How to tell a story
-
Upload
gauri-bhargava -
Category
Art & Photos
-
view
42 -
download
1
Transcript of How to tell a story
“Our appetite for stories is a reflection of the basic human need to understand patterns of life-not
merely as an intellectual exercise but as a personal, emotional experience.”
Many people don’t put much thought about how the stories are made.
CHARACTERS
The job of the storyteller is to bring characters to life and make people care
about them.
“Choose characters that are under pressure to help your audience to feel deeper.”
Ask: what’s that one thing the protagonist wants to achieve.
PLOT
It is the sequence of events that ultimately resolves the major dramatic question of the story.
3 elements to create a successful plot:
PROTAGONISTHe is the main character to which the major dramatic question applies.
HIS GOAL What the protagonist wants is the goal. In this case batman wants to fight corruption and protect Gotham City.
CONFLICTConflict is the obstacle blocking protagonist from his goal.
Should flow relatively quickly; provide the necessary background; establish major dramatic question.
Develop the characters; core action of the movie; protagonists path to achieve the goal is blocked.
Follows the 3Cs pattern- crisis- the point where tension is the maximum; climax-where the tension breaks; consequence-answer to the dramatic question.
POINT OF VIEW
1ST PERSON
2ND PERSON
3RD PERSON
It gives the advantage of no barrier between the audience and the speaker. It can be limited and requires a narrator to make more sense.
Uses the pronoun “you” that addresses the audience. It is challenging and can come off as being gimmicky.
Gives the advantage to enter the mind of any character, describe incidents, provide
historic and future details.
SHOW, DON’T TELL
Storytellers communicate visually. Master storytellers never explain- they do the hard painfully creative thing:
DRAMATIZEDo
Use memory, imagination or
secondary research
Don’t
Avoid clichés.Don’t overload with adjectives
and adverbs
SETTING
Create a small knowable world
The larger the world, the more diluted the knowledge of the writer.
The smaller the world, the more complete knowledge of the writer.
THEME
Theme answers the deep rooted question: “What is your story about?”
It is often referred to as controlling idea which describes how and why life undergoes change from one condition of existence at the beginning to another at the end.
For example theme of batman begins was the rising corruption and no importance to the law of the city
FINDING STORIESOne of the challenges of storytelling is to first find a story.
The easiest way to find a story is to begin by interviewing peopleand creating a story bank.Storytelling is about understanding your own humanity, the moremore you understand your own humanity the more you can appreciate the humanity of others.
SEVEN QUESTIONS TO SHARPEN YOUR STORIES
Who’s the protagonist?
What’s the hook?
What keeps it interesting?
Where’s the conflict?
Have you included telling details?
What’s the emotional hook?
Is the meaning clear?
STORYTELLING IN BUSINESSIn her book Corporate Legends and Lore: Storytelling as a Management Tool, Peg Neuhauser says that stories within an organization vary from group to group but usually include:
How the organization was founded? Victories that demonstrate organization’s
effectiveness. What-we-learnt-in-defeat story. An employee performance story.
THE 10 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF STORYTELLING
4. Let your characters speak for themselves
5. Audiences bore easily
3. Stories need to be fixed in time and space
2. The people in your story have to want something
1. Stories are about people