Storytelling

communication , presenting

Facts inform, stories move people. A good story is how an idea gets remembered and retold, so it’s worth learning how they work: the structure underneath, where to find them, and the delivery on top. This page is the narrative half of Writing is Thinking; explaining and recommending stay over there.

AI-augmented, roughly 50% AI

I love AI, and I use it on posts like this one partly to get better at using it. The percent is a rough guess: after rounds of prompting, rewriting and editing, it's very hard to say which words came from whom.

Why stories work

A story runs in your head like a flight simulator, so it rehearses the listener for the real thing, and it slips past the skeptical voice that argues with a bald claim. Made to Stick has the evidence; I won’t repeat it here.

Structure

The story spine (the Pixar formula)

https://startuppitch.substack.com/p/nail-your-startup-pitch-use-pixars

  • Situation/Context:
    • Once upon a time there was [details]
    • Every day, [details]
  • Complication/Problem:
    • One day [details]
    • Because of that, [details]
  • Resolution/Solution
    • Because of that, [details]
    • Until finally [details]

It’s the same shape as the detective formula, told as a story instead of an argument.

The Hero’s Journey - For very long form

You’ll see this in a lot of movies, and it can be fun to map a movie to this story. From here

  • THE ORDINARY WORLD - This is the original world of the hero, which “suffers from a symbolic deficiency.” The hero is lacking something, or something is taken from him.

  • THE CALL TO ADVENTURE - The hero is given a challenge, problem, or adventure. Often it appears as a blunder, or chance. This stage establishes the goal of the hero.

  • THE REFUSAL OF THE CALL - The (often) reluctant hero has to be set along the correct path. He must weigh the consequences and be excited by a stronger motivation to proceed further.

  • MEETING WITH THE MENTOR - The hero encounters a wise figure who prepares him for the journey. This figure (or item) gives advice, guidance, or an item, but cannot go with the hero.

  • CROSSING THE THRESHOLD - The hero has committed to his task, and enters the special world. Often he is met by a threshold guardian.

  • TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES - In the special world, the hero learns the new rules by meeting people and obtaining new information. There is often a “local watering hole” component. This is where the true characteristics of the hero are revealed.

  • APPROACH TO THE INNERMOST CAVE - Now our hero, and often his allies, have come to the edge of the dangerous place where the “object of the quest” is hidden. This stage often is the land of the dead.

  • THE SUPREME ORDEAL - The hero faces danger, often a life-or-death moment that is either physical or psychological.

  • REWARD, OR SEIZING THE SWORD - After surviving, our hero takes possession of the object, typically a treasure, weapon, knowledge, token, or reconciliation.

  • THE ROAD BACK - The hero must now deal with the consequences of their actions. They may be pursued by remaining forces. They now face the decision to return to the ordinary world.

  • RESURRECTION - One final test is required for the purification and rebirth of the hero. Alternatively, it may be a miraculous transformation.

  • RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR - The triumphant hero returns to the ordinary world bearing the elixir. Common elixirs are treasure, love, freedom, wisdom, or knowledge. A defeated hero is doomed to repeat the lesson.

How to tell a great story

Andrew Stanton (Pixar) on what a story needs underneath:

Finding stories

You don’t invent good stories, you notice them. Life hands them over, and the job is to recognize one and resist boiling it down to a moral. Made to Stick’s three plots (challenge, connection, creativity) are a field guide for spotting them.

Noticing is a habit, so I keep two collections: Funny Story Today, a running list of the day’s small moments, and Stories to Quote, the life examples I reach for when I want to make a point.

Telling them live

Will Stephen on everything on top. He performs every TED trope (open with a question, tell a personal story, cite a scientist, flash a chart, gesture with both hands) while saying nothing at all. It’s a checklist of delivery tricks, and a reminder that form without content is empty.

Magic patter is storytelling under pressure, and three of my performer’s playbook rules are really story rules:

Stories in other forms

  • The pitch. A pitch is a story compressed until it fits in one breath. The Pixar pitch is the story spine in six sentences.
  • The leader story. Your early actions as a new leader get written into a story whether you tell it or not, so write your leader story on purpose.
  • Visual. The best charts tell a story that leads to action, not just present data.
  • Explainers. An explorable explanation is a story the reader plays. Nicky Case’s pieces work because each has a narrative arc with stakes and reveals; more in explainers.
  • Comics. The Den has to tell a whole story in four panels, which forces every beat to earn its place.
  • An audience of one. When generation is cheap, a story can be made for exactly one listener: the children’s book starring your kid, the podcast in your own voice. See hyper-personalization.