PASTA - Problem, Answer, Story, Tip, Action And Author

Problem -
In the past some of my posts have had no structure. After I read them and re-read them I find that I forgot to end with a call to action. I correct later, adding my author's credentials and ask you to like my pages and share them, read my profiles, and read about my books and read extracts, and buy my books.

Answer
From now on I shall follow the PASTA structure in my posts.

P - problem
A - answer
S - story
T - tip
A - call to action (go to websites)
A - author

Story
I gave a talk on writing books and why you should write your family history to a toastmasters International speakers' club called HOD. Sina sent me a copy of his new book. I noticed that each chapter not only ended with a story, it had the sub-heading Story.

I thought, how strange that he not only follows the system used in Toastmasters of telling a personal story to illustrate a point and make it memorable (and personal to the author, therefore always original), he shows the structure in the sub-heading.

Then I recalled one of my heroines, Mrs Beeton, household management and cookery book pioneer. For a long time I thought that she invented the system of listing ingredients then method, a time sequence, to aid shopping and laying out the ingredients and utensils on the table, finally cooking.

She did not invent the method. But she made it popular. Therefore, never mind whether Sina started the system or copied it, nor whether I have started the system or copied it. I shall stick to it to organise my posts and so you know what to expect.

If you place the call to action too early, your reader will disappear. (We are often told in Toastmasters speakers' meetings by the evaluators not to give out handouts at the start because people will start reading them and miss the beginning of your speech.) So place the call to action or name of another website at the end.

You cannot guarantee that the reader will not skip to the end. I don't know whether creatives do this more than scientific, methodical people. I often am short of time, running late. I waste time reading blogs instead of getting on with important work (getting washed and dressed, paying bills, writing books, filling in tax returns). I sometimes flip from the opening of a book to the end, naturally in a library bookshop when I already have too many books and am considering buying the book, or wanting to know the end without paying the cost of another expensive book. However, I also sometimes start at the back of the back and flip forward.

I noticed a friend in Singapore flip from the back of a book. She apologised for doing so. I explained, "I often do that - I thought it was just me!" We wondered whether anybody who was Muslim or Jewish or Chinese would start at the back of the book or the left of the page. We could not reach any conclusion.

One way to keep the readers interested is to tell them they will reach information later. But you have to stop them skipping to the end. A small number of people deliberately disobey instructions, perhaps because their early training has taught them that instructors have ulterior motives and it's safer to do the opposite. However, most readers, listeners and people will follow instructions. A hypnotist picks out people who follow instructions readily.

TIP LIST
1 Read each post, mine and other people's, methodically.
2 However, note the call to action at the end.

ACTION
Write your own documents, speeches, letters, following this formula. Call me if you wish to receive advice or help. I will give a small amount of advice (two or three sentences, five minutes, reading a sentence or something which takes no longer than five minutes to read, under 500 words) to anybody free of charge if I have time to both friends, especially those from Toastmasters, and strangers. However, if you want an hour of my time, a professional job, do not know me personally, please pay the going rate.

AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker.
See my other travel posts on this blog. Read other blogs on grammar, spelling, language, speaking. Like my pages and share them. Link to me on Facebook and LinkedIn. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Watch me performing my poetry and speeches on Facebook and Toastmasters International club pages and on YouTUbe.
Author of:
Wedding Speeches and Toasts. (Ward Lock/Cassell. Several editions. In some libraries. Also second hand copies on the net.)
The Best Man. (Ward Lock/Cassell.)
Quick Quotations. (Lulu.com - or buy from me when you see me.)
Who Said What When. (Lulu.com - or buy from me and get it signed when you see me.
New copies of my books are mostly £10 / 20 Singapore dollars. One of two books which are thicker, cost me lots of postage to get delivered to my home and /or with lots of illustrations are £20. Sometimes I have an old battered copy which I will sell cheaply.