The magic (trick) of framing

They say that by the time a magician says “OK, let’s begin,” the trick is already over.

The audience has already been fooled; they just don’t know it yet.

Before those words, everything the magician does pulls the audience into a framing for the trick in which it can’t help but succeed.

I’m not suggesting, dear reader, that you should try to fool your audience.

But even to convince them of something that is objectively true, you need them to see it from the right perspective.

And most of your audience will start out with a very different perspective than yours.

One reason I like story structures so much is that they remind you to start with the context that will pull your audience into the perspective they need.

The frame that makes the objectively true conclusion all but obvious.

The frame that ensures the rest of the story can’t help but convince them.

With a good story structure, the argument is made before the audience realizes it’s begun.

(Next week’s blog post will go into much more detail on this. If you haven’t already, subscribe to this newsletter to get notified as soon as it’s published.)