About Writing War Stories (An Upfront Article)

I have written many war stories, to include the Korean War, having a close friend in that war. Also World War One, the one my grandfather was in, and World War Two, the one my Uncle Frank died in, and Uncle Wally was a POW in. I even wrote a few things about the civil war, but mostly the Vietnam War, the one I participated in, in 1971. My son Cody was involved with the Bosnia war in the early 1990s; I have yet to write about that. War participation, seems to run in the family, as much as it runs in the blood of the United States, always sticking their nose in to someone else's business. It would do well if we stop fighting for everyone else, and just for our own country; in that case, our youth would have time to blossom.

Anyhow, I thought about this article for a very long while, if indeed I should write it, and never got around to it, wasn't sure how to write it... and then I figured, do it the way you usually do; be up front. It is just your opinion, and we all have them, right?

Here is what I got to say about writing war stories: a writer who has the experience of war under his belt has one of the major subjects and certainly one of the hardest to write about. Sincerely those writers who have not seen it are jealous, and have tried to make it seem unimportant to others, if not abnormal or a negative as a subject, while in reality it is part of our global history, a fabric of the human race (like it or not, right or wrong), and perhaps irreplaceable and something they have missed.

You don't forget war, if you're in it. You remember near everything, even the songs being played, and replayed, and the smells, and the heaviness of the rain, and the championship boxing matches going on back home, the heat and the big bull mosquitoes, and the incoming rockets, their sounds and so forth and so on.

Writes are often times made by being sent to wars: such as Hemingway, Manning, Dostoevsky, Stendhal, and so on.

There are no real great writers today, worth quoting, and surely no war writers worth their salt, I've read.

5-9-2009

See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

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Why Facts Tell, And Stories Sell!

Since the first caveman figured out how to tie a sharp rock to the end of a sturdy stick with a piece of vine, and hack off slabs of mastodon meat with it for fire roasting, storytelling has been the way knowledge has been passed from one person to another.

Around the campfire blaze, the tribal members would gather, the little children gazing cautiously out from behind their parents, their eyes shining wide like silver dollars, listening... The grizzled old witch Doctor--can you hear his crackling voice, as he spins a yarn of bygone days?

There is learning in the story--how to surround and kill a wholly mammoth, the cunning exploits of the ancient clansman, how the old man survived a vicious storm. There are stories of love and war, of the discovery of magical potions and incantations, of the wicked cannibals to the east.

Since the dawn of time, stories have been the conduit of learning... the sacred baton, passed from one generation to the next... without which, human development would stand still.

We are creatures of story...

Just the other day I was reviewing a lead generation campaign a client sent me for critique. He had also sent me some of his competitors marketing materials, and I looked at them too.

My young marketing friend had taken the same lifeless approach as his opponents. He had begun as most corporate advertisers do, with a lifeless litany of meaningless platitudes. It was about as interesting as warmed over oatmeal gone cold.

"Suppose you were the customer, " I said to my friend. "Be him for a minute. Realize that he faces stacks of these things, they're piling up to the ceiling in his office, these dry institutional marketing pieces he must read on his employer's time. No wonder he hates sales people and marketers. He is drowning in their paper excrement. Can you see him? He wants to burn the piles up.

Suddenly something snaps...

He goes mad. He grabs the brochure on the top of the pile, rips off the top sheet, lights a match to it and now, laughing, slobbering all over himself, he feeds the little fire, a page at a time.

He drops the burning marketing package to the floor, and adds others to it until he has a large fire roaring in the center of his office. You can see him madly feeding the flames with sales letter after sales letter until he comes to yours. He picks it up. It's the last one left. By this time the drapes have caught fire and the place is turning into an inferno. He stops for a moment to read the last sales copy he will ever see. And what does he read?

XYZ Company is a leading communication solutions provider with a world-class portfolio of Connectivity, Infrastructure Management and IT Services. Because your thoughts, ideas and business requirements are entirely unique, XYZ Company believes our role is to equip your business with leading-edge communication solutions specific to your goals. XYZ Company collaborates with you to better understand your business, its challenges and how it operates. Not until then do we determine what you need - and what you don't. Our three main areas of business are:

"Can't you see that poor sod?", I said. "With your sales letter in his hands he lets out one last horrible scream, throws your stuff into the fire, and is about to jump in after it when, just in time, he is rescued by a big burly fireman who smashes down the door to his office and rushes in... Why not save the poor man's life in the first place by beginning your sales letter with a benefit riddled story?"

I could have said to my client, "Your copy is too formal and traditional and somewhat lacking in originality." He would likely have forgotten all about it the next time he sat down to write. But he will never forget the story of the mad purchasing agent burning his office down.

Telling stories and listening to stories are the behaviors that most distinguish us as a species. We discriminate as adults, in many ways, based on our primary experiences--the stories of our childhood. They are forever implanted, in both our conscious and unconscious. The drama of movies, TV, and the theater are storytelling. Jokes are short stories. The parables of the Bible are stories.

Storytelling is in our blood. So is listening to stories and relating to them. Ergo, story is the most powerful structure you can possibly use to build any sales argument.

When you open your copy with a story, you disarm your prospect's natural aversion to being sold, and engage them in a way "ad speak" never can. This in turn dramatically increases the odds of having them actively consider the reasons why they should want your product, and moves you dramatically closer to making the sale.

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto, Canada and publisher of the world famous copywriting anthology ?Masters of Copywriting? featuring the marketing wisdom of 42 of the world?s greatest copywriters, including Clayton Makepeace, Joe Sugarman, Joe Vitale, Bob Bly and dozens more! For a FREE excerpt visit the link http://www.Sellingtohumannature.com/Copywriting-Secrets.html

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