Nov. 13/06

Writing in the age of emotion

What the Queen learned from Diana - and why it matters to you

I saw The Queen this weekend. Not the real one –- the Helen Mirren version. But you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference. In a movie that walks the well-trod path of the 1997 death of Princess Diana, Mirren has nailed the thin-lipped composure of the reigning monarch. Miraculously, she has also helped provide a fresh take on the tragedy that captured more public attention than many other bigger, more historic events.

What is public, what is private?

The movie turns on a single question: Where do the public and the private intersect? Clearly, in the death of Diana, Queen Elizabeth felt her family’s grief was a private matter and it would be unseemly to let it become public. Just as clearly, her perceived standoffishness enraged the British public. Like the masks of comedy and tragedy, the Queen and the Princess embodied polar opposites. One represented the “head” -- tradition and duty, the other, the “heart” -- spontaneity and emotion. But which is better?

Do you really have to choose?

This is a trick question for writers. I think we all have the right to be “head” or “heart” people, or some combination thereof. But we also need to acknowledge that, when we’re writing, there are prevailing fashions. Just as the fashion in hemlines is sometimes short and at other times long, so too the fashion in communication sometimes leans to the side of personal disclosure, sometimes against. This is true whether we’re writing sales copy, employee publications, speeches or short stories.

The age of emotion

In North America, at least, we now live in a “Diana” age. We crave evidence of emotion, connectedness, detail, feelings and real-life examples. Honesty is more highly prized than commitment. And, puzzlingly, even though creating a fully-fleshed work of fiction is hugely difficult, we save our most fulsome praise for works that carry the tagline “based on a true story.”

Is this a good thing? I don’t know. But I do know that as corporate writers we ignore the prevailing fashion at our peril.