Going Direct

Picture this. You’re at Bello Winter music festival. You’re in the middle of a line for a drink at a packed bar. A woman pushes in front of you.

You start to verbalise some sort of objection.

“Sorry – I’m trying to get to the bar”.

She pushes past you, past the person in front of you, and orders a round of drinks.

Believe it or not, this actually happened to me in 2018.

If you can’t tell, I’m still shocked.

I was angry and confused, but mainly surprised. She either didn’t understand our line-up-get-drink system, or decided she didn’t want to play any more.

In the end we didn’t have a choice – my friends and I said fair play.

7 years later I find it very funny.

Reflecting on it now, I may actually find this kind of directness refreshing.

This leads me to my point for this post. I’m reading Stephen King’s On Writing. He’s telling me about passive vs active voice.

For those that don’t know (like myself, until just then), active voice is writing where the subject performs the action of the verb. In passive voice, the action happens to the subject.

Mr. King’s example of passive voice is “The body was carried from the kitchen and placed on the parlor sofa”.

vs.

“Freddie and Myra carried the body out of the kitchen and laid it on the parlor sofa.”

The subject is Freddie and Myra. The first example: The body was carried’ leaves the author of the action up to interpretation. The second example clears that up.

He goes on to say that beginner writers (like me, until just then) overuse passive voice because it seems more professional. It seems safer. Newer writers think that’s how you’re supposed to write.

Now while I am enlightened, I am no master. Heaven forbid, if Mr. King was to look through my pitch decks from the last twelve months, he’d find a lot of passive voice.

Distilling my thoughts down into an active voice is more work, plus it leaves me vulnerable. I’m putting the message out there, and if I’m wrong, or my idea is bad, there’s no hiding. It’s direct.

While it is a bit scary, it does mean that there is an opportunity to be more engaging to the reader. To invite them in. To communicate my thoughts and theirs with charity.

So in a world of Powerpoint files full of passive corporate-speak I’m vowing to go direct-er.

Because I think people appreciate directness. Like we eventually did with that woman at the bar in Bellingen.

Pictured: An illustration of this benefit. This Korean restaurant (pictured, via Jess Wheeler, via Reddit) made people from around the world laugh with a crude tagline. It’s given them reach way beyond the average chicken shop.