Stories To Elevate Your Brand, Creating a Movie With Your Words, On The Role of a Writer & More

Hallo Doctors & Writers,

Welcome to the 15th edition of the newsletter.

Here are 5 ideas to help you become a more creative and more thoughtful writer this week.

Today at a Glance:

Question: Are You Overthinking Your Writing?

Quote: On The Role of a Writer

Framework: How To Create a Movie With Your Words

Idea: Good Writing Isn't Safe

Video: Stories To Elevate Your Brand

Question: Are You Overthinking Your Writing?

This week's question covers more than just one. Instead, it's a series of subconscious inquiries that run through our minds, and it aligns with our inner perfectionist tendencies.

Do you keep waiting for the perfect conditions before you start writing? Are you stuck behind each word until it feels perfect? Have you attempted to hit all the right notes and make sure your writing satisfies every single person who reads it?

Whichever question your mind takes you before, during, and after writing, just remember that aiming for perfection is the greatest deterrent to your words. Once you let go of these biases, writing becomes easier and your words become more powerful.

A good way to approach your writing is to just imagine as if you're having a one-on-one conversation with a friend, and you're excited to tell them all about something new you've just discovered.

Stop trying to control the writing process completely and let your words flow onto the page, just as you wouldn't overthink a conversation.

Quote: On The Role of a Writer

The lesson: Both doctors & writers go through their lives with unspoken thoughts, struggles, and experiences they can never put into words. But what writing does is it lends you a unique power. You can write about what others cannot say. You have the potential to break down walls and create shared experiences. But the fact is that it's not by offering the perfect piece of advice, but by writing about the imperfect truths that make you who you are.

Framework: How To Create a Movie With Your Words

There's a subtle art to bringing an audience into a world whilst helping them see, feel, and experience a story as if they were there themselves.

A group that executes this to perfection are cinematographers. They use different camera angles to take their people from one emotion to the next. Similarly, with a bit of creativity, you can replicate this with your writing using a few elusive techniques.

Here's how it works:

1. The Wide Shot

When you view a scene in a movie from the top of a hill or have a vantage point of a specific environment, you're seeing things through a "wide shot". This creates a bigger picture in the audience's mind whilst establishing the setting, atmosphere, and all the dynamics within it.

With writing:

• In your opening paragraphs, use facts, unique perspectives and describe the environment to orient your readers.
• Make sure your opening sentences answer as much of the why, what, who, and where before you dive into the specifics.

2. The Middle Shot

If you can see movements, gestures, and expressions clearly from an arm's length, you're in a "middle shot". This distance is perfect to show how one character relates to another and what is the particular impact of those connections is .

So, to replicate it in your writing:

• Use dialogue to explain the interactions between different characters in your story.
• Elaborate on movements, analogies, language, and specific insights that convey emotion on a deeper level.

3. The Close-Up

To make your audience truly "feel" something, a close-up shot is essential. In movies, it's when you see the tremor in a character's hand, or the droplets of sweat slogging their way down their face. These are the little details that make characters seem human and real.

For the writing application:

• Zoom in on objects or emotions that hold meaning in your story.
• Describe the deeper inner feelings of your characters to set your writing apart and truly connect with your readers.

Idea: Good Writing Isn’t Safe

It's never been easier to get started with writing, but it's never been harder to stand out. That's why we encourage you, and all our students to be the person that's willing to go deep whilst others remain on the surface with, you guessed it, surface-level writing.

You see, safe writing is easily ignored, whilst writing that hits close to the bone is always remembered. Sure, it isn't always easy to be vulnerable. But if you want to write something unforgettable, you have to be willing to first be uncomfortable.

1. Write the Thing You’re Afraid of Say

What’s the one thing you’re struggling to put down on paper? Think about it. Use a voice-to-text app to get it down into words. Your result is very likely going to be the topic you should write about.

2. Don’t Aim to Please Everyone

If your writing is designed to be universally liked, it will be universally ignored. The goal isn’t to appeal to everyone but to speak directly to those who truly need to hear your story, your insight, and your message. It's not meant to be easy, but we promise it's going to be worth it.

3. Get Comfortable with Criticism

If there's one thing you take away from this week's newsletter, let it be this: not everyone will love what you write, and that’s okay. Believe it or not, it's actually a good thing. Writing that resonates slowly builds a movement and draws both praise and criticism. Remember that your audience doesn’t need you to play it safe. They need you to show up with the perfect blend of flair, risk, and confidence.

Video: Stories To Elevate Your Brand

It's no secret that storytelling is a fundamental key to your brand's success. It's how you understand your audience and connect with them on a deeper, more meaningful level. This week's video exemplifies all that and much more; hosted by the one and only, Chris Do. Enjoy!

Alright, that's all for this week.

Thank you for reading this week’s newsletter.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to hit reply to this email and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

— Adi and Pranav

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P.P.S The podcast is officially back. You can catch the latest episode right here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6b48r3UkHh9SsJMS61qzI1?si=2790d347c78d4dc0