Storytelling is an art and a science.
How can I become better at writing? How can I use the words on a page to engage my audiences? The most prolific writers say to become a better writer you have to read a lot. I have always been a read-a-holic.
I have been reading books about writing and writers. The best writers are masterful storytellers, so I asked myself how I can become a better storyteller to engage my readers, providing a more optimum experience for them.
Storytelling Can Improve Your Writing
A couple of years ago, I was hired to write an article about a high profile person in the church. I interviewed the person to gather source information. And I remember thinking that I was not writing an article about the person, I was telling a story. I spent some time thinking about what point to enter the story. The story turned out really well and the client was very pleased. This showed me that there is a lot of truth to telling a story to engage readers.
What made the story about the church official work is that people learned a lot of new information about him. People love it when they feel like they are in-the-know. To provide you with some good information you can use to engage your audience, I thought I would dip into some of the books that I have been reading on writing to identify some nuggets to share with you. The good thing about the books that I read is that they cover many forms of writing.
Continuous learning is a part of life. If you’re not a reader, you can find a synopsis of many books from Readitforme that you can listen to. Click the link to join. This is a great way to learn the latest thinking on many topics. And it is a great way to learn which books to buy and devour.
TED Talks Storytelling
I read the book, TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks. And there are some nuggets that I would love to share with you. The best TED Talk speakers have mastered the art of storytelling. They start off their presentation with a story to hook the audience within 30 seconds. Because TED Talks are no longer than 18 minutes, speakers have to distill the message down to one idea.
How is this information relevant to you and me?
This means that your writing has to be focused, dealing with one idea that you unpack. This point was made in several of the books that I read. And if you want your ideas to spread, you have to know how to sell them effectively. To do this, you have to learn how to grab your audience’s attention within seconds – not minutes. Here is something that I and a lot of other people are guilty of doing when writing. We start off with a lot of extra information.
Perhaps we are providing statistics to build our case. But what has proven more successful, especially if you want your message to go viral, is if you have to start off the article with a personal story that captivates people. As I mentioned before, people love to learn something new and a story provides that for them.
Another important bit of information from TED Talks Storytelling is that when writing your article, you have to create conflict. When you write creatively, you want to create conflict, so the reader is asking what happens next. How do you translate this into business writing?
According to the book, you have to arouse your audience’s emotions. What words can you write that will create an image to do just that? Unknowingly, that is what I did with the story about the high ranking church official. The words I used when telling the story made people want to know more about this person, so they continued to read the article.
In this case, the interview I conducted with him was critical. I asked questions that others would not think to ask a church official. As a skilled interviewer, I wanted to see the very human and vulnerable side of this person.
I asked questions like the books that influenced him, when he was a child what he wanted to be when he grew up, what is one thing that most people do not know about him. Asking these questions allowed me to create conflict in the story even though I did not know I was doing that.
In other books on writing that I read, I learned that you should write to one person.
- Who is your ideal reader?
- What issues do they struggle with and how are you the solution to the struggles?
Since reading TED Talk Storytelling, I've read Storynomics which is an excellent book. And this book is definitely worth its price. At a later date, I'll review it.
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TED Talks Storytelling
The Storyteller's SecretHow to Write Seductive Web Copy
First Published November 2018
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