -- including, obviously, when I make new posts here on my blog. Invariably, people choose to comment not here on the blog; but back on Facebook; even though they, clearly, have to visit the blog to view the post.

Why is that? Is it that the blog isn't nearly as graphically pleasing as Facebook (and thus, the thought of leaving a comment here is less satisfying that leaving one on Facebook)? Is it that the people don't think I'll see it here (I do, rest assured)? Is it a selfish thing -- I think it's significantly easier these days to start building up a Facebook network than it is to build a blog following -- perhaps those leaving comments want the maximum exposure to their contributions; and Facebook probably offers that.

Is this signaling the end of the blog? For a period of time, new blogs were being created at insane paces. Now, it's just as easy to write a Facebook "note" and share it with your network. And, if the content is good, perhaps that network shares the "note" with their networks, and you build up your following equally as fast. Are there really any drawbacks?

So, is Facebook killing the blog? And -- perhaps more importantly -- is it really a worthy successor?

The Wave of Creativity in Books/TV/Movies

As I've mentioned before, I've been doing an awful lot of research on creativity and the way it's handled in various forms of entertainment (and, even more specifically, how it can be handled within written works/books).

There are two movies I've seen recently that really caused me to look at the way "twists" are handled within written works: Shutter Island and Cloverfield. I don't mean to give away spoilers, per se, here, but some may inadvertantly come out.

We'll start with Shutter Island, which definitely has a 'twist' (not necessarily a twist ending, but certainly enough of a twist to have kept the audience guessing for a good portion of the movie). Of course, after the movie was first released, there were a number of people that said, "oh, I saw the twist all along." Certainly, watching the movie a second time, while knowing the twist, creates a completely different perception of the movie.

The problem I have is while I can see how effective this works in a film (or TV) setting, it's very hard for me to see how this can be pulled off in a written piece (thankfully, this *can* be discovered -- the movie is based on a novel written by Dennis Lehane).

Cloverfield was an extremely hyped movie produced by JJ Abrams, who also produced the TV series Lost. Lost is almost certainly the single most analyzed television show of all time (and, I could easily spend a full month just recapping that. Cloverfield, on its own, is an average monster movie (in the vein of Godzilla, Mothra, etc.). I watched Cloverfield and it had its share of "jumps" and scares; but overall, it was (by my perception) just an interesting way to tell a story (through a camcorder).

As I've become quite fond of doing, though, I began looking up information about the film online -- it helps that I saw the film two years after its release -- and, I found a wealth of 'secrets': secret logos (that actually trace back to the show Lost) in the movie. Secret single frames of old monster movies spliced into the film; and, of course, the 'secret' that the ending supposedly showed.

And, when you start poking around, you can see how incredible the efforts to create a well-rounded experience were -- from setting up phantom websites and showing the 'history' of the companies involved; suddenly, what was a fairly average 80-minute thrillfest, becomes a fully fleshed out experience - and the movie is just a small blip on the entire timeline.

This, to me, is a sign of the times -- it's so much easier, these days, to set up websites and other multi-media experiences, which allow the most fervent fans to be quasi-detectives, finding their own pieces to the puzzle. And, more than anything, I find myself both drawn to that style of creativity; even if I can't fathom how to pull it off in the written format (same with Lost -- the numerous flashbacks and flashforwards -- how do you pull that off?).

And, for people that think "oh, in a TV series, you can make stuff up as you go along," I'll offer the following (which will only make sense for people who have seen the show): The season 3 finale shows a scene (Kate & Jack at the airport). The season 4 finale shows the same scene, but, continues the scene beyond what was included in season 3. Since, it looks as though it's all part of the same shoot, this meant the creators had to shoot the full shot, then, decide, "ok, let's cut it here, for season 3, and then, hold the full scene for the season finale A FULL YEAR FROM NOW." That takes a lot more planning than, for example, establishing a story arc for a full season of "Two and a Half Men."

Back to Cloverfield -- as a friend of mine said, "it's wag the dog -- when the marketing outweighs the movie, you've lost my attention."

On one Rotten Tomatoes forum, a great exchange took place that seemed to effectively illustrate the mindsets of the two camps.

"I remember when people went to movies to be entertained instead, and didn't have to study a viral marketing campaign to learn half of the plot. Those were good days."

"I remember a day when people didn't always expect everything to be fed to them on a silver platter, because people actually gave things their own thought rather than the mindless drivel we see in theatre's today that we'd all like to call "movies"."

"..So... outlining a story and giving information through storytelling is feeding your audience something on a silver platter? How silly of me! I thought that's what scripting was for. Man. Someone needs to go to those film schools and tell those guys they're going about it all wrong. Who needs scripts when we can spend a few hours on the internet piecing together a puzzle before a cryptic movie with about 10 minutes worth of palatable footage will come out?"

Which camp are you in? Is intricate planning the wave of the future? Or, are we destined to return to TV shows and movies that "are what they are" with no twists and no need to research anything before or after the event itself?

Why NaNoWriMo is a NoNo for me this year

Every November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and there's a full website dedicated to the 'contest' (where the only prize, of course, is completing your novel -- a pretty good prize!)

