Hi everyone!
I wanted to briefly talk about why emotion often speaks more clearly in audio than in writing, along with a little communication science.
I love novels, and I enjoy writing them, but audio has a particular strength when it comes to emotional communication.
Why? Because only a small fraction of human communication is purely verbal. Words alone carry very little compared to tone, pacing, hesitation, emphasis, and silence – only about 2% of communication.
When we speak to someone, tone of voice contributes many times as much to the meaning, which is one of the reasons I will often walk over and talk to someone rather than sending a written message in a work environment.
Novels give the reader enormous freedom to interpret tone, emotion, and intention their way. That flexibility is powerful and beautiful.
Audio drama is different. It delivers much more of the emotion the actor, director, and writer intended. You hear the pauses, the breath, the strain, the uncertainty. The emotional intent is far more explicit.
That means if you are directing or acting, you need to understand the underlying motivation of a scene. Look deeper than the words. Work out what is actually being communicated. You won’t regret it.
– Ed
