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The Ultimate Guide to Storytelling
Good stories are …
- Entertaining. Good stories keep the reader engaged and interested in what’s coming next.
- Educational. Good stories spark curiosity and add to the reader’s knowledge bank.
- Universal. Good stories are relatable to all readers and tap into emotions and experiences that most people undergo.
- Organized. Good stories follow a succinct organization that helps convey the core message and helps readers absorb it.
- Memorable. Whether through inspiration, scandal, or humor, good stories stick in the reader’s mind.
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Key Ideas
Storytelling is...
Why we tell stories
- Stories solidify abstract concepts and simplify complex messages;
- Stories bring people together: stories connect us through the way we feel and respond to them;
- Stories inspire and motivate, by tapping into people’s emotions and baring both the good and bad.
Good stories are …
- Entertaining. Good stories keep the reader engaged and interested in what’s coming next.
- Educational. Good stories spark curiosity and add to the reader’s knowledge bank.
- Universal. Good stories are relatable to all readers and tap into emotions and experiences that most people undergo.
- Organized. Good stories follow a succinct organization that helps convey the core message and helps readers absorb it.
- Memorable. Whether through inspiration, scandal, or humor, good stories stick in the reader’s mind.
Components of a good story
- Characters. Every story features at least one character, and this character will be the key to relating your audience back to the story.
- Conflict. The conflict is the lesson of how the character overcomes a challenge.
- Resolution. Your story’s resolution should wrap up the story, provide context around the characters and conflict(s), and leave your audience with a call-to-action.
Steps of the storytelling process
- Know your audience;
- Know your audience;
- Decide what kind of story you’re telling;
- Establish your call-to-action;
- Choose your story medium;
- Craft your story;
- Share your story.
Story objectives
If your objective is to:
- Incite action: describe how a successful action was completed in the past and its steps.
- Tell people about yourself, feature genuine, humanizing struggles, failures, and wins.
- Convey values, tap into familiar emotions and situations so that the story feels relatable.
- Foster collaboration, tell a story that moves readers to discuss and share your story with others.
- Educate, feature a trial-and-error experience, so that readers can learn about a problem and how a solution was discovered and applied.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Why storytelling works
Stories are like instruction manuals that explain how we move from one state of being to another.
Stories help us imagine how we can improve our own lives or avoid unpleasant consequen...
A good story moves us
A good story can make us laugh or cry, our bodies can tense with a dramatic horror movie, or we are flooded with relief when the hero comes to the rescue. This experience is called transportation.
Transportation allows us to experience a story's movement through its characters. The characters' struggles and their rewards become our own.
Our relationship with stories
Good stories catch your attention, connects you by drawing you in and move you to action. Stories that don't capture your attention will fail to deliver their message.
When participants remain engaged with a story and see characters overcome conflicts, they will empathize with the characters and be more willing to act on these feelings.
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“The most powerful person in the world is the story teller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of ..."
Steve Jobs
Storytelling Is Everything
Whether it's telling inspiring stories to customers or delivering a presentation to executives and the board of directors, being a good storyteller helps us make the leap from Good to Great.
Product managers and designers can benefit tremendously by great storytelling, and so can anyone who is working with product design.
Purpose
Instead of selling products, we need to focus on their purpose and what good it does for the end-user. Focus on the need of the customer and design the product around it.
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“What you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to write about an event in your life that made you feel some ..."
Pete Docter
Pixar’s Plotting Techniques For Structure And Purpose
The Story Spine structure: Once upon a time there was [blank]. Every day, [blank]. One day [blank]. Because of that, [blank]. Until finally [bank].
A story’s purpose: find why you want to tell this story, what belief of yours fueled that story, what does it teach and its purpose. Stories with a purpose that you are passionate about have a bigger impact.
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Voice as an important tool
Your voice influences the impact of your speech and can make or break its success.
With some guidance, you can learn to use your voice to increase your power and persuasiveness in a...
Improve Your Public Speaking Voice
- Slow Down when you speak. Your listeners have an opportunity to absorb and reflect on what you’re saying.
- Use Voice Exercises to strengthen your voice.
- Record And Listen To Your Voice. Look for ways to improve your pronunciation, your delivery, and your pacing.
- Record Phone Conversations. Replay to hear different ways that you could improve your delivery and articulation next time.
- Focus On Pauses. The drama and power of a speech are contained in the silences that you create as you move from point to point.
- Eat And Drink Well. Energy is essential for good speaking and voice projection. Cold water can chill your vocal chords and decrease the amount of warmth in your voice.
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Persuasion through storytelling
Stories are a very integral part of being persuasive.
Stories trump data when it comes to persuasion because stories are easier to understand and relate to.
What makes a story engaging
- Suspense and “cliffhangers” allow you to create an addictive narrative;
- Creating detailed imagery;
- Using literary techniques for turning simple stories into memorable works of art.
- Change made easier by providing an example.
Characteristics of persuasive stories
- Delivery: matters as much as the content.
- Imagery: the brain “lights up” in reacting to imagery, truly transporting the reader to the events being described.
- Realism: poeple need a “human” element in the story that is easy for them to imagine.
- Structure: people prefer stories that follow a logical manner.
- Context: significant impact on the persuasiveness of a story.
- Audience: determine who you don’t want reading your content along with who you do.
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Our brain on stories
A story can put your whole brain to work.
When we are being told a story, not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we wou...
We are wired for storytelling
A story, if broken down into the simplest form, is a connection of cause and effect. And that is exactly how we think. We think in narratives all day long.
Giving suggestions
Exchange giving suggestions for telling stories.
A story is the only way to activate parts in the brain so that a listener turns the story into their own idea and experience.
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Purpose of storytelling
In the workplace, storytelling serves as an essential, powerful tool for effective communication.
It gets people excited around an idea, or a value, or perhaps some drier information t...
Tip 1. Make it personal.
- What makes you care about the work that you do?
- What part of you outside of your work is present inside of that world?
- If in financial services, for example, what is it behind the numbers and data that are at the emotional core of your work?
Tip 2. Show passion
The story needs to have stakes without being necessarily significant. Ask yourself:
- What gets you excited about what you’re talking about?
- Why do you care?
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Three-Act storytelling structure
One of the oldest and most straightforward storytelling formulas:
- Setup: Set the scene and introduce the character(s)
- Confrontation or “Rising action” : Present a p...
Five-Act storytelling structure
Also known as Freytag’s Pyramid:
- Exposition: Introduce important background information
- Rising action: Tell a series of events to build up to the climax
- Climax: Turn the story around (usually the most exciting part of the story)
- Falling action: Continue the action from the climax
- Dénouement: Ending the story with a resolution.
Before – After – Bridge storytelling formula
- Before: Describe the world with Problem A.
- After: Imagine what it’d be like having Problem A solved.
- Bridge: Here’s how to get there.
Set the stage of a problem that your target audience is likely to experience ( a problem that your company solves). Describe a world where that problem didn’t exist. Explain how to get there or present the solution (i.e. your product or service).
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Purpose of Storytelling
- Clarifies The Vision and Mission of an Organization. Reinforces the intent of the leadership.
- Helps to Address strong challenges of organizational culture. It ...
Exercise for Corporate Leaders
Consider utilizing the exercise below to help develop a positive story:
- Identify a successful event within the organization, or, an accomplishment by its personnel.
- Detail the actions leading up to and following the event in chronological order.
- Develop a 5 minute and 2 minute version of the story for use when speaking with your internal leadership team and personnel.