A good story is told with quiet confidence
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:07 am
We can summarize what makes a story a good story for humans in the following five points:
Hopefully you won't be distracted from your main message. To be able to have fun with your audience and really draw them into your story. To be able to be compelling at all - why should I trust you if you're showing me that you don't?
Confidence is built on preparation and authenticity. And confidence radiates from a clear structure, saying interior designers email list nothing more than necessary, and relaxed body language, both physically and on paper.
2. A good story is made to be understood.
Make sure your main message or thought is well enough crafted to be intelligible to a smart 12-year-old. Check to see if it is. For example, with your partner who is a layman in his field. Or with an actual smart 12-year-old.
Build a structure that allows you to convey your main message clearly, based on an arc of tension: from the beginning, to the change in the middle, to the end. Omit any unnecessary information, this is very important.
And make your language as simple and visual as possible. Paint your story. Make us hear the music in the background and smell the morning coffee.
3. A good story is made to be remembered.
Make sure your story evokes a feeling. That will help your audience remember it. To do that, tap into the feeling that's driving you to write the story in the first place.
I'm listening to Mayra Andrade's song 'Lua' on purpose as I write this.
I hear the sunrise in his voice and the Atlantic Ocean gently caressing the beach of São Vicente, Cape Verde. His music reminds me how it is possible to make someone feel the story you are telling in their belly, even if they don’t understand your language.
Turn your story into a real story, with a main character, who is recognizable to your target audience. What affects your audience?
What is your frame of reference? What challenges or problems do you have in achieving your goals and what do you not know yet?
Have you asked them? I have. It takes less than two minutes to do.
Hopefully you won't be distracted from your main message. To be able to have fun with your audience and really draw them into your story. To be able to be compelling at all - why should I trust you if you're showing me that you don't?
Confidence is built on preparation and authenticity. And confidence radiates from a clear structure, saying interior designers email list nothing more than necessary, and relaxed body language, both physically and on paper.
2. A good story is made to be understood.
Make sure your main message or thought is well enough crafted to be intelligible to a smart 12-year-old. Check to see if it is. For example, with your partner who is a layman in his field. Or with an actual smart 12-year-old.
Build a structure that allows you to convey your main message clearly, based on an arc of tension: from the beginning, to the change in the middle, to the end. Omit any unnecessary information, this is very important.
And make your language as simple and visual as possible. Paint your story. Make us hear the music in the background and smell the morning coffee.
3. A good story is made to be remembered.
Make sure your story evokes a feeling. That will help your audience remember it. To do that, tap into the feeling that's driving you to write the story in the first place.
I'm listening to Mayra Andrade's song 'Lua' on purpose as I write this.
I hear the sunrise in his voice and the Atlantic Ocean gently caressing the beach of São Vicente, Cape Verde. His music reminds me how it is possible to make someone feel the story you are telling in their belly, even if they don’t understand your language.
Turn your story into a real story, with a main character, who is recognizable to your target audience. What affects your audience?
What is your frame of reference? What challenges or problems do you have in achieving your goals and what do you not know yet?
Have you asked them? I have. It takes less than two minutes to do.