Where our story begins…
This post isn’t about advertising or copywriting but it is about writing… sort of. What it is mostly about is the ridiculous letter I just received from my insurance company regarding a crown that was put into my tooth. While I don’t like to use this platform to gripe about personal issues I have done so from time to time, especially when they concern communications. Like this one.
It was a dark and stormy tooth…
Read the last line in the document posted above: It says: “Please submit a detailed narrative as well as clinical notes for each crown/inlay submitted on the statement.” Below that are a bunch of blank lines, presumably for my dentist to write his essay about my tooth.
I love the word “narrative.” As if there’s a protagonist (my tooth) and an antagonist (the cavity). Broadly speaking, I suppose there are heroes and villains in my mouth but I would never call filling a cavity a narrative. Let alone ask a dentist to create one.
How about this: In order to prevent my patient’s tooth from decaying, falling out and even causing death I elected to fill it. Filling cavities is a time-tested method of preventing the onset of decay, tooth loss and premature death.
Pretty good response, huh? And to think I’m not even a dentist. Yet even I know the goddamn narrative. Who doesn’t?
