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Let me entertain you
Thanks so much to the people who volunteered to read the draft of my upcoming book. While I appreciated their help in spotting the inevitable typos and fog, what thrilled me was the call for more entertainment.
After so many years of button-down corporate writing, it's scary, though fun, to let loose. I'm game.
This week I'm focusing on a livelier second draft. And I'm thinking about how you can apply this insight to put more fun into your writing.
In my quest to be more entertaining, I thought of the movies and how Hollywood techniques could be applied to our less glamorous toil. There's more at my blog. Here's the quick and a tiny bit dirty.
Movies
*tell exciting stories
*make us care about what happens to the characters
*tickle our funny bone
*offer romance and sex.
So how does this apply to your business writing?
We tell exciting stories
People who are writing for business are often reluctant to tell stories. And let’s face it: few cubicle scribes have the gifts of James Cameron. But most need to tell some true stories, at least anecdotes, so people will pay attention and believe in them.
I love telling the stories of heroics of average employees, the people who came through when the power failed, the system crashed, the big client needed the impossible today, the blizzard crippled the city or the planes crashed into the twin towers.
Like movie stories, they follow a story arc that takes unexpected twists and turns.
Unlike movies, you don't have two hours to tell your story. It has to be brief, which I've elaborated on in an
earlier post.
We encourage readers to care about people
Stories work only if the audience cares about whether the hero wins and the villain loses. At work, we have time to provide only a slice of the characters that's juicy enough to fan readers' feelings.
For example, I once wrote about Mary getting a call from the pharmacy rep, begging her to help get a drug shipment across the border so a little boy in a Hamilton hospital would not die.
This true story about two mothers pitted against heartless bureaucrats to save a child was far stickier than yet another executive commanding employees to go above and beyond the call of duty to keep the client happy.
We make people laugh
Many people are reluctant to use humour with the serious business of writing at work. Yet you probably perk up when a presenter starts with a funny story.
Because you can't rely on body language and audience interaction, written humour can be more challenging. Then there's the need to avoid offending anyone. Equally important is the need to work with your personal brand of humour. Check my earlier advice.
We offer a hint of sex and romance
Like humour, sex and romance present greater risks and rewards.
Although sex is taboo in almost all work writing, I sometimes get around this through subtle innuendo. For example, I called this newsletter “Let me entertain you,” which comes from a stripper song in the musical Gypsy.
Similarly, the legendary Clairol hair colouring ad slogan “Does she or doesn’t she?” worked because of the implied sexual message.
Romance is also discouraged at work. But remember that people long for personal fulfillment outside of romance. Employee engagement, the cause du jour in many organizations, is all about people feeling connected and valued. Sounds a lot like love to me.
However, sex and romance are tricky, so do not attempt them without adult supervision, a smart editor or until you've read Write like you talk--only better. Coming very soon.
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