Today's is the second day of our story-telling crash course on Steemit. We continue to talk about anchoring techniques. The first one was about personal stories. This one is about quotes.
Exposure by Proximity
People react to reputation. It's an internal mechanism of survival, so deeply buried within, that we're simply ignoring it most of the time, masquerading it as "our likes", or "our preferences", or "our taste". But deep down, it's all about reputation, all about how you are perceived and how well are you integrated. Fifty thousands of years ago, when survival was unsure and tomorrow was a very uncertain contract, we, as species, relayed very much on reputation when picking up our groups, partners or protectors. I felt the need to note this at the very beginning, to understand why quotes are a very important tool in your story-telling tool-box, and, most important, how do they actually work.
Simply put, by using quotes, you get exposure by proximity. By using a quote from a certain author (or otherwise prominent personality) you make a visible statement. You associate yourself (most of the time, as you will see below, you can also use quotes ironically) with the fame, fortune or whatever the skill that person is famous for. You borrow a little from him. In this sense, this a double edged sword: if your general activity is having a certain nuance, if you associate yourself suddenly with another type of discourse, your readers will be confused.
So, let's see a few guidelines on using quotes:
- try putting them either at the beginning or at the end of the text, they get more weight like this
- try using short, punching quotes, don't quote an entire paragraph, unless you are talking specifically about that paragraph
- verify the source, that's paramount, the internet abounds in twisted, unverified information
- don't abuse them. If you're a regular blogger, putting a quote every 2 posts will create expectations and a sense of formalism and lack of spontaneity
- obviously, pick the quotes in such a way they'll actually be related to the topic of the article
Special Case: Irony or Satire
As I said above, you can also use quotes to give more substance and weight to your message by mixing them in an ironic or satirical text, in which case, twisting an otherwise popular message, you get a specific result. But this has to be very obvious. For instance, a couple of years ago, when I was still very active on Facebook, I used to play with fake quotes. The most famous one, obviously, is this one:
source: weknowmemes.com
Some of the fake quotes I used to post there:
"That moment, when somebody else is publishing fake quotes about Facebook, without quoting you." ~ Nostradamus
"If you don't know the real author of a quote you post on your Facebook timeline, just act like you do." ~ Lao Tzu - The Art Of War
"Man needs only 3 things to be really happy: to seek inner peace, to be true to himself and to post a fake quote on Facebook, every once in a while." ~ Confucius
Assignment: Use a relevant quote at the end of your article. You can write about whatever you want, but the quote must be real and must be somehow related to the topic. I will personally review all the articles and I will award the ginarmous amount of 1 SBD to the one I like the most. You have 24 hours, I will review all the articles tomorrow.
Looking forward to read your stories!
This is a 15 sessions story telling crash-course I'm doing on Steemit, the goal being to improve the writing skills of all members of this community. You can see the list of the sessions here. Each session contains an assignment for which you have 24 hours. I will read and review all the assignments, and award a symbolic prize of 1SBD to the "winner".
Let's tell some stories and have some fun!
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
https://steemit.com/~witnesses