We are sure that among our readers there are many who love to tell stories, want to learn how to do it better and, perhaps, even make it their profession. That is why on the pages of our blog we talk not only about what storytelling is, but also about what storytelling techniques, techniques, plots, and life hacks exist that allow you to make your stories more interesting and exciting. We invite you to familiarize yourself with thematic materials and take note of useful recommendations and tips.
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10 Storytelling Tips: How to Write a Breathtaking Story
You can study ways to influence people for a long time, or you can study the art of storytelling – storytelling – just once. This skill has been around for thousands of years, but only in recent years has it become its own niche. This skill will be useful to anyone who influences people in one way or another through the spoken or written word. And if you are one of them, then these 10 storytelling tips are just for you. Our recommendations will help you make your story bright, lively and memorable. Read and start telling your stories with new knowledge. Read more…
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Training
I am sure that theory must be supported by practice. Therefore, I hasten to tell you good news: there is an excellent training course by Pavel Volya “Humor. Stand-up 2.0”. After completing it, you will feel a powerful influx of knowledge, emotions, experience and initiative. How is the course useful? He will give you the skills to joke well, think clearly and communicate correctly with people, convey emotions to the public, infect them with them, speak figuratively.
You will be able to see yourself in a new role as an actor and acquire public speaking skills. And I also have a little surprise - I’m giving you a promotional code for a 25 percent discount:
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If you want to be a super storyteller, this is the place for you.
This investment in yourself will pay off very quickly, and you will become much more productive. By the way, there is an article reviewing the project on our blog, read:
- Courses of the “Willpower” project – the most detailed overview of the trainings of Pavel Volya and Laysan Utyasheva + reviews
Storytelling
Since ancient times, stories have served as one of the best ways to convey information between people. Storytellers, philosophers, poets and writers already in ancient times understood that it is not enough to simply tell or write something. In order for a story to have an impact and be truly interesting, you need to follow certain rules. In the modern world, the art of telling stories has not lost any of its relevance, and it is used not only by writers, but also by speakers, politicians, showmen, businessmen, psychologists and people of other professions. Today it's known as storytelling, and we want to tell you what it is and where it can come in handy, as well as give you useful tips on how to create stories you want to read and listen to. Read more…
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Converging Ideas
This technique shows how different thoughts come together to form a product or idea. It can be used to explain how an idea was born, or how one idea became the culmination of the work of several minds.
The converging ideas technique is similar to "nested loops," but instead of diving into the main story through subsidiary stories, it shows how several equally important stories produced a single conclusion. Can be used to tell stories about alliances that have had global significance, such as the partnership between web developers Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Larry and Sergei met at Stanford University in 1995, but did not like each other at first. They both had great ideas, but found it difficult to collaborate. They eventually began working together on a research project. The project that became known as Google.
This technique is good at showing how partnerships are formed and how people come together to work together. It is also suitable for explaining how development went at a certain point in history.
Examples
The story of the Ernst & Young brand is about how two talented people achieved success, each in their own business. And how, after many years of work, after the death of the founders, their companies merged into one, which to this day successfully operates in the market.
https://goo.gl/z5oEXl
And remember the advertising story about two brothers who made Twix: one made the left stick, the second made the right one.
Author: Twix
Storytelling: how to prepare a great speech
The following tips were collected by the authors of the famous publication Entrepreneur. Use stories in your speeches to make them more interesting for your audience. By the way, there is nothing revolutionary new in these recommendations; many good speakers regularly use similar techniques when speaking at a variety of events. Try to evaluate, for example, several popular TED talks from this point of view. We think you will be surprised to discover that many speakers actively use stories and, in fact, a huge number of speeches could not take place at all if the authors did not use storytelling. Read more…
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Highlight the main idea
A large number of meanings in a message can confuse and overload the listener, and storytelling will not produce the desired results. Therefore, it is very important to define the main idea, which must correspond to the goal you want to achieve.
The audience's attention should be kept on the key idea throughout the story . Try to start your storytelling by highlighting an issue and continue the story, constantly returning to it.
