Giving your headlights a nice shine...

In previous segments, I gave you keys on what to write about when you were asked to talk about your passion, and who's influenced you. (Advice on other sections is coming... be patient.)

Now, you've got a good, interesting, emotional core for your writing. And, although that's an important ingredient... there's another one that makes your writing more effective.

I'm sure that most of you have at least heard about the book (and movie) "Silence of the Lambs". And most of you have at least heard of it's sequel, "Hannibal".

"Silence of the Lambs" was an exciting story. However, "Hannibal" was generally seen as stupid, and not very intriguing at all. Why was there such a difference?

The answer was simple. In "Silence of the Lambs", you were kept in suspense. You knew that Hannibal was a superintelligent, bloodthirsty animal. You were intrigued by his mental cruelty, and his evolving scheme to free himself from prison. And you didn't know what happened until the end.

In "Hannibal", you saw him kill people. Gee, he's free. He's going to kill people. No suspense there, just a foregone, disgusting conclusion.

Knowing that, we can guide our profiles to be much more effective. We know that we need to tell just enough about ourselves to build interest, intrigue, and separate ourselves from the pack of average chumps. Enough to build that suspense and tension.

And make them want to hear the rest of the story. Because, if you tell the whole story... the suspense ends.

Since you now know the principle behind suspense-building, here are some tricks you can use sparingly in your profile to build that tension.

• When the question asks for "One" or "The most", say (or imply) that there are many more. But don't talk about them.
• Leave a few open conversational hooks. For example, tell them about the time that you had an argument with a midget. That's unique, and it grabs attention. They're going to wonder about the details... where you came across him, what you argued about, what happened as a result. But force 'em to communicate in order to answer those questions.
• If you want to insert what I call the "nuclear bomb", take something interesting, and tell them about how they really need to get to know you well before you talk about that. It's a powerful technique. Use it only once in your profile, and make it surround a statement that draws emotion. (My welcome package explained where I used this bomb in my profile.)

... Our tour of "About Me" continues tomorrow. Enjoy the ride.

(And read my past posts. They contain great examples of how I build tension.)