The Studio Source.com

About seven years ago the fella and I were in the market for a new car. We checked Consumer Reports to see which models got the best reviews, and decided on two manufacturers. Here’s my best recollection of that little adventure.

We visit the first dealer. This is our second choice in terms of resale value and reliability, but best in price.

I’m annoyed in two minutes flat.

How do you tell a good story? Here’s a great creative writing tip: don’t tell me—show me.

If that sounds like vague instruction, here’s an example. We’ll revisit our friend James Dyson, the über-cool vacuum cleaner guy. I talked about his story in my last post.

Now let’s put you on TV. You have your own series as a superstar trial lawyer. You’re giving your final argument to the jury, and you need to impress the hell out of them. Your client is Mr. Dyson, and you’re task is to convince a dozen of his peers he’s the real deal.

How would the TV lawyer do it?

I can’t remember where I heard this, but someone once said, “If you notice the acting, it’s not good acting.”

Think about some of the best actors in the business—Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep. You don’t notice the acting. They disappear into their roles. They wrap you up in their characters and engage you, even if the rest of the movie is a shambles. They tell a compelling story.

If you take a Marketing 101 class you’ll quickly run into the burning question of features versus benefits. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out which is which.

Here’s how I do it: a feature is the bright shiny thing. A benefit is what it does for you. So your MP3 player has massive storage capabilities. That’s a feature. The benefit? You have tons of songs to listen to, and they all fit in your pocket.

So how does this work for creatives?