Create Conflicts In Writing.
One of the best things about writing is that you create a sandbox to play with possibilities.
We read fiction because going on an adventure is scary.
We read copy because we’re looking for the magic pill to solve our problems.
A few years back, before I was a copywriter, I used to be fascinated by copy anyway.
I used to copy some of the over the top adverts into a word document and use them as motivational material. I didn’t believe any of the copy, but it was fun to read about how my life was terrible and if I did this one thing, all crises would be resolved.
I never understood why women loved romance novels and drama movies.
Pride and Prejudice 
is a favourite of my female relatives.
is a favourite of my female relatives.It’s a happy story, they say.
But when I read the book and watched the movie, I didn’t see that. It was miserable for nearly the whole way through, and the story only really had flashes of happiness until the end. What’s more, the end doesn’t even show happily ever after in most romance, it implies it.
But there’s the magic pill:
People read for conflict.
People watch tv for conflict.
People live for conflict, really.
The resolution at the end is a dopamine buzz. Like guys watching football, they are subjecting themselves to the tension build up as the ball floats around the field, only to get the fist-pump glory of the tension being resolved by a ball in a net.
That is what people are buying into when you give them written word products.
When you write a sales letter, you are building tension. It’s why salesmen are considered dirty degenerates who are separating you from your hard earned cash. They are giving you a list of reasons why your life is terrible, so that you can feel good when you get the product.
That is no different to Pride and Prejudice.
If I gave someone a copy of a romance story and then ripped the last pages out, they would feel terrible. It’s the same with a landing page without a call to action. It’d be the same if in a mystery, the detective didn’t solve the case.
So when we are writing, we are building conflict.
Luckily, it’s the easiest thing to do.
In fiction, you simply have your characters have competing goals.
A policeman and a criminal have to work together.
A girl wants to be a superpowered independent career woman but she coos at babies and then the perfect guy walks into her office but he hates women in suits.
An evil monster wants to sacrifice all the teens in order to live forever, but said teens don’t want to die.
You get the picture.
Copywriting is exactly the same. do something simple like this, and build on it:
I know you don’t want to spend your money- you worked hard for it. But a penny saved is a penny earned, and a product like this will save you thousands in the long run.
You are probably thinking every product you read is a scam nowadays, and Bill thought that too. But then his mum bought him our product, and didn’t he feel like an idiot for not buying one sooner. Now he is RICH, SUCCESSFUL and HANDSOME. But you shouldn’t be like Bill. You should be like his mother. Take a chance and don’t waste time.
Build conflict into your writing.