“Oh, he has fired in his eyes.” My friend Steve made this comment at the top of the 4th quarter, after the Rams had scored their field goal. He said it about the Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady.
In case you missed the hurry up and wait, and wait and yawn, the commercials were better than most of the game Superbowl last night, here’s a quick recap.
The Patriots played pool shark for the first three quarters, where they pretended to be very bad. The Rams were the youngsters on the field who really, really wanted it, but let the game get in their head. (Or maybe it was the steely eyes of Gronk and Brady on the sidelines staring down cute, young Goff (the Rams QB).) This all led to a dismal score of 3-3 by the time the game hit the 4th quarter.
Brady really should only play for 15 minutes per game. Because he does all his best work in the 4th quarter. Like my friend Steve said—Brady had fire in his eyes.
At the top of the 4th quarter, Brady showed up.
In 4, or maybe 6 passes, the Patriots went 80 yards and scored a TD. Suddenly we all set down our nacho chips and stopped talking about the weather. Brady had given us a football game.
For cryin’ in the sink, Susie, what does this have to do with WRITING?
Great question. And aside from the fact that this is the last football-related note of the year (sit down and stop cheering. 😊), it points to an important precept in business…and especially in writing.
Give them what they want. What they EXPECT.
We expected Brady to be awesome in the 4th quarter, even if we wanted to weep a little, watching the Rams go down.
Your readers expect a certain kind of story….your voice, in your genre. They will follow you because you give them something they’re looking for. Over, and over, and…
You gotta deliver.
At the superbowl party, someone asked me if I’ve ever written a flop. Well, maybe not a flop but some books sold better than others. The ones that weren’t as hot were the ones were I went off genre. When I experimented. Am I sad I did that? No, because I discovered what my fans wanted.
And then I gave it to them.
And I keep giving it to them.
Need some help figuring out your brand?
- Look at your stories—what element do you ALWAYS include, even if you don’t know it? (usually it’s a theme, but it could also be location, or profession, or story trope…and this is NOT BAD. It’s why people read your books!)
- Look at your reviews, or comments from readers. What do they like? Are there any overlapping themes?
- What kind of stories are easiest to write? Not that we shouldn’t stretch ourselves, but sometimes our sweet place is also where our best writing comes from…it’s easily accessed. It’s why I write about Montana, Minnesota and Russia…the places I can easily go and then dive deep. I also don’t write shorter books because I prefer the longer, meatier stories. (and so do my readers, I discovered)
After taking a good look at my sales and feedback (and what I love), I discovered that my readers and I like epic romantic adventure, about families, set in Montana. So, guess what my new series is?
(Here’s me with KNOX, book 1 in the Montana Marshalls series)
Take some time to discover your brand. If you have to experiment, do that…you might be surprised. At the very least, you’ll know if it doesn’t work!
Of course the Patriots won. (I’m not a huge Patriots fan, but I did love the embrace between Brady and Gronk, the way Brady mouthed, “I love you, man.”) And in the end, it was worth our time, the calories we ate and going out in the cold.
Make your story worth your reader’s time. Find your brand, and deliver, over and over.
Have a great writing week and Go! Write something Brilliant!
Susie, the football coach, signing off until August.
PS. This amazing Storycrafting/Planning bundle is available for one more week! Limited supplies still available.
