Read Time: 4 Minutes

Storytelling

... it's a forgotten art.

Almost everyone knows what storytelling is. They even say they believe in it.

"Storytelling is the most effective way to market a company"

"​Marketers are storytellers"

"Storytelling is the most authentic form of content"

You've probably heard statements like this 1000x times, just like I have.

The problem is most people don't know how to tell stories.

Just like me.

But, with thousands of hours in reading, podcasting, leading marketing programs, public speaking, and just about every form of writing you can think of...

I'm starting to figure some things out.

So here's a few gems I've learned so far, hopefully it's valuable for you.

A story is more than a start, middle, and end.

I was in a slog early in my marketing career. I knew that being a good storyteller was important, but I didn't even know where to begin. My past experiences didn't seem story worthy to me.

So I started to seek structure, frameworks I could work within.

Which (inevitably) led me to the film industry.

Famous movies like, Toy Story, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. What made these adventures so enjoyable and memorable for audiences?

In this exercise I learned my first lesson...
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A story can be broken up into 5 parts.
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- The Introduction setting the stage for the characters and their current state of being.
- The Agitation introduce a form of agitation that causes the characters to seek change.
- The Downfall lead the characters into a state that is worse than the introduction.
- The Rise empower the characters to rise out of their downtrodden state.
- The Future move the character somewhere better than the introduction.

Almost every famous story you've ever fallen in love with follows this arch.

And it's because we eat it up. As consumers of stories:

1. We want to be better.
2. We experience agitation.
3. We struggle in hard times.
4. We feel amazing when we win.
5. We want to ride off into the sunset.

This framework for storytelling helps you hack into your readers ideal fantasy. They paint the parallels subconsciously in their own life and slip into the characters shoes.

This makes your stories more memorable, and impactful.

Almost everything is a story

Your life is full of stories.

And so is mine, your cousins, your boss', your best friend, and your dog.

We all experience life completely differently.

The second lesson I learned was how to take mundane pieces of my life and turn them into stories.

Because even the mundane can be fascinating.

I could tell you that I struggled to learn how to ride a bike.

But, that's not entirely interesting.

I could tell you that I learned how to ride a bike quickly.

But, that's not entirely interesting.

I could even tell you that I insisted on riding without my parents help.

But, that's still not interesting.

However...

If I tell you:

I was 4 years old riding my bike down a dusty road that wrapped around the side of the lake by my childhood home. It was mid-summer, blazing hot, but my family wanted to spend the day out at the lake. I had been trying to prove to my parents that I didn't need the training wheels anymore for a few days, so I insisted we bring my Scooby Doo bike with us. While my dad was out wading in the water fishing I was getting in some practice.

While playing a little too close to the concrete edge of the lake, my front wheel skated off the main path. Suddenly, I'm careening at an uncontrollable speed into the lake. I only managed to slow myself down slightly as I caught the ground with the tip of my toe. But, it wasn't enough. I flew headfirst into the water, landing firmly on my knees.

It was only when I tried to stand that I realized I'd split my knee open on a jagged rock on the bottom of the lake. It was more blood than I'd ever seen in my life. I nearly collapsed on the side of the lake. We quickly swept off to the local hospital where I had to get stitched up. Thankfully the only lasting damage was a scar I still have to this day.

But I'll tell you one thing... It was the last time I fell off my bike.

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Suddenly the mundane, isn't so mundane.

The best way to tell better stories is to include more details & make it visceral.

Describe the way it FEELS to be there. The emotions, the temperature, the smells.

This is what makes a good story jump off the page & engage a reader.

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That's all for this issue, if you enjoyed be sure to let me know and I'll create more content around storytelling!

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