July 24, 2023
Over the past 3 years, I’ve read 34 books on storytelling.
While reading all those books, I realized that there are 3 main components that differentiate an average story from a phenomenal one.
To save you hours of reading, I’ll give you the 3 big ideas that I learned from all those storytelling books.
Let’s go!
This idea comes from “Sell with a Story” by Paul Smith.
I want you to quickly remember the last time you watched Star Wars.
In Star Wars, you have the bad guys, the Stormtroopers, right?
In every single Star Wars movie, Stormtroopers are just slaughtered.
For those who watched Star Wars: How did you feel when Stormtroopers were killed?
High chances are that you felt absolutely nothing!
Why? Because you don’t know them.
They’re faceless, nameless creatures we don’t know anything about. When they die, we don’t care.
Examples:
If I start my story with, “There was this guy I used to work with who got fired …,” you wouldn’t care.
But instead, if I start my story with, “There was this guy named Damian I used to work with in Germany. He was my favorite coworker. We just played games every day. Dressing up. Everyone in the office just loved him.”
Well, now you’d care much if he got fired, right?
BIG IDEA #1: BRING YOUR CHARACTER TO LIFE
How can you bring your character to life?
You can describe their:
Anything that brings the character to life.
Don’t be a stormtrooper!
The next big idea comes from the book “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath.
Let me share a tiny story that beautifully illustrates his big idea.
In 1979, Craig Trounce was a store associate at a Nordstrom store in Fairbanks, Alaska.
One day, Craig looked at the entrance and noticed something odd.
There was a man rolling a pair of tires into the store.
Curious, Craig walked up and asked the man if he can help.
Then the man said, “Yes, I want to return these tires.”
To which Craig said, “Sir, we’re a clothing retailer. We don’t carry tires.”
But the man insisted: “No, no. This is the building where I bought the tires.”
Turned out that he had bought the tires from the previous tenant of the building years back.
At first, Craig was a little overwhelmed, thinking, “What should I do with that guy?”
But then he decided to do what felt right.
He called a local tire company to estimate the value of the tires, took the tires, and gave that man the estimated amount.
He gave a refund for a product that Nordstrom didn’t even have.
Why is that such a great story?
Because of 1 key element: surprise.
The story had two major moments of surprise:
We as humans are great at spotting patterns. When something is predictable, we tune out.
When you share a story that is predictable, your audience will get bored, rather think about what they are going for dinner tonight than pay attention.
BIG IDEA #2: BRING IN SURPRISE
Surprise refers to unexpected moments in the story. It can be anything that breaks the typical patterns of what your listeners expect. That can be a surprising activity, surprising event, surprising reaction – anything as long as the listener didn’t see it coming.
But sure, sometimes, you may not have this major surprise moment. If that’s the case, you definitely want to make sure to include the next one.
The next big idea comes from “How To Tell A Story” by the producers of the Moth.
Most of the stories that we hear are either holiday stories or drinking stories.
When I was younger, these were the only stories I told.
I was always like, “You won’t believe what happened. This Saturday got so messed up. Played beer pong all night long.”
I know, what a disgusting person!
While these types of stories can be entertaining, most of them don’t leave a lasting impression.
Why is that?
Because they don’t have any element of change.
In average stories, the main character doesn’t change much.
They’re like, “I was happy at the start, some crazy stuff happened, and I’m happy at the end.”
No change.
In the best stories, the main character starts out as one version but ends up as a new version.
Take the movie Avatar, for example. At the start, Jake Sully is a disabled Marine who feels lost and wants meaning in his life. But then he changes into this brave leader who loves and protects Pandora’s nature.
I challenge you: take any movie or great story, and you’ll realize that the character changes over time. No exception.
BIG IDEA #3: SHOW THE CHANGE
For your story, if:
In any great story, the character changes. No exception!
These are the three big ideas from reading 34 storytelling books. To bring your story to the next level, see how you can bring your characters to life, add surprises, and show change throughout your story.
Happy storytelling!
P.S. Do you want to accelerate your learning? Then check out our new online course The Power of StorySelling.
Uncover the proven strategies to spot, craft, and enhance your stories, and unleash the storyteller within you!
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