Storytelling
Capture attention before telling the story, instead of using the story to grab attention.
- Important key is to use preamble to capture attention. It is almost like creating anticipation in people's minds. You are "commanding" their attention because of the impression you are giving that what you are about to say is intriguing.
- ex. let me tell you why that was a big deal, Jim (using the name is important, because people's ears perk upon hearing their own name)
When recounting a story, don’t tell it from the vantage point of “everything turned out okay.” Express how it felt in the moment. Get into the fear, uncertainty, or excitement you felt in real time. Let the emotions play out in your voice, your body, and your eye contact.
- If you tell a tense story with a tonality and body language that communicates, “Everything turned out okay,” you’ll lose interest.
- Let the audience know what you knew at the time. Let them feel what you felt at the time. You yourself must feel what you want your audience to feel, because emotions are contagious.
The storyteller's primary job is to uncover the emotional journey they want the listener to go on and then do everything in their power to support that journey.
- You find that journey by asking, “Why am I telling this story?”
Regardless of the size of the group you are talking to, address them as “you.” Every person is experiencing the story alone (inside their own head).
It is the consistency of the information that matters for a good story, not its completeness.
when you tell a story, you have to tell it from the persetive of yourself as you were at the qoment the story was unfolding.
ex. I went into the living room where Eliza and Maggie were sitting on the couch with the tv on. I sat next to Elizabeth and after a while, had it dawn on me that the volumeis off. I look at Maggie and she seems to be watching attentively. Confused, I ask Elizabeth "why is the volume off?". She smiles and says "It's not". Even more confused, I listen intently again. Not hearing a peep from the tv, I conclude that it is in fact muted. Elizabeth is in disbelief that I cannot hear the tv. I too am in disbelief, so I ask maggie if she can hear. She replies she can, and I realize my hearing sucks.
This way of telling a story is better, because subject of my story (ie. me) is not omniscient. There is a limit to what the subject knows. In fact, that limit is identical to what you knew during the actual event.
Imagine if we had told the story while giving away the twist, which was that the volume was actually on the whole time? In the story above, I enter the room and assert that the volume is off. It is unexpected to later learn that in fact it was something else entirely.
With this method, you are taking the listener on a journey with your then-self and all of its awareness and understanding.
To be good (and convincing) in your storytelling, you need to have the rough high-level narrative mapped out in your head beforehand. You have to know how the story will go and have identified the main elements
- ex. when telling story about how I bought the wrong type of thermostat, identify:
- the background - bought a new thermostat and tried installing it
- the surprise (or inciting incident) - there are different types of thermostats, and this is the wrong one
- purpose of story - you are willy nilly when buying things on Amazon because you think "if it doesn't work, I can return it easily". However, when it comes time to actually have to return an item, we realize how much pain and effort it actually is.
a story gives a sequence of events meaning. This is why when people make narratives to explain events, we should be wary. Humans are drawn to meaning, and meaning that is retroactively applied to a sequence of events makes something seem more meaningful than it actually is
Show, don’t tell
Scott doesn’t tell us “I felt sick.” He shows us, “I left the camp to go throw up.”
Backlinks