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Cider House Writing
by Dr. Joe Vitale
In
my e-book, Hypnotic Selling Stories, I tried to explain how the messages
you send out have a double meaning. There's the meaning you intend, and
then there's the meaning your readers conclude. There's often a major
difference. This is hard to explain, but let's try, anyway.
Nerissa and I watched a wonderful movie a few days
ago called Cider House Rules. It stars Michael Caine and Toby MaGuire.
It takes place in Maine, in the 1940s, in and around a home for orphans.
The film is beautiful to watch, slow and moving, like a great colorful
painting come to life.
The essence of the story is this: Toby is an orphan
who learned to deliver babies from his mentor, the doctor played by
Caine. While Caine would perform abortions as needed, Toby would never
do them, saying they were illegal. They were against the rules.
As the story moves on, Toby decided to leave the
orphanage and see the world. He does, at least the world of Maine. While
working as an apple picker, he befriends the fellow workers. One of them
gets pregnant by her own father, and needs an abortion. Toby, backed
into a corner and realizing the necessity of the situation, performs it.
Now the rules don't matter.
I've over simplified the movie's story to make my
point obvious. So let's see if my plan worked.
Okay. On the first level of communication, the movie
is about people growing up in the 40s and dealing with their personal
problems, with a focus on orphans in Maine. The characters are deep and
the plot is engaging. You can watch it and say, "I enjoyed that
one."
But on another level, there are messages in the movie
designed to sink into your mind without doing so with a hammer.
For example, what does the title -- "Cider
House Rules" -- mean?
In the house Toby and the apple pickers lived in,
there was a set of rules posted inside. No one could read them because
no one could read. When Toby appeared, he read the rules. The first was
no smoking.
Well, the pickers laughed, as they were smoking as they heard about the
rule. So, "Cider House Rules" referred to the rules posted in
the house where the apple pickers lived.
But what does it mean on a deeper level?
The movie was about abortion. It showed that rules
made by people who don't live in the situation the rules affect, were
rules worth nothing. That when reality set in, the rules would be
ignored. When push came to shove, so to speak, a person would get an
abortion if their situation called for it.
But the movie never came out and said that.
And that's the point. Hypnotic Writing is often
subtle. It sneaks in a message under your mental radar. It tells you a
story that entertains you, while the message slides into your
consciousness. The next time you think of abortion, you'll unconsciously
remember the lessons from "Cider House Rules."
You may even make a different decision because of it, and you may never
even know it.
Hypnotic writing is more than clever phrases and a
knowledge of language. It's also remembering that people make
unconscious conclusions about your messages. Be careful what you say,
yes. But also be careful to what people may conclude.
Take this brief article. On an apparent level I am
telling you to be aware of your communication. But on a secondary level,
I am communicating my own knowledge of hypnotic language. Somewhere in
you is the thought, "Wow, Joe sure knows a lot about hypnotic
writing."
This may even get you to sign up for my upcoming private seminar on
hypnotic writing.
You might also note that I plugged one of my e-books
in the first paragraph of this article, which seeded the idea that you
should go get it right now.
This whole article, in a way, is a hypnotic story designed to sell you
on my work.
Again, there are at least two messages in every
communication -- the obvious and the concluded.
Take a look at your own writing. What are you trying
to communicate -- and what are people concluding?
You may be surprised by what you find.
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© 2004 Joe Vitale. All rights reserved. Feel fre^e to forward this in
its entirety to anyone you wish.
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Dr. Joe Vitale is the world's first Hypnotic Marketer.
He is President of Hypnotic Marketing, Inc., and author of way too many
books to list here, including the #1 best-selling book "Spiritual
Marketing," the best-selling e-book "Hypnotic Writing,"
and the best-selling Nightingale-Conant audioprogram, "The Power of
Outrageous Marketing." His main website is at http://www.MrFire.com
Hypnotic Marketing, Inc.
121 Canyon Gap Rd.,
Wimberley TX 78676-6314
Member BBB Online 2004
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