WHAT'S YOUR STORY: ENGAGING YOUR READERS WITH THE POWER OF STORYTELLING

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

Harnessing the Power of Story to Engage Your Readers

CINDY REED

Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher

CINDYREED.ME

CINDY@CINDYREED.ME

@REEDSTER2

WORDCAMP ATLANTA

MARCH 27-29, 2015

Why should bloggers tell stories?

Story engages.

“The brain of the person telling a story and the person listening to

it can synchronize.”

~ Leo Widrich

“The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains”

(December 5, 2012 Lifehacker)

Spin a good yarn and your readers will:

Linger.

Dig through your archives.

Share your stuff.

Come back for more.

Story persuades.

“Facts tell, but stories sell.”

~ Bryan Eisenberg

“Content Marketing: Superheroes Teach the Art of Storytelling” (ClickZ)

WHAT IS STORY?

THE STORY EQUATION

Story = Conflict + Narrative Structure

Conflict is You vs. Something.

Without conflict, nothing would happen.

CONFLICT

Story is more than an emotion or an idea.

“This happened and I was sad

or angry or elated” is NOT a story.

EXAMPLE: EMOTION VS. STORY

Gardening is peaceful.

“As my life spiraled into

chaos, I tended my garden:

the one constant keeping

my soul intact.”

Story is more than a sales pitch.

“Use our services because of

these five bullet points” is NOT a story.

EXAMPLE: SALES VS. STORY

Buy my scarves on Etsy

because they’re awesome.

“I perched on a rickety

stool, memorizing the way

my grandmother’s

leathered hands scraped

the wool between the

carding boards.”

Story is not simply reporting facts.

Chronologies, straight reporting, and

instructions are NOT stories.

birthday party

a story.

HOW DO WE TELL STORIES ON OUR BLOGS?

IN A FLASH = 500 WORDS (OR SO)

What is flash nonfiction?

DON’T tell your story

quickly.

DO tell a story with ONE

core concept.

EDIT until your story is

blog-sized: 400-600

words.

Break it down.

• Visited farm to shear sheep

• Grandma taught to card wool

• Learned which berries to use

• Harvested berries on hike

Knitting

• Chooses patterns from art.

• Knits as mindful meditation

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

STORY REQUIRES STRUCTURE.

“Not every word that comes out of our

mouths is a story.

Story is narrative.”

~ Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher:

Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story

(New World Library 2007)

In the beginning…

JUMP IN.

Don’t tell the reader what

you’re going to tell them

Start when your story

starts

Short first paragraph

THE NARRATIVE HOOK

THE PURPOSE OF THE FIRST SENTENCE

“[T]he first line exists for one reason and one reason only: to compel the reader to read the second line.”

Michael Larson, “Great Opening Lines: How to Grab Readers and Never Let Them Go” (San Francisco Writers’ Conference, March 23, 2011)

http://sfwriters.org/blog/great-opening-lines-how-to-grab-readers-and-never-let-them-go/

FIRST SