This book title punches you in the face. No one wants to read what you write!
It’s powerful because it resonates with both amateur and seasoned writers. And the title even tells you what you’ll learn in the book: How to get others to want to read your writing.
Though I’ve been practicing writing, I have just learned 70% of what I know about good writing from this book.
The shocking part is that the lessons aren’t only about writing but about communicating with others. How do you tell your university admission story in an interesting way? How do you narrate your Spring break in an engaging way?
(I’ll use writing, communicating, and speaking somewhat interchangeably)
The secret to writing so that readers are interested is hidden in the second meaning of NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T. It’s a revelation of how to write, or communicate, in a compelling way. I would love to just tell you the secret, but you have to properly understand the first meaning: No one wants to read what you write!
There is one critical writing principle that will lead us to the second meaning. According to Steven Pressfield, it is a non-negotiable for all good narratives, whether it’s a novel, your college acceptance story, or even this post.
Principle: There are 3 acts.
Act one - Hooking the audience
Act two - Building the tension and complications
Act three - Paying it all off
So far, we’re in Act one and I’ll explain as we go.
Act One: Nobody wants to read your sh*t!
In Pressfield’s book, Act One is a wake-up call: People don’t like reading your writing. In fact, people don’t like reading anything at all.
“Sometimes young writers acquire the idea from their years in school that the world is waiting to read what they've written. They get this idea because their teachers had to read their essays or term papers or dissertations.
In the real world, no one is waiting to read what you've written.
Sight unseen, they hate what you've written. Why? Because they might have to actually read it.
Nobody wants to read anything.
Let me repeat that. Nobody-not even your dog or your mother- has the slightest interest in your … one-act play, your Facebook page or your new sesame chicken joint at Canal and Tchoupitoulas.
It isn't that people are mean or cruel. They're just busy.
Nobody wants to read your shit”. — Steven Pressfield
Isn’t that refreshing and profound? Pressfield shines a light on a dark truth that we all know but choose to ignore.
It’s an open secret, just like the fact that everyone farts or picks their nose in private. Every artist, entrepreneur, writer, and so on has to confront this truth: no one innately cares about consuming their work. Remember, people are busy.
This makes you realize that readers need a compelling reason to read your writing.
Listeners need a compelling reason to pay attention to your story.
“Make it so compelling that a person would have to be crazy NOT to read it“ — Steven Pressfield
This is the job of the writer: to discover and eliminate those things that don’t make the writing compelling.
And oh, there are quite a number of things to improve.
Act Two: You lack empathy and do not know the foundational writing principles
Developing empathy is the biggest applicable lesson from the book, so let’s step through what it means.
Developing empathy is about being able to switch rapidly from the producer to the consumer perspective. From the writer to the reader's perspective. From the entrepreneur to the customer’s perspective.
“You learn to ask yourself with every sentence and every phrase: Is this interesting? Is it fun or challenging or inventive? Am I giving the reader enough? Is she bored? Is she following where I want to lead her?“ — Steven Pressfield
This ability to empathize with the audience is core to great writing (and speaking too). It is the main trunk from which all other foundational writing principles attach.
We already discussed one of the principles: the three-act rule.
“By hooking them (Act One), building the tension and complications (Act Two), and paying it all off (Act Three).
That's how a joke is told. Setup, progression, punch line.
It's how any story is told.
Have you ever tried to seduce somebody? The hook, the build, the payoff.
Ever tried to sell somebody something?
Ever gotten in trouble and tried to talk your way out of it?
The hook, the build, the payoff.
Euripides worked in three acts. Shakespeare did.
Do you know something they don't?“
I have been shocked by how pervasive and common this three-act rule is
House of Cards
Act One - A politician is denied a promised political office and plots his revenge against the President and those involved.
Act Two - Main character(s) faces trials and tribulations on the journey to claiming power, in the process, getting their hands even dirtier and ever closer to losing it all.
Act Three - Main character achieves some victory (passing a bill or getting a position), no doubt through some morally dubious means.
*Because House of Cards is a series, the third act is often short-lived and “turns out” to be part of Act two.
Game of Thrones
Beginning - Different houses desire to sit on the Iron Throne and rule Westeros in the name of greed, honor, and power.
Middle - Winter is coming, there are battles, wars, backstabbing, intrigue, and cruelty.
End - I never finished GOT. (My guess: Someone achieved some empty victory that left many dead and left the winner a changed character, and Westeros, a changed Kingdom.
Everyone explicitly or implicitly uses the three acts. Experts master the rules before breaking them.
Foundational Writing Principles:
1. Every story must have a concept. It must put a unique and original spin, twist, or framing device upon the material.
2. Every story must be about something. It must have a theme.
3. Every story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Act One, Act Two, Act Three.
4. Every story must have a hero.
5. Every story must have a villain.
6. Every story must start with an Inciting Incident, embedded within which is the story's climax.
7. Every story must escalate through Act Two in terms of energy, stakes, complication, and significance/meaning as it progresses.
8. Every story must build to a climax centered around a clash between the hero and the villain that pays off everything that came before and that pays it off on theme.
And guess what? You have not applied these concepts and that’s why
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T - Steven Pressfield
You haven’t had the empathy to write in the best way for the reader (by following the foundational writing principles)5.
But if you understand the Foundational Writing Principles and develop empathy, then you can clean up your writing and understand the second meaning of
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T - Steven Pressfield
Act Three - 2nd meaning: Nobody likes when you haven’t worked to get the egotistical part (the sh*t) out of your writing.
Now you know how to get your ego out of the way. You now write valuing the reader’s time. You tell stories with the plot arc in mind. You focus on helping or entertaining them. You adhere to the foundational writing principles.
You follow the 3 acts.
Act one - Hooking the audience
Act two - Building the tension and complications
Act three - Paying it all off
And you do all these with empathy for the reader/listener.
It’s not easy. I’ve found it difficult to switch between the writer and reader perspectives as I edited this post. But I am also more aware of what makes writing compelling or interesting to the reader.
I hope you’re now more confident of how to tell a good story of how you spent your favorite trip. Or how you became close with your best friend.
Answer: Use the three acts.
Did you understand the 3 acts in this post?
Act one - Hooking the audience.
No one cares about reading your writing, maybe because they’re mean.
Act two - Building the tension and complications.
Showing all the principles you violate when you communicate without empathy.
Act three - Paying it all off.
Now you know how to write well: by showing empathy and getting rid of the sh*t (ego) that no one wants to read.
So getting people to want to read your sh*t is about valuing the reader’s attention, writing with empathy for them, and getting your ego out of the way of the message.
Remember, NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T