Are you telling a good story? What about a bad story? Are you telling a story at all?
Whether we’re talking about Gamification, Social Media Strategy or blogging, you need to start thinking in terms of telling your story. Think you don’t have one and you’re just relying on your knowledge and experience to lead you through your writing? Think again. Everything you do tells the story of your clients, your brand or yourself to your audience (it’s not an accident we call them an “audience”, by the way), so make sure you not only have a damn good story to tell, but that you understand it backwards and forwards because if you don’t understand it, there’s NO WAY your audience will.
Once Upon A Time…
So, what all goes into a good story? Before we delve into the specifics, I’m going to pull a definition of what’s in a story from the book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller. According to Miller, a story is a way to follow “a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.” You can look at every movie/book/tablet in history to see that popular stories always follow this pattern. The conflicts change and the characters change, but the basis of story never does.
Let’s break down Miller’s definition and look at three aspects of a story that need to find their way into your writing.
- A Character - Who are the characters of your story? Are you writing about yourself or your clients or are you focusing on a customer character, someone your audience can and will relate to? Characters drive us into the story and give a reason to come back. Whether the characters are real or fake, the emotions that are created are definitely real. There’s a reason that everyone wanted Ross and Rachael to work out and why many tears were shed when Lieutenant Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It may seem corny, but write out descriptions of who your characters are. If you’re creating playable game mechanics for your site, understand the characters in play. If you’re writing out a social strategy, know the personalities and motivations of your brand voices and why they engage the way they do. Name them. Love them. Protect them. Share them.
- Who Wants Something - You have goals for your posts. I’m sure you have KPIs and other success metrics, but it really comes down to simply finding out what your characters want. In every great story, there is a final goal that the main characters would sacrifice and fight for. It might be the Holy Grail or it might be Freedom or it might be White Castle, but it’s always something. In your story, make sure your goals are in sync with your audience’s. Define those within your story and invite people along with you in your quest. You’ll be surprised how many people agree to join you.
- And Overcomes Conflict To Get It - Mordor will always stand in your way in a great quest. What is it that your characters and audience want and what conflict do they have to overcome to get it? How can you drive your characters forward through fear and pain and uncertainty to show your audience that they can too? It’s always easier to be the second person to jump off a cliff into a lake than the first. It’s even easier to be the 23rd. No one likes conflict, but sometimes the only way to create a great story is for the character to be thrust into it. “Trial by fire”, “No Pain, No Gain” and the like are cliché phrases for a reason and when your characters and your audience come out on the other side of it together, they’ll be linked together and loyalty will have been forged.
Any great story is about a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. Are you writing a story for your audience to follow along with or are you just writing? Who have you seen out there that uses story in a creative and engaging way? Who tells your favorite stories?
Since all great stories are a collection of ideas, now I want to hear your ideas. Leave your thoughts in the comments below and let’s keep this story going.
Thoughts?
| Get our posts straight to your inbox! |    |
About Joey Strawn
[...] For Bloggers By Bloggers: Telling a Story That Doesn’t Suck (09.08.11) Combined with the old blogging adage, think > do > write, I think colorful, descriptive storytelling is a power means of communication. If I say it, there’s room for doubt, but if I can paint a picture in your head sufficient to get you to reach the same conclusion, it’s the truth. [...]