Your write them last?

_{Day 203/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

I used to start every draft with a grand entrance. Big trumpet. Big nothing.

The best trick I ever stole? Write the intro last and the conclusion second-last. It’s an Irish goodbye for writers: in, the good stuff, out again.

The Netflix “skip intro” rule

Until you know exactly what you’re putting the reader onto, you can’t rightly introduce them to it.

Draft the body first.

And then read your H2’s as the chapter names of your article. A story from beginning to end.

Then introduce and conclude that story.

intro → H2s → conclusion must tell the story

A reader should be able to scan just the intro, your H2s, and the conclusion and get the gist. If that skim reads muddy, your structure is muddy. Tighten the H2 verbs, collapse repeats, move tangents to links or footnotes, and make your closer hand the reader the exact next step.

The Irish goodbye outline

I treat a draft like a party. The middle is where the magic happens; you arrive and leave quickly. Write the body while the energy’s high.

Then craft a one-breath intro that frames it.

Close with a decisive pass-off - what to do next, where to go, who to help.

In, the good stuff, out again.

It’s also how we built Penfriend’s Intro & Conclusion system.

At least the basis. There’s a lot more to the process, but the concept is the same. We feed Penny only the outline. She then works out the intro and conclusion at the same time.

Want to see it work? Spin up Penfriend, generate one of your three free articles, and watch the intro/conclusion pass tighten your piece.

And because we just dropped Wave One, you’ll get +50% bonus credits on any plan through September.

I’ll keep it short today - I’ve got a redeye flight to Atlanta.

Wrap and ship

• Draft from the middle. Don’t touch the intro yet.

• Make H2s that sell the journey on their own.

• Write a one-breath intro that frames exactly what follows.

• End with a handoff: one next step, one link, one action.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "Skip Intro" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. Secret I probably shouldn’t share - when I can’t find a closer, I steal the sharpest line from somewhere in the middle, move it to the end, and let it echo.

Works suspiciously often.

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