#12 Guilt

Good Day Brewers - Pang here! ☕

It’s CRAZY how long it took me to write this issue.

1 hour, became 2. Then 4 and now.. I’ve lost count.

I’ve been writing since the sun rose. But now the sun is already setting on the horizon. Birds are flying across the sky, returning to their homes.

This is the amount of effort I put into my newsletters.

In exchange for your precious time, I’ll give you my BEST secrets to writing stories, DEAL?

Hang on tight for this exclusive issue.

Estimated reading time: 2,178 words - 9 mins 9 secs

In #8, I shared a story about McGriddles.

Toward the end of the story, I used a technique.

A POWERFUL one that guides your story, but at the same time, SURPRISES your audience.

Here’s why it’s powerful:

Your audience often anticipates your ending while reading through your story.

Even before they reach the end of your story, 9 out of 10 readers could already PREDICT the ending.

But wait. There’s more..

Most people who tell stories will NEVER ever apply this technique to their stories.

Why not?

It requires DEEP thinking to craft a story like that.

But that’s also what differentiates a MEDIOCRE story and an EXTRAORDINARY story.

When people ask me, “How did you come up with the ending..?”

I just did. And I’ll show you how in a moment.

But when you add SURPRISES to your stories..

You leave your audience pondering over what just happened.

They’ll be like “How did I not figure this out earlier?”

And sometimes they’ll be asking questions like “How is this going to end? Why did you leave the story hanging???”

Ideas, creativity, and deep thoughts are what make multiple endings possible.

It’s like your audience is on your ship and you’re the ship’s Captain. Everyone is onboard to the destination of Caribbean, but as the Captain, you sneakily steer the ship to Hawaiian instead because you know it’s more beautiful there.

You gave everyone a surprise and a more beautiful experience.

But hey, there’s an alternative to this…

Guilt

Many years ago, I vaguely recalled an incident.

11-year-old me was standing there on the pavement, trickles of sweat forming on my head.

The scorching mid-day sun was beating down mercilessly. The discomfort was almost unbearable. I was in my white school uniform and green school pants, which were already covered with a slick layer of perspiration.

“Hi Uncle, wanna donate? We’re helping the Cancer Society!”

There was high foot traffic on that pavement, but one after another, they brush my words away to carry on with their daily routines.

Finally, a kind soul came up.

A lady.

She looks 50, but she might as well be 500. Her face exuded an aura of wisdom.

She whipped up her thick leathery wallet and took out a $10 bill and a couple of shillings amounting to 80 cents. “Here you go!”

“Mdm, you’ll need to fill up this form to record the amount you’ve donated!”

“You can do it on my behalf! Just put Faith will do!” She smiled at me and left.

Now I had $10.80 in my hands. AND a sneaky idea.

Remember the day was hot and humid? I happened to have spent all my pocket money for recess that day and my water bottle was empty. “What a coincidence,” I thought to myself.

Let me just record Faith - $10, and I’ll use the 80 cents to get my favorite ice-cold soya milk!

So I headed to a nearby hawker center and got my drink.

As I resume my position on the same pavement trying to usher in more donations, I saw a familiar face walking in my direction.

The same lady I saw earlier.. what’s her name..? Faith? This time, she was grabbing hold of an orange bill tightly in her hands. Trust me, I had never seen an orange bill at my age then.

“Boy, I’d like to donate this..”

I took a look at the bill. It didn’t have one zero at the back. It had TWO ZEROES!

My FIRST time seeing a $100 bill.

“Wow, you’re really generous, Aunty!”

She stood there for a moment, her eyes looking down, as if searching for the right words to say.

“My sister.. She used to have lung cancer. Forth stage. I hope this amount will be able to help others out there..”

Her voice was trailing off. Tears welled in her eyes.

This caught me off-guard.

The guilt was eating me from the inside out.

HOW.

How, how, how, could I use the 80 cents to make myself feel BETTER on a warm day when it’s supposed to support and help cancer patients? This guilt was unbearable.

But that wasn’t all. She pushed on with each word, even though they were taking her breath away.

It turns out that her sister passed away a year ago. She was there for her sister initially but as the sole caregiver, all of this had taken a toll on her. As her sister’s condition worsened, she couldn’t take it anymore. They fought frequently and in the end…

“Boy, when I got to the hospital.. it was too late..” her voice trailed off.

I could feel the weight of her guilt and regret on my shoulders. They weigh a ton. I thought I knew what guilt was.

But did I?

At that moment, I realized what she did to honor her sister.

Faith.

Noticed what happened here?

I steered the ship into the stormy weather and left everyone stranded in the Ocean, wondering “What the FUCK just happened!?”

You’re the captain, WHY should you restrict yourself to just the destination that everyone has set their eyes on?

Back to McGriddles

Now let’s discuss the story about McGriddles.

When I first came up with the McGriddles story, it was solely to focus on bringing out a lesson in marketing.

But I had to look at things from another angle.

WHY did I miss McGriddles? Because I couldn’t eat that whenever I wanted to as it wasn’t available on the menu all year round. Seasonality was a strategy they use to attract customers.