This is what Aimee Mullins did in her TED talk. She was born without fibula bones and, despite this, became an actress, model and holder of several Paralympic records.
The purpose of the speech was to break the association “disabled = incapable of work.” Aimee structured her speech around synonyms for the term. After reading more than 25 words, she was horrified by the hostile associations with disabled people. The athlete told stories from life when words meant even more than actions, and also about how they can break the thin thread of communication that connects the world around us and people with disabilities.
How to write books: 10 tips from great writers
The art of storytelling has a lot to do with the craft of writing, because if, for example, Hemingway or Heinlein did not know how to tell stories or did not hone their skills, they would hardly have been able to become famous and win millions of fans. Would you like to talk to famous writers to ask them for some advice? This is difficult to arrange, but you can read our article right now. Do you need to plan the ending? How to make your speech come alive? In what state should you write and in what state should you edit? These questions will be answered by real experts. Read more…
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Rule #5
Self confidence. This is a very important skill when telling compelling stories. Have you ever seen an insecure artist or speaker on stage? All these people experience their excitement before going on stage. Your task is to learn to do the same.
Here you will need the help of family and close friends.
They will have to go through a period of honing your speaking skills. If you stop being shy about your loved ones, you will stop being shy about everyone else. The main thing is to get feedback. Criticism must also be present and it must be taken with dignity. It’s better to have a friend say that your story, “to put it mildly,” was not very impressive, than for “rotten tomatoes” to be thrown at you later from the audience.
Joseph Campbell's Monomyth
Researchers of stories in literature and cinema have long wanted to see general trends, a common structure in all works. Joseph Campbell is the person who found these patterns by studying almost all the myths of all peoples. His titanic work is worthy of respect, and his books are worthy of reading. Almost every story begins with the main character's world changing. The familiar world, the one that was in some kind of balance, is collapsing. Think about your favorite book or movie and answer the question: “Does it follow this pattern?” But before this, it is worth understanding one simple thing - this structure should be understood allegorically. Think about structure and think about it metaphorically, not in words. What does all of this mean? We answer in the article. Read more…
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Focus on relationships with real interaction
I know people who, when going to a networking meeting, set the goal of making a certain number of connections and relationships. It's usually pretty big, like 10 people for the next hour (and then I can finally escape!). Brrr. Well, who, tell me, would want to become just number 8 for this guy? Nooo, you will try to avoid contact with him at all costs.
Move away from this “deal” position. Because we are always as strong as our relationships with others (real). It's better to find a few people you can really get to know than to carpet bomb, spraying left and right and making people want to wash their hands after meeting you.
Screenwriting: How to Create a Great Screenplay
The script in its general form may be needed by anyone who has to speak in public. You may have felt awkward before when giving a speech in front of an audience. If this is the case, the reason for this may be the inability to use rhetorical techniques or an incorrectly prepared speech script. To solve the first problem, we recommend upgrading your rhetorical skills, but our article will begin to solve the second problem. What is screenwriting, why the script is so important and how to master the basics of screenwriting, we will tell you in the proposed material. Read more…
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Literary techniques of a writer that can be useful to everyone
It doesn’t matter whether you write texts professionally, are taking your first steps in writing, or creating a good text just appears on your list of responsibilities from time to time, in any case, it is necessary and important to know what literary techniques a writer has. The ability to use them is a very useful skill that can be useful to everyone, not only in writing texts, but also in ordinary speech. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the most common and effective literary techniques. Each of them will be provided with a vivid example for a more precise understanding. Read more…
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Creative writing exercises
The writing process is incredibly important for developing thinking and creativity. To learn how to express your thoughts in writing, you need to practice. This will help get rid of self-judgment, internal filters and barriers. However, the exercises must be appropriate - tested, effective, developing the necessary skill. And it is precisely these exercises that we have collected in this article. There are not very many of them, but still quite enough to grow noticeably in the chosen direction. In general, read, get acquainted and get down to business. Read more…
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Where to get stories
Artem Mushin-Makedonsky, business storyteller, member of the board of directors of the international group Storytelling In Organizations, explained how storytelling and entrepreneurship are connected: an entrepreneur sees imperfections in the world around him, this becomes his “pain”, he strives to correct them, creates a product and hears people with similar “pain”. These three stories: about the “pain” of the entrepreneur, about the product and the “pain” of the client, are unique, they do not need to be invented, they do not require financial investments, and every entrepreneur has them. At the same time, the purpose of the story is not to sell, but to give the desire to act.
