Master The Art Of Storytelling

6 Simple Steps to a Great Story

1. Setting the Scene

This is basically where you are setting up the story. This is where you want to introduce the who, what, why, and where. Who is the main character? What do they want? Why do they want it? Where does the story take place? If you miss this point your audience has no point of reference and will be lost from the very beginning so this is important. 

2. Unexpected Turn

This is the part of your story where you take the ordinary character and their ordinary day and turn things upside down. Or maybe you take away something that the character most wants or perhaps you give it to them. The point is that the unexpected turn of events takes the main character’s passion and uses it to write the narrative of the story. When this is done right the audience will feel sympathetic toward the main character and will want to see how the character will change, adapt to this new unexpected situation. This is where the story gradually starts to get really interesting. 

3. Complications

This is exactly what it sounds like. Just when people think that things can’t get any worse is when you want to show them in stages that it actually can and it did. Through these progressive complications is when you are really able to keep your audience’s attention and keep them engaged. So from a pure entertainment perspective, you want to ramp up this process from a level one to ten to keep them interested. 

4. Fork in the Road

The place where the main character must choose to act on the lessons learned throughout the story. Will the character stay the same broken person they were at the beginning or will they choose to change? Will they choose to let their situation define them or will they overcome and conquer and adapt, coming out better and stronger on the other side?

5. Climax

This is the part of the story where we get to see our newly changed character face and defeat their enemy or demons. The villain. And yes, a situation can be a villain. Doesn’t necessarily have to be an actual person.

6. Resolution

This final step is basically like the tail end of an exciting roller coaster ride. The ride has come full circle and is now gliding into the station, or making a landing. This is where the audience’s heart rate can start coming down. During the whole ride before, hearts are beating fast. We feel exhilarated.

The resolutions should tie up any loose ends so that the audience isn’t left with questions or wondering how the story ends. Our brain doesn’t like open story loops so this is the time to close that loop in people’s minds. This step right here also helps people make the transition to the fact that the story is ending much smoother. A good resolution leaves the audience feeling happy and satisfied with the end of the story, even if it’s a sad one.

READY TO MASTER THE ART OF STORYTELLING?

Storytelling, is by far the most powerful tool in leadership, sales, marketing, teaching, and yes pretty much every communication situation.While most business leaders and communicators understand that storytelling is a crucial component for building trust, credibility and connection with an audience

ONLY A FEW REALLY KNOW HOW TO MAXIMIZE THE POWER OF STORY. You can become one of those few! Check out the Sophisticated Story Method Workshop where you can learn the magic of story and how to tell stories that engage your audience and build your brand’s credibility as a result.