I seriously considered participating this year. After all, I'm not working. Conceivably, I should have more free time than any other period in my life. And, while that's true, I'm lacking structure (which I find refreshing, personally).

So, my commitment to NaNoWriMo lasted about 6 hours. More glaring than the lack of structure was, quite frankly, a lack of ideas. I didn't want to sit at a computer with ZERO ideas.

So, I also learned that November is National Blog Posting Month (and, again, there's a website. What *isn't* there a website for these days?). This, I can do (I think), and it will condition me to begin writing again, on an every-day basis.

But, I don't want to give up on NaNoWriMo entirely, so, I'm planning on doing some real idea-searching in the month of November (and probably December), and make writing something significant a real goal. I'll certainly be posting about that process this month, for sure (I already have a few ideas for the next few days' posts, coming up...)

Wish me luck! (and remember, you can get automatic updates each day, when I post -- which SHOULD be every day this month!)

The Creative Process (Can it be forced?)

While out of work, a friend of mine and I began thinking about doing some collaborative writing. In many ways, we complement each other extremely well -- I'm more linear and plot/character-driven; and he's an incredible wordsmith (who can be prone to spending too much time indulging himself in his words). So, those two personalities would work well together.

We've done some brief talking about plot and characters -- not too much, though; and we've even talked about some ways to market the work, should it ever get finished.

Here's the problem. We're really having a hard time getting started. In no uncertain terms, that's the issue facing us. And, when we really *really* thought about it last week, I think I uncovered it.

We don't have a driving need to tell a story.

Many/most successful writers, from what I've read, have said that, when they wrote their book, they "simply had to tell their story." They couldn't *not* tell it. It had to be written.

I'd always dismissed that as semi-pompous drivel. After all, I've spent my career as a writer (in one form or another). I was trained to turn out copy in quick fashion, regardless of my interest in the subject (and, trust me, when I started my career, as an editor of magazines on shallow draft commercial maritime, woodworking and janitorial product distribution, there wasn't a whole lot of interest in the subject). So, why would it be so difficult to write something equally compelling/entertaining as a work of fiction.

But, yet, when we sit down to start writing, it's way too difficult to really get a foothold. We make a little headway and then we get bogged down in details. It's definitely not fun.

I can't decide if writing fiction really does require a muse, per se; or, does it require a clear head (something I admittedly don't have now). Has anyone actually churned out "creative" work, even when you didn't feel like it?

My new writing position (not really) and social media wishlist

So, I started actually writing for "pay" -- if you can call it that. I signed up on examiner.com as a local "board game" examiner, which pays the princely sum of $1 per article (plus additional monies, as determined by traffic).

Unlike this blog, which has really evolved (or devolved, depending on your interests!) into more of a professional thinkbank for me, the examiner piece allows me to write about a hobby of mine, and keeps my skills up. Plus, it's fun being an ambassador for - what I consider to be - a great pastime. Unlike some of the boardgaming-focused sites, which are really geared towards the experienced player, this column will attempt to bring these games to the public's awareness.

You can access (and subscribe to) my column here. Right now, there's only one story up, but I'll try and get 2-3 up each week (more often than not, it'll be '2'). But, almost all of them will be shorter than what I typically write here!

The other thing I've been working on is figuring out the best way to secure emails in an RSS feed. For those who've been reading this column, you know that I'm a huge fan of the use of RSS feeds. I find email to be cumbersome and inefficient. Nevertheless, there are still some sites that *insist* on using email to communicate -- most notably, YahooGroups (understandable, as Yahoo, in general, is years behind the rest of the world) and - shockingly - Linked In.

I've gone through so many attempts to figure out ways to do it -- using blogger.com, using xfruits.com -- my latest attempt used posterous.com, but even that has fallen short (although, there's still a possibility of that working -- next week will tell).

So, here's my WISHLIST of social media/technology tools, that would make my life significantly easier:

1. An easy way to convert email to RSS feeds that stays private. I want to be able to get the full text of the message in the RSS reader. Basically - a dream would be to combine posterous.com -- which allows you to subscribe to a private RSS feed, with blogger.com or wordpress.com -- which allows ANY email address to post to the blog (whereas, posterous only allows approved/confirmed email addresses to post).
   
   This makes for a circuitous snafu. I receive emails at gmail.com, and auto-forward to the blog; but since I'm unable to confirm email addresses from yahoogroups or linkedin, and the auto-forward *retains* the original sending email address, the posts never arrive at posterous.
   
   Admittedly, this is probably over the head of most people; but if it's not - there will be MUCH gratitude for assistance in fixing this issue.
   
2. Nested folders in google reader -- isn't it about time, already?

Starting next week, I'll be tackling some new topics that still remain professional in origin; but aren't completely communications-related. You'll have to stay tuned, to see!

Top 5 Books for Communicators (and Business People) - #2

I know I've prefaced this book countdown by saying these books are must-reads for communicators and business people, but that mantra really holds through for these final two books.

A quick background - when I was younger, in middle school, my career goal was to be a sabermetrician. There's no listing for that position in the Department of Labor. Basically, it was a term coined by Bill James, to reflect interest in baseball statistics and new ways to interpret them.

