Hey, Ricky here with a new blog post! Today we'll be covering 5 storytelling tips to help you improve your storytelling! Keep in mind that it doesn't need to be on the grand scale of a cinematic piece or a documentary film. It could just be something as simple as a blog like this one, maybe even a simple Instagram carousel!
Stories, in essence, are really about conflict. Somebody wants something and they can't get it. If your character has a want but gets it right away and there is no conflict, end of the story.
Famous writer Robert McKee talks about conflict. He talks about how characters have a subjective expectation, and when that expectation meets cold hard reality; or what we call objective reality, that's where the friction comes in.
For example, Neo in "The Matrix" wants to find the truth, and that he wants to know what the matrix is. In his mind, the truth is a simple explanation of what the matrix is. Maybe it's an underground movement, it's a club; an organization; it's a conspiracy by the government, that's his subjective expectation. But in reality, humans are harvested for energy and they're slaves to the robots the machines, that's the objective reality.
Kendra Hall, a storytelling consultant talks about stories in this very simple structure. She splits a story into 3 main parts. There's the normal, the explosion and then the new normal. The normal is what we do to set the scene. This is what's happening to you. Include the details; the emotions. The explosion is the thing that disrupts the normal.
For example, a young lady was riding in a car with her parents and there was a car crash. Her parents died, that's obviously an explosion. What comes next is the new normal. The new normal is the progress report.
A great example was Steve Jobs. When he introduced the iPhone for the very first time, he talked about how smartphones aren't very smart. He's describing the normal as we've been let down by the promise of a smartphone. The explosion is going to be this wonderful beautiful device called the iPhone and it's going to change the way you communicate. It's going to change the way you surf the internet. It's a computer in your pocket, and in a way, you've never had it before. That in itself is the explosion. That's how you tell a great story.
Writer Francis Glebas wrote the book "Directing The Story". It's a book on storyboarding for artists. He mentions that the secret to storytelling is story delaying; dragging out the conclusion of the story for as long as possible while giving your audience meaningful details, asking dramatic questions. We are hard-wired as human beings to fall in love with stories and that's because as humans we want to learn the lessons without actually having to suffer ourselves.
Make your story dramatic. The way you make your story dramatic is to exaggerate things. Think of your story and the moments that your characters are facing something like life-and-death situations, even
though they're not. For example, if he misses the bus; his life is over. In his world, maybe it's not over but that's maybe how he feels at that moment in time. So when you are able to tap into that raw emotion, you can have a really dramatic and interesting story.
The next time you have an event that's coming up, whether it could be a new business meeting or a new client presentation, perhaps you're up for an interview with a new employer for a new job. The way you tell your story to your audience is to talk about your expectations and talk about it in dramatic ways. Tell the audience what your hopes and fears are. Once you're in the meeting, that's the actual explosion. As soon as it's over, that's when you reflect. This is the new normal. Maybe it didn't go as well as you had hoped. Maybe you should have prepared a little bit more, and maybe even should've rehearsed more. Talk about the raw emotion you're feeling from this particular outcome, good and bad. Share the lesson you've learned and what knowledge you've obtained out of this experience. Incorporate being human in your storytelling and you'll see a significant impact on your brand.