Nicole Bianchi

Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: How to Write a Powerfully Persuasive Essay, Article, or Speech (Video)

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I hope all of your writing projects are going well this June. It’s been a few months since I last published a post here, and I’m happy to finally be back.

While I was away, I was making a new video, and I just uploaded it to YouTube:

You can click on the CC button for subtitles. In this video, I look at a persuasive speech outline called the Motivated Sequence created by psychologist Alan H. Monroe.

I first learned this structure when I was competing in a speech and debate league back in high school. It was extremely effective at grabbing the attention of the audience and inspiring them to action. 

Since then, I’ve continued to use it for articles and essays and have taught it to many writing students who were working on persuasive essays and speeches. And I’ve been wanting to share it here on the blog for quite a while! I hope you find it helpful.

If you enjoy the video, be sure to give it a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to the channel. This lets me know that you found the video helpful and also encourages YouTube to share it with more people on the platform. Thank you!

**RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO**:

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How to Create Story Conflict: The Conflict Triangle with the Stakes Character (Video)

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Are you having trouble ratcheting up the tension in a story so your readers don’t lose interest after the first several pages?

Or maybe you’re struggling to give your protagonist a convincing character arc where her personality transforms over the course of your story so readers care about what happens to her?

Or perhaps you’re trying to weave a message into your story, but you don’t want it to sound preachy or unconvincing?

In today’s article, I’m going to show you how to solve all those problems with a storytelling technique called “the conflict triangle”.

This technique isn’t just for fiction writers. If you’re a nonfiction writer who wants to tell better stories in your ads or articles, this technique can help you too.

Prefer watching to reading? Watch the video version of this article (with bonus examples):

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Three Journaling Methods for Increased Productivity and Creativity (Video)

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In this video, I’m sharing the three journaling methods I’m using in 2022 to boost my creativity and productivity and stay on track with my goals and projects. Two I’ve been keeping for years (one inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule, the other by John Steinbeck’s notebooks). The third is completely new.

Do you keep a journal? Or are you planning on keeping a journal this year? What are your favorite journaling methods? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoy the video, be sure to give it a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to the channel. This will encourage YouTube to share the video with more people. Thanks so much!

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO: 

F. Scott Fitzgerald on How to Write Vivid Character Descriptions (Video)

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If you’re celebrating Christmas next week, I hope you have a lovely, joy-filled holiday. If you don’t celebrate or if this is a difficult time for you, I wish you peace and happiness this December.

And I have a writing gift for you — I’ve just uploaded a new YouTube video:

In this video, I look at how F. Scott Fitzgerald writes vivid physical character descriptions in The Great Gatsby. I share four strategies that will help you describe people in both fiction and nonfiction so they come alive for readers.

I hope you enjoy this last writing resource of 2021! Be sure to give it a like, leave a comment (comments are awesome), and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one in the new year.

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Fun, Unique, and Useful Gift Ideas for Writers

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Photo by Joshua Lam on Unsplash

Happy December! The gift-giving season is here.

Maybe you’re looking for a special gift for a friend or family member who is a writer. Or maybe you’re looking for a gift for yourself. After all, it’s been a crazy year, and you deserve something special too.

In today’s post, I’ve put together a list of lots of different gift ideas that would be perfect for writers. I haven’t used all of them myself, but after reading the reviews, I am considering adding several to my own Christmas list. 😉

I’d love to hear in the comments if you have any other gift ideas to add — maybe a writing gadget you love and can’t live without.

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