Storytelling

Storytelling is an art. I think someone who can code and tell good stories is unstoppable. It’s one thing to build a cool product. It’s another to tell the story that convinces people to listen and try it.

I started paying attention to this skill in 2022 and working with a coach to get better.

Here is what I’ve learned so far:

Framework for Critical Arcs

My coach and friend Roger helped me breakdown the framework:

1. Setup

• Add some foreshadowing.

2. Make interactions with the person interesting

• Need something to be interesting before we find out he is a millionaire.
• Connect with the person first.

3. Reveal

• Success.
• “Now what can I learn from this?”

4. Transition from obvious → less obvious epiphany

• What I learned about [insert topic].
• The real lesson about life.

5. Transition from what I learned → what the audience can learn

• “Let them share your epiphany.”
• How can they apply it themselves?
• Connect to them.
• This is the meta (break the fourth wall).

Summary from Julian’s Tweet Thread

Julian wrote a wonderful thread on storytelling here. This is my summary:

The Art of Storytelling is to:

• Strategically withhold information.
• Drag out the nail-biting details.
• Use vocal rhythm or blow your own mind.

Breaking it into individual steps, you need to be able to:

1. Identify stories worth telling:

• Moments that are either formative or painful.
• Moments of triumph or cringe.

2. Be charismatic:

• Charisma = confidence + joy + love.

3. Practice public solitude:

• Speak as if you’re alone in the room.
• Research Konstantin Stanislavski.

4. Blow your own mind:

• Relive feelings before speaking.
• See Jason Silva as an example.

Summary from Sam Parr’s Talk

Sam gave a great 20-min talk at some conference. Here are my notes:

• Start with Distribution:
  • Who do I want to reach and where are they?
  • What medium are they going to be coming from?
    • Search, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Figure out The Headline.
• Finally, What’s the Story?:
  • What’s the emotion I want them to feel?

Example: A guy from Missouri doing millions with a newsletter.

• Blew his mind → Emotion = shock.
• Story = this guy and his son doing millions with a newsletter.
• Figure out the headline.
• Figure out where this will be popular.

I hope to update this as I learn more!