The answers with the most engagement almost always begin at the absolute height of the story: “The first time I became a millionaire, I was living in… - Nicolas Cole

A “trick” for making a long introduction seem short is by repeating the first 1/3/1 structure over again, connecting them with a subhead. Here’s how it works: This first sentence is your opener. This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point you’re making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth sentence rounds out your argument. This fifth sentence is your conclusion. Now, here’s a new first sentence as a second opener. And this second sentence clarifies your second opener. This third sentence reinforces the new point you’re making — with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth sentence rounds out the second point of your argument. This fifth sentence is the big conclusion of your introduction. Now, unless you knew what to look for here, you might read a piece structured this way and think, “Well that’s just a long introduction.” But there’s a lot happening beneath the surface that makes an introduction like this work — specifically how it moves the reader quickly down the page. The other reason why repeating the 1/3/1 structure works so well is because it forces you, the writer, to be conscious and clear about what you’re trying to accomplish in each section. Within the first five sentences of the piece, what are you trying to say? What’s the one singular point you’re trying to drive home? What’s this story really about? And then, again in the second 1/3/1 section, what’s the new point you’re looking to drive home? Why is this also important to the reader? Does it really warrant having its own section? Thinking in “chunks” like this is how you make your writing more potent.

If everyone in your category is writing restaurant reviews as if they’re formal essays, something “unexpected” would be to write comedic restaurant reviews from the perspective of a part-time food blogger named Cindy who works for a failing restaurant magazine, and shows up to every restaurant pretending to be this hot insta-famous food-review writer but actually doesn’t know anything about food and gets too drunk at every tasting (and it shows in her writing). In the professional-restaurant-review category, this would be “unexpected.” And as a result, it would stand out.

1/3/2/1 & 1/5/2/1 The basic structures of online writing are 1/3/1 and 1/5/1. Once you learn these, you can then start to play with rhythm a bit more and elongate your introductions. I cannot stress enough how much you do not want to elongate your writing by cramming sentence after sentence into one paragraph. Online writing benefits from clearly separated thoughts and statements, which is why I recommend using variations of the 1/3/1 and 1/5/1 structure if you need the extra space. Remember: you want to optimize for speed and Rate of Revelation. Anything that isn’t absolutely necessary, delete it. Here’s how it works: This first sentence is your opener. This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point you’re making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth sentence rounds out your argument, guiding the reader toward your conclusion. This fifth sentence is your strong conclusion. And this sixth sentence is expanding on why you’re making such a strong conclusion. This seventh sentence is what you’re going to talk about next.