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Let’s get into detail about our obsession wish details. In Truth in Comedy we discussed how there has to be a germ of truth at the base of all comedy, otherwise it floats away like a kite without a string, or comes crashing to earth, either way the humor fails. Your audience has to recognize the truth and they recognize truth through details.
Sometimes the merest of details works “Two guys walk into a bar…” actially contains enough information for us to work with; we know their sex, their number and where they are going. That is all some stories need. If we were to customize this we could say to a political audience that two democrats or two republicans or two libertarians or a Democrat and a Republican, walk into a bar.
Sometimes we use details to misdirect. Magicians ask us to examine the cards closely… while we focus on the cards they do something else to set up the trick. Or they know they will exchange the deck thorugh sleight-of-hand anyway. The old story about the bus with six passengers, that stops and picks up two more, stops and lets three out and one gets on, at the next stop five get off and eight get on, and at the last stop all get off. And then asks “How many stops were there?” We were misdirected by the recitation of passenger numbers and missed what was important.
We are easily led. And this can work to our advantage.
The most popular topic of discussion for me is me. And for you it is you, and for anyone else it is them. What they do. What they think. Where they work. Their hobbies. As the t-shirt says, “It’s All About Me.”
I have known speakers who have changed three words in a canned ninety minute presentation, and received raves about how insightful they were… from every group they spoke to. Use this!
Discover the jargon that is used. A clerk may be a team member at one company, a cast member at Disney. or a vice-president at a bank. Some companies make deals, others pursue transactions, and still others pursue policies, sales or boxes.
Details are the colors that bring a line-drawing to life.
Consider the difference:
I know a collector.
And this, with a little color thrown in.
A man in our neighborhood collects cars and has at least eight around his house. He is not your average car collector, he doesn’t go for sports cars, hot rods, or vintage motorcycles. He likes station wagons. Not just any station wagons, he loves the faux wood paneled Ford Country Squire type station wagon. The monsters from before the gas crisis. The cross-country family road trip dinosaurs with rear facing back seats and one-speaker AM radios, controlled by Dad. Ahh! Those were the days!
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on Dec 5th, 2008 at 12:51 am
I enjoy reading your posts. My biggest problem is getting across the tone and inflection of something that is the kind of “you had to be there type” funny
on Dec 5th, 2008 at 2:08 am
All forms of storytelling–especially humorous stories and mysteries–use exactly that kind of misdirection. You want to involve the reader at every step, bring them with you on the journey, and still be able to surprise them at the end. The best jokes–the ones we grown about the most when we hear but love to inflict on others–are the ones where all the clues were there from the beginning, but we were looking at it from the “wrong angle.” Thanks for the post.
on Dec 5th, 2008 at 5:47 am
Man: (Can I call you Man?) Excellent point. The richest stories, and the best storytellers all include enough detail to draw everyone in, but distract just enough to leave a little something for the end. Thanks! I enjoyed your reCaptcha Magic 8 Ball post.
Ettarose: My friend! Always great to hear from you! YHBT (You Had To Be There) humor can be the toughest to use later. And that’s a great topic for a post! I’ll work on that. Look for it soon. And being a Southerner myself, your post on hunting season brought back some memories.
on Dec 5th, 2008 at 7:46 am
My father had a 1962 Ford Country Squire station wagon. I loved that car. He used to help my brother and me deliver newspapers on Sunday mornings when the papers were really heavy. We had a lot of good times doing that. I still like the old woody wagons with the real wood from the 40’s and 50’s. Thanks for bringing up some nice memories.
on Dec 6th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Dan, this is such a terrific post – I am going to have to catch up with your blog. You make some excellent points most succinctly. I like that a lot.
And thank you for visiting Kitchen Retro, BTW.
on Dec 6th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
John: Happy to be of service. Although I think the ‘62 Country Squire would look like acompact next to one of the beasts from the seventies!
Lidian: Thank you. Yes, please catch up on the posts. I have read Ktichen Retro for awhile, it’s pretty amazing how things were advertised ‘way back when.’
on Dec 7th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
This is great stuff, Dan. One way I try to write is to hit people over the head with my point in the first one or two sentences, then flesh it out after. What I find distracting on some blogs is that I’m reading five paragraphs of details and I don’t know where the writer is going with it. Five paragraphs is a long time to keep an online reader focused. I’m all about hitting them early and hard.
Love your blog. Have I told you that already?
on Dec 7th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Kathy: You are so right. Your audience needs to have an adea about where they are heading. SOmetimes writers (me included) get wrapped up too much in our glorious prose and fail to get to the point. I think there can be a balance however between “hitting them over the head” and drawing out the suspense a little bit.
And please, don’t ever ration your love!
on Dec 8th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Informative post. I like the way you used your examples. Keep it up