The Writing Company · with the Mayor

Write to Persuade

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Write to Persuade

When you persuade, your reader starts on the other side of the river. They do not believe you yet, and they may have a good reason not to. That is why you build.

An argument is a bridge you build for a reader who starts on the other side, and who may have a real objection. Here is what holds it up, and what each part does.

A claim that spans the river

Say what you believe, plainly, in one sentence. The reader should know exactly where you want to take them, and how your position differs from the other side, before you build a thing.
Reasons that are the pillars

At least three. Ask of each one: will my reader believe this? A reason that only convinces people already on your bank is not a pillar.
A footing of proof under every pillar

Back each reason with proof: an example, a fact, or what would happen without it. And here, at this level, is where you also name the strongest objection, distinguish your claim from it, and answer it fairly, returning to it more than once so the reader sees you did not dodge it. Proof plus an honest reckoning is what carries a doubter's weight.
A far bank with a signpost

End by returning to what you believe, now that the other side has been heard and answered, and tell the reader what to do once they are across. An argument is a conversation with a reader who is allowed to push back, and who has.

Spend your tools

The craft moves you already know still do the work, pointed at an argument.

Nelson · Specific nouns

Every noun carries three things: its plain meaning (its denotation), the feeling it drags along (its connotation), and the register it fits. "Kids" and "bosses" are casual and a little loaded; "students" and "the administration" fit a formal argument and stay fair. Nelson would fit all three to the reader.

The kids wanted the bosses to change the rule. Students asked the administration to reconsider the schedule.

The Mayor · Voice

By now register is not just fit; it is a tool. A formal, evidence-first sentence earns trust in an argument; a sudden plain sentence can land a point. Move between them on purpose. Slang bends register for effect in every song; in an argument, you bend it to move a reader who is not yet on your side.

Later start times are good, and everyone knows it. The research is not subtle: teenagers who start school later sleep more, and students who sleep more learn more.

Connie · Cadence and sentence architecture

A paragraph has a rhythm you can architect. A run of short sentences drums; one long, well-built sentence opens the lungs. Once the comma rule is second nature, you may even drop the comma before a coordinating conjunction when two clauses are very short and closely tied ("He swung and he missed"), but only on purpose. Learn the rule first, then bend it knowingly.

We lost. We tried again. We learned. We kept going. We won later. We lost. We tried again, learned what we had missed, and kept going, and by spring the schedule had actually changed.

The Mayor · Sustained structure across paragraphs

A short piece stands on three parts; a long one stands on the same three, sustained. Each body paragraph carries one move of the argument, one of them turning to answer the other side, and the whole holds because every paragraph knows its job. Structure is what keeps a long piece from becoming a pile.

Paragraphs that each make sense but do not add up to one argument. An opening that frames the question, body paragraphs that each advance one part of the case (including the one that answers the other side), and a close that earns its call to action.

The Persuade Plan

Same three moves as always, one more trip. When you persuade, the Plan it move is the Bridge.

The Mayor's Power Plan

Pick it. Choose the belief worth arguing, and know who is standing on the far bank.
Plan it. Set your pillars and their footings before you write.
Pour it on. Write, and keep asking: would this pillar hold my reader's weight?

The Bridge

A bridge stands because the pillars hold the span and the footings hold the pillars.

Your claim spans the river: say what you believe, plainly.
Your reasons are the pillars: at least three the reader will believe.
Every pillar needs a footing of proof: an example, a fact, or a what-if.
The far bank: return to your claim and tell the reader what to do.

Watch the Mayor plan it

Watch me build a bridge from the year I ran for student council. My claim: our school should start the day later. And I will not pretend the other side does not exist, because it is real, and my reader knows it.

Pick it. Our school should start the day later. I believe it, I can back it, and I know exactly one campaign that taught me both why it is right and why it is hard. The strongest objection is real: a later start pushes everything later, and that cuts into after-school jobs, sports, and family schedules. I am going to name that, keep my claim distinct from it, and answer it more than once.

Plan it.

My claim, spanning the river Our school should start the day later. My claim is not that the tradeoff is free; it is that the tradeoff is worth managing, which is a different thing than the other side says I am arguing.
My pillars (three reasons) 1. Teenagers biologically fall asleep later, so an early bell costs them sleep they cannot simply choose to get. 2. Better-rested students learn more and are safer, especially the ones who drive. 3. A later start can be designed to protect the end of the day, so the cost families fear is manageable, not automatic.
The footings (proof under each, and the other side answered) 1. Sleep research shows adolescent body clocks shift later, so the early start fights biology, not laziness. Here is the other side: a later start means a later end, and that cuts into jobs, sports, and pickups, which families genuinely feel. I do not wave that away. 2. Districts that moved start times later report better attendance and fewer teen-driver crashes, which is proof the sleep matters. But the objection returns: what about the student who works a shift or the family with one car? 3. That is exactly what my third pillar answers. A schedule can end only a little later, protect athletic and job windows, and stagger release, so the real cost the other side names is a design problem, not a dealbreaker.
The far bank So the honest version of my claim stands: start later, and design the day so the end of it still works for the families who depend on it. That is why my campaign won a small late-start pilot instead of the sweeping change, and why the pilot was the right first step. Ask your student council to propose one pilot day, and to bring the working families to the table when they design it.

Pour it on. When I draft this, each pillar and its footing becomes its own little paragraph, and I do not park the other side in one sentence and move on. I raise it at the first footing, I let it come back at the second, and I answer it head-on at the third, so the reader sees I argued the hard version, not a weak one. An argument is a conversation with a reader who is allowed to say "prove it," and "but what about the cost," and deserves an honest answer to both.

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