{"id":11214,"date":"2011-10-12T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T07:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=11214"},"modified":"2011-10-11T21:13:32","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T04:13:32","slug":"radio-copywriting-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/radio-copywriting-2\/","title":{"rendered":"RADIO COPYWRITING AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"radio<\/a>

I Am Not A Human.<\/p><\/div>\n

When actors are stuck \u2014 when they can’t “figure out” or “discover” how to play a certain character at a certain moment \u2014 they are told, “Find the love in the scene.”<\/em> Find what that character dearly loves and is trying to achieve, and let that guide you.<\/div>\n

When a writer of commercials doesn’t know where to start, I say unto that writer:<\/p>\n

“Find the story.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Raise your hand if you like to hear commercials.<\/p>\n

No, I don’t mean you advertising people. I mean the rest of the world, who view commercials as nuisances.<\/p>\n

Not many hands up now.<\/p>\n

Okay, now everybody:<\/p>\n

Raise your hand if you enjoy hearing a good story. (By “good” I mean one that interests you. That diverts, excites, provokes, stimulates or inspires you.)<\/p>\n

Oooh, lots of hands in the air now!<\/p>\n

Guess what? Everybody likes a good story.<\/p>\n

(They’ll disagree over what is good and what is “boring,” not realizing that by “boring” they really mean “not relevant to my experience.”)<\/p>\n

You know how “experts” love to point out “the difference between humans and other animals”?<\/p>\n

Well, they’re all wrong.<\/p>\n

The difference between humans and other animals is:<\/p>\n

Only humans tell stories.<\/em><\/p>\n

Whether a history book or an adventure film or carefully a rehearsed line in a singles bar, it’s a story.<\/p>\n

Dogs don’t tell stories. Has your dog ever shared one with you?<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you have either heard or told at least one story about a dog.<\/p>\n

(Don’t tell me your story about your dog, by the way. It’s not relevant to my life. But I can tell you a couple of great stories about my dog, if you like.)<\/p>\n

Even a story about a dog really is a human story. At least, if it’s a dog story a human will pay attention to.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> When I was a teenager, my dog taught himself to stand on his hind legs and extend his right front paw to open the sliding glass door to the patio.<\/p>\n

To me, that’s fascinating, because it was my dog and my house. But even to you, who knew neither, this story might at least elicit a brief, “Huh!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Why? Because that dog was acting like…a human! (In writing terms, that’s called Personification \u2014 attributing human qualities to non-humans.)<\/p>\n

But here’s another kind of dog story:<\/p>\n

Rover woke up. Scratched a bit. Went back to sleep. Woke up again. Yawned. Rolled over. Scratched some more.<\/p>\n

Not so interesting to humans.<\/p>\n

Why not? We do all those things, right?<\/p>\n

But….It’s 100% mechanical behavior, with no inner thought or emotion or desire expressed, exposed or implied.<\/p>\n

Which means it’s not a human story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When actors are stuck \u2014 when they can’t “figure out” or “discover” how to play a certain character at a certain moment \u2014 they are told, “Find the love in the scene.” Find what that character dearly loves and is trying to achieve, and let that guide you. When a writer of commercials doesn’t know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nRADIO COPYWRITING AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/radio-copywriting-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RADIO COPYWRITING AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When actors are stuck \u2014 when they can’t “figure out” or “discover” how to play a certain character at a certain moment \u2014 they are told, “Find the love in the scene.” Find what that character dearly loves and is trying to achieve, and let that guide you. 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