“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller,” said Steve jobs. There’s a good reason every person and business aspires to be great at it.
But with the vast information about the subject online, carving out your own healthy list of frameworks gets more overwhelming by the day.
After spending hundreds of hours studying storytelling, here are my takes on the most powerful ideas and frameworks that will put you ahead 99% of wannabes.
Here they are:
What makes a story interesting?
The best formula I’ve found is Stakes x Struggle.
Why was it important to achieve something, and why was it difficult to achieve?
Before finishing your story, make sure those are clear.
How not to make the story feel empty?
Remember, there are two sides to every story.
External – What you see if you are in the room.
Internal – What you would have to experience as the person emotionally.
Make sure to touch on both.
After saying what happened, show how it made the person feel.
What’s the best framework for a good story?
There are many that can work, but here’s my favorite, because of how simple and multi-functional it is.
- Setting: Where the story is happening.
- Character: Who is doing the doing.
- The desire: What they want.
- The struggle: Why they can’t get it.
- Eureka moment: Something important changes.
- Victory: How the success is achieved.
- Resolution: What’s the moral or message of the story.
How to maintain attention throughout your story?
You can still lose the reader if you only follow the framework, but don’t continuously engage the audience.
The best way of planting seeds of curiosity is by opening loops.
Rob Lennon has a masterclass thread on this, so I will let him explain this:
Most writing sucks at holding reader attention throughout.
Once you hook it,
you have to HOLD it.
Steal my process to write PAGE-TURNER posts and threads: pic.twitter.com/gjZHUxhl0c
— Rob Lennon 🗯 | AI Whisperer (@thatroblennon) November 17, 2022
What sets the best stories apart?
Let’s go right to the guys who have written some of the most widely praised stories in modern history.
Here are Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling, which you should use to review your story before finishing it. Those questions can help you turn a good story into a great one.
Every writer should save these 2 screenshots on their desktop.
Pixar's 22 rules of storytelling: pic.twitter.com/QA5g0POxWh
— Nicolas Cole 🚢🏴☠️ (@Nicolascole77) July 15, 2022
Also, take a look at this video, where the writers of South Park highlight the wrong way of transitioning from one scene to the next, and explain what to do instead:
How to become a better storyteller?
I will leave you with this nugget by Julian Shapiro. He spent 5 years figuring out the secrets of the best storytellers in the world, such as Neil deGrasse Tyson. His story and discoveries are fascinating and humbling.
This is my 5 year story about becoming a far better storyteller.
Goal: Tell a story as well as Neil deGrasse Tyson.
It started with me podcasting to share stories with friends. Every time I spoke, however, I sounded lifeless like a stressed-out amateur.
Why?
— Julian Shapiro (@Julian) July 17, 2021
That’s all for today.
See you next week.
Vahur
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