Vignette or story?
What’s the difference between a story and a vignette, and when do you use each in emails?
A vignette is a short description of a scenario or feelings.
A story has conflict, resolution, and a message or a moral.
Most people use vignettes instead of stories in their marketing emails, for good reason. They’re fun, simple, pretty fast to write, and still show your personal side for your readers to love.
(Here I wrote a vignette about my ideal Mother's Day: www.aripemango.com/blog/ask-for-what-you-want)
Stories, on the other hand, usually take more time and emotional energy to write. Most people save stories for when they want a really memorable takeaway for the reader, like in sales emails or your welcome sequence.
Below is a great story example from an email I received recently (courtesy of Krista at alifeinprogress.ca).
My husband and I got away for a couple of days into the mountains this weekend. We didn't have to go far to arrive at the cute little studio cabin where we celebrated his birthday with alone time and rest.
We sat on the front porch under blankets until the sun disappeared behind the tall and thin evergreens. We walked just a few minutes to eat on the large outdoor patio of a brewery and restaurant. Everyone wore tuques and layers of clothing in the cool spring air but looked happy to be enjoying each other's company. We definitely were.
We drove an hour further West into the Rockies and sat on a bench overlooking a glistening lake. Elk Cows munched grass nearby. Though it was cool enough to need a hat, I got a sunburn and came home with more freckles than I started with.
I took a nap on Saturday afternoon. Without reminders of my to-do list, no laptop at hand to beckon me, I fell easily into comfortable and much-need sleep.
My husband's birthday also marked 18 months since our son left. Close to four weeks that I've been panic-free. 14 months since Covid arrived in my corner of the world. 19 months since our serious car accident. 25 months since my son first tried to end his life. 25 years minus one week since I held my son in my arms for the first time.
Life is such a messy tangle of grief and joy. We need rest.
It reads like a vignette at first...a slow intro, with a lot of description. Then it peaks and resolves quickly in the final two paragraphs, and boy, do those paragraphs make you stop and think.
I won’t forget this one for awhile. (In fact, due to the awesome power of stories, I think of Krista often, even though I’ve only been receiving her emails for a few weeks and have no personal connection to her.)
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