But when I dug deeper to understand why I was feeling that way..

It’s because simple moments like this means the world to me.

It brings me happiness and joy.

Having something to look forward to.. makes life worth living.

But in particular, I’d always look forward to a warm hug from a “friend” that I meet occasionally.

What GUILT really means..

Guilt is a common feeling, one that everyone is bound to experience in their lifetime.

It doesn’t have to be complicated.

If you told your mum you were going to the library when you went out to a friend’s place to party, that is a moment of guilt.

— Because you told a lie.

In the story I shared above, guilt was initially portrayed as something that could happen as simply as being dishonest.

By STEALING from the funds that were supposed to be sent to the Cancer Society, I put my selfish needs first.

But this wasn’t something I realized initially.

Why not? Because I wasn’t able to relate to the importance of those funds. At that age, I didn’t know anyone who was experiencing cancer.

It was a hot sunny day. I was thirsty. It was just 80 cents. Who cares, right?

Until the stranger shared a recount of what happened that fateful day that sucked me in.

Her opening statements made me feel guilty about my actions.

Now here’s where I’m going to drop you the HOT SPICY BREW.

Come closer..

Because this is where most people will end their story.

They’ll end it right there, sharing just one perspective of guilt.

This is by no means a bad story. But the story is forgettable at best.

Why? Because throughout the story, you’ve already gotten a glimpse of what’s coming.

Especially if you pay attention to the hints I’ve been dropping.

• Hot sunny day.

• I was thirsty.

• 80 cents shilling.

• Free will to record the amount on the form.

• SNEAKY IDEA

But there was still a lack of conflict here.

That’s the reason you’re reading on. Because those hints kept you reading, wanting to find out what happens next.

The FIRST CONFLICT happened when I saw a familiar face walking in my direction.

When she came along with a $100 bill, that left me shocked and speechless.

Why? Because everyone else that day was donating their shillings. The most I collected from individuals was $10 that day — from an old man. (I omitted this part because it was irrelevant. It’s universally known that if you donate $100, you’re very generous. So there’s no need for me to bring in those details.)

And her opening statement left me feeling GUILTY when she shared that her sister had lung cancer. So she wanted to help others with the money.

But then as she continued to share her side of the story.. things seem to turn for the worse.

How so?

At first, I thought she was just being kind. Little did I know that the $100 she was holding so tightly in the palm of her hands represented her guilt — One that I wasn’t able to comprehend entirely.

All I knew was that feeling she left me with when she shared her side of the story. It never goes away.

Sadness. Guilt. Regrets.

The SECOND CONFLICT here gave the above story a NEW meaning, one that you would not have seen coming.

And it’ll probably keep you thinking about what happened because I left holes in the story.

• “What happened after they fought? How did her sister get into the hospital?”

• “How is this lady gonna live with her guilt?”

• “What about my guilt after?”

• “What about those 80 cents? Did I return the money I’ve stolen?”

But I ended the story abruptly.

I cut the story short, leaving the story lingering in your mind for a little longer.

You wanted closure?

Oops, I left it open.

Abracadabra.

I broke down every single thought that came across my mind when sharing this story.

But you still don’t know how it happened, do you?

You must be thinking, “How can I craft a story like that?”

So the magic happens because of two things.

One - The direction of the story.

Remember what I mentioned about being the Captain of the ship and steering the boat? Everyone could see from a distance that the destination is getting closer and closer with every second.

Every written sentence brings you closer to that destination when you’re writing.

I wrote with one ending initially in mind. The destination.

But here’s where the magic happens.

As I was writing, my imagination brought me to that fateful day, when I locked away something that I had felt. It was deeper, and so much darker. That was how I discovered the second conflict.

Two - Multiple conflicts within the story.

Digging deeper into it, I found that the second conflict was more impactful.

That’s why I added that to the story as the TRUE ending.

Same words. But yet they don’t mean the same thing, do they? Not in this context.

I made everyone think we were going to land on the first destination they had set their sights on when in reality, I steered past that destination and left everyone stranded in stormy seas wondering “WTF just happened!?”

How? I made the first conflict a distraction.

It was to make the story relatable. But at the same time, it made the story mediocre.

You probably wouldn’t have felt amazed if I ended it right there.

But when I added the second conflict, you’re like “WOW!”.

Why? Because the first conflict was ordinary. It was expected. You anticipated that.

Hence psychologically, when you read on and realized the second ending was emotional, you received a dopamine spike. The story instantly jumped from ordinary to extraordinary.

Here’s the part that you may not like.

Crafting a story like this is challenging.

That’s why it took me almost an entire day to write this issue.

I made sure that the conflicts you read in this story are the conflicts that went through my mind when they happened. It’s tough trying to make sense of it, but I did the best I could.

Even right now, I still couldn’t entirely shake off those feelings I experienced that day.

All I know is that I’m feeling exhausted and calling it a day.

Let’s catch up next week!

Meanwhile, my DMs are always open, even when I'm asleep. So just send me something. A feedback. Your story. How you felt reading this. Anything. You could even reply to this email.

Your Barista,Pang

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