The Nothing Ordinary brand was created by a group of footballer friends who produce clothes with quotes from footballers. Their story is built around the goal of uniting the football community and the common “pain” of this profession - corruption, they created a motivating video “There will be no cutting”, which aims to overcome this “pain” together.
The story must contain facts from the past, it must have a hero - understandable to the listener, similar and vulnerable, the hero must face the conflict and defeat “evil”, evoke empathy and emotions in the listener/reader.
Listeners independently draw conclusions from the story, isolate the moral, and it is this that will be valuable and significant for them, thanks to the fact that it was obtained by the listener himself.
Thanks to an interesting story, associations with the hero and emotional involvement, the story and idea will be remembered for a long time.
Fyodor Ovchinnikov, the founder of the Dodo Pizza chain of pizzerias, started a business with a frank blog in which he told readers about plans, difficulties, mistakes, and disclosed financial information. His story began with a business project - the bookstore “Mind Powers”, which he was forced to sell in 2010. Based on his blog and interview, the book “And Nerds Do Business” was written, which received the “Runet Choice” award from the Ozone online store. In 2011, Fedor opened the first pizzeria “Dodo Pizza”, six months later the revenue exceeded 1 million rubles and doubled after another six months. The entrepreneur’s frankness and the “reality show” format attracted the attention of subscribers and aroused the trust of investors. Thanks to his experience and reputation, Fedor attracted 40 million rubles into his business with the help of a blog.
Online program "Storytelling"
In this online program, in 5 weeks you will learn to express your thoughts in an engaging, reasoned, original and witty way, so that you are interested in reading and listening, to win and capture the attention of the audience, to understand the psychology of readers and listeners, to influence their thoughts and emotions, to create holistic stories in accordance with different genres and stylistic devices. You will be able to find unique techniques, create your own original style and be witty, and, of course, learn to avoid common mistakes, complications, templates, i.e. the story is simple, understandable, but at the same time interesting. Find out more...
You can turn anything into history, you just need to know how to do it correctly. We think that our materials will help you expand your knowledge base and add many useful techniques to your arsenal. Good luck!
We also recommend reading:
- Storytelling
- Storyteller lifehacks
- 7 Key Storytelling Techniques
- Storytelling: how to prepare a great speech
- Everything you wanted to know about storytelling
- 10 Storytelling Tips: How to Write a Breathtaking Story
- Books on storytelling: learning from the masters
- Storytelling as a means to success
- Storytelling
- Best of the year. Part five
- Techniques for biographers (and more)
Keywords:1Storytelling
Mountain
This is a story full of tension and drama. "The Mountain" is similar to a monomyth because it shows events in chronological order. But these are still two different techniques, because “mountain” does not always imply a happy ending.
The first part of the story serves as the premise of the entire story, then the problem-solving narration proceeds and the action escalates to a climactic conclusion. The story is a bit like a TV series - each episode has its own highs and lows, which gradually lead to the main finale at the end of the season.
This storytelling technique is good for telling how you overcame a series of challenges, slowly building tension, and arriving at a conclusion that satisfies you—or confirms that you made a mistake but learned from those mistakes.
Example
The founder of the MadRobots online store, Nikolai Belousov, tells a story without a happy ending on Habrahabr - about how you can almost go broke selling iPhones.
https://goo.gl/YohE67
How the jeans service Getwear closed is a story of rise and fall with a useful conclusion in the finale.
https://goo.gl/2GrBR7