So, in 9th grade, I was taking an independent study course, and my project was going to be to write a book about sabermetrics. I was unable to reach James, but I did find a willing mentor in Craig Wright, who was a contemporary of James; the main difference being that Wright was working for the Texas Rangers in that capacity.

One day, I asked him, "what courses do I need to focus on to become a sabermetrician?" And, he replied, without hesitating, "English." I was confused. I'd expected to hear something like statistics or algebra or calculus or accounting; why would English be important? I asked him if he'd heard my initial question, since his answer didn't seem to make sense. He said (and, I remember this as if it was yesterday - it may be the most meaningful comment I've ever heard in my life), "If you can't effectively communicate your findings, it's as good as never having done them in the first place."

So - communications matters to everyone - not just communicators. Smart business people know this.

Our #4 book, Made to Stick, is the top-rated writing-focused book on my list. While there are some books that are classics (like the great Elements of Style), this "writing" book is appropriate for all audiences.

And, in a definite change of pace from the rest of this list, the tips in this book are not dedicated to social media. Then again, good content is good content, regardless of the channel being used.

The authors (brothers Chip and Dan Heath) term content that is memorable as "sticky," and they list six factors that contribute to stickiness:

• Simplicity (it can't be too complex)
• Unexpectednes (if the audience sees it coming, it won't capture their attention)
• Concreteness (ideas must be explained in human actions to avoid being ambiguous and/or meaningless)
• Credibility (if the information is too unbelievable, it won't be sticky)
• Emotional (you need to connect with the audience)
• Stories (metaphors and anecdotes resonate far more than abstract concepts)

Each of these six factors includes ample examples of how content was made sticky. And, each of them is powerful (and realistic, more importantly - the reader completely believes creating sticky content is well within his grasp).

The book opens, inronically, with a story that is sticky while being completely untrue (but credible, so it qualifies as sticky). The story - the Kidney Heist - has been told time and again, and has preserved its stickiness by adhering to the six factors above (even though it's untrue). Such is the power of creating communication that is sticky.

There's not really a bad example in the book. I'm going to list two here that I have been lucky enough to remember to this day (but, by no means are these the only good examples -- the whole book is chock full of them).

1. (From the "Credible" section): The use of vivid details helps build credibility. An organization - Beyond War - wanted to address the following paradox: When we see a child running with scissors, we wince; but when we read newspaper articles about nuclear weapons, it provokes, at best, a moment of dismay.

To get their point across, the organization would arrange house parties where a representative would speak with guests. One common presentation would involve a metal bucket and BB pellets. At the appropriate point in the presentation, the speaker would take a metal BB out of his pocket and drop it in the empty bucket. "This is the Hiroshima bomb," he'd say, as the BB made a loud clatter. He'd then spend a few minutes describing the devastation of the bomb - the miles of flattened buildings, the tens of thousands killed instantly.

Then, he'd drop 10 BBs into the bucket. This clatter was louder and more chaotic. "This is the firepower of the missiles on one U.S. or Soviet nuclear submarine." Then, he'd ask the attendees to close their eyes. "This is the world's current arsenal of nuclear weapons," he'd say, as he poured 5,000 BBs into the bucket - one for every nuclear warhead in the world. The noise was startling and terrifying. The roar of the BBs went on and on, and then, there was always dead silence.

This is a great example of how to make something abstract more credible -- how to turn a statistic like 5,000 warheads into something meaningful. The demonstration added a sensory dimension to an otherwise abstract concept. It turned an abstract statistic into something sticky.

2. (From the "Unexpected" section): Nora Ephron, a famous screenwriter, started her career as a journalist. Her first day of journalism class in high school, she walked into the class with a sense of what a journalist does - they get the facts and report them. To get the facts, you track down the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why).

The teacher announced the first assignment. They would write the lead of a newspaper story for the school paper. The teacher reeled off the facts, "Kenneth Peters, principal of the high school, announced today that the entire high school faculty will travel to Sacramento next Thursday for a seminar on new teaching methods. Among the speakers will be anthropologist Margaret Mead, college professor Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins and California governor Edmund "Pat" Brown."

The budding writers sat at their typewriters and pecked out their first leads. According to Ephron, she and most of the other students, produced leads that reordered the facts into one sentence, "Governor Pat Brown, Margaret Mead and Robert Maynard Hutchins will address the High School faculty Thursday in Sacramento ... blah, blah, blah."

The teacher collected the leads and scanned the rapidly. Then, he laid them aside and paused for a moment. Finally, he said, "The lead to the story is, 'There will be no school next Thursday!'"

There are two key points: 1) know your audience and 2) writing is more than just the 5 Ws; it also means figuring out the point and why it matters.

**************************************************

This is - by far - the best book on communicating I've ever read. Each example is powerfully chosen and the concept of "stickiness" is spot-on. If you're responsible for communicating, this is the book for you. But, even if it isn't your primary responsibility, this is a book for everyone to read. There's just too much good information here for the book to be dismissed as a "communications" book.

Next up - the #1 book, and the one that truly revolutionized the world of communications.