Storytelling is the most underrated skill of our time. At any social gathering, no matter how large or small, anyone speaking is constantly fighting for the attention of others. They’re usually fighting with messages, emails, and notifications to keep people engaged. Storytelling is the most effective way to engage, teach and persuade others.
To learn more about it, I picked up Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks - a highly recommended book on storytelling. Here are some notes.
Storyworthy
Unlike other books I’ve reviewed or summarised, I do recommend reading this one in full - there’s a lot to learn from the examples that Matthew uses to highlight his points.
There are three parts:
- Finding your story - this part focuses on some methods to find stories, and how to change the mundane parts of life into a story worth hearing. I haven’t included any notes on this part.
- Crafting your story - this part highlights what makes up a good story. The focus of this post.
- Telling your story - this part focuses on delivering a good story. I’ll cover this in a later post.
Crafting your story
In this post I’ll focus on the second part of the book: Crafting your story. An introductory note: storytelling is about telling personal stories, rather than just anecdotes you’ve heard about other people. People are always interested to hear personal stories.
1. Every story only takes five seconds to tell
All great stories - regardless of length or depth or tone - tell the story of a five-second moment in a person’s life.
The five-second moment is a watershed moment in your life.
- I was once this, but now I am this.
- I once thought this, but now I think this.
- I once felt this, but now I feel this.
Without the five-second moment, there is no story. It should be the reason the story exists. When crafting your story, you have to first find this five-second moment. A story about how you are so great and have achieved great things is not a story. It’s a guaranteed way to be labeled a douchebag.
2. Finding your beginning
Once you’ve found your five-second moment, you’ve also found your beginning. Your beginning should be the opposite of your five-second moment. For example, if the five-second moment was you overcoming your fear of heights, your beginning should be about a time when your fear of heights made your life very difficult.
Some rules for beginnings: Don’t start with “you’re not going to believe this” or “this is hilarious”. These sorts of statements set the bar really high, and they remove the surprise from the story. If you start with “you’re not going to believe this” you’re priming the audience for something amazin, so whatever you say won’t have much of an impact.
3. Stakes
“Stakes are the reason an audience wants to hear your next sentence. They are the difference between a story that grabs the audience by the throat and holds on tight and one that an audience can take or leave. Stakes are the difference between someone telling you about their mother and someone telling you about the time they wanted to disown their mother.”
Build suspense
A major way of increasing the stakes is to build the audience’s anticipation of an upcoming event, and to make the audience feel the same emotions you experienced at the time. They’re usually about plans going wrong. Hopes are dreams are loaded up, but they ultimately are not realised.
Another way of building suspense is to predict what’s going to happen. Predictions keep the audience guessing what might come next and whether the prediction will turn out to be true or not.
The elephant
The elephant is the central theme of your story - it should be evident what the story is about. This is especially true when you’re narrating it. The audience doesn’t have the luxury of visual aids e.g. in TV or cinema.
4. Describe locations in detail
This is one of the most important aspects of storytelling, and one that I didn’t notice before reading Storyworthy. It’s the job of the storyteller to create a cinematic experience in the minds of the audience. Consider these examples, taken from the book:
Version #1
“My grandmother’s name is Odelie Dicks, which probably explains why she is who she is. She’s a crooked old day in both body and mind. She only wears dark colours and likes to serve good that has stewed in pots for days. I like to imagine that there was a a time in her life when she smiled - or at least didn’t scowl - but if that time existed, it was long before me.”
Version #2
*“I’m standing at the edge of my grandmother’s garden, watching her relentlessly pull weeds from the unforgiving soil. My grandmother’s name is Odelie Dicks, which probably explains why she is who she is. She’s a crooked old day in both body and mind. She only wears dark colours and likes to serve good that has stewed in pots for days. I like to imagine that there was a a time in her life when she smiled - or at least didn’t scowl - but if that time existed, it was long before me.”
One version is the beginning of an essay, the other is the beginning of a story (i.e. version #2). It’s fascinating how one sentence changes the paragraph and gives it some depth and colour.
5. But and therefore
Stories shouldn’t be linear. Most of us use the word ‘and’ to connect sentences when we normally speak, and we carry this through to our storytelling e.g. “I went on holiday and the weather was really nice, and I had some great food.” Using the word ‘and’ implies linearity and normality.
Instead of saying ‘and’, use the words ‘but’ and ‘therefore’ (and their synonyms e.g. except, instead of, as a result, so, yet). These words move the story in different directions, whilst keeping the overall arc of the story. Even if the events in your story are predictable and linear, it’s a way of making the story feel as if it’s going somewhere new.
Closing thoughts
Reading this book has forced me to pay attention to storytelling. I find it remarkable how fundamental the elements of storytelling are. I now notice them whenever I’m watching a movie or reading a short story.
This is just one book on storytelling, which the author has put together from his own experiences. I’m keen to explore others that bring different perspectives - let me know if you recommend any.