I‘ve written frequently on these pages about the value of stories as a context-rich means of persuasion and knowledge-sharing. And I’ve written about the structure of good stories. But despite my knowledge and respect for the medium, I’ve learned that I’m not yet a consistently good story-teller. The two most obvious differences between my successful and unsuccessful story-telling experiences are (1) the amount of practice I get telling the story (the more practice, and the more re-tellings, the better the story gets), and (2) the veracity of the story (true stories from my personal experience work well, stories of other people’s experiences and future state vision stories have been largely unsuccessful). So I’ve done a bit of research and, building on the two lessons above, developed this list of 10 steps to better story-telling:
Illustration from the award-winning children’s book The Salamander Room written by Anne Mazer and illustrated by Steve Johnson |
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Hi – this is very interesting and an idea that is near to my heart. All stories are “good” – the trick is to tell them well. One thing I have noticed is the tendency to rush – and to avoid the necessary spaces in the telling. I have also been fascinated by the tendency for people to tell stories about what has happenned (to develop meaningful context?) in the guise of conspiracy theories. And then, of course, there is the “NEWS”. An interesting take on stories. I thought of your post on insanity when I read it: http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-09-16/cols_ventura.html. Great blog – even if I can’t wrap my little brain around a lot of it! ;-)
Pollard: Great post!I can’t help but wonder if one of my entries yester effected or inspired the creation of this post.Once again I find myself sharing a wavelength with you. Thanks for the resources, I’m interested in the information on structure.
What a great a story. Did you write this Dave? I’m going to have to practice.aloha
Thanks everyone. And Darcy, great link to the Austin Chronicle. I’m going to have to check out more stuff by this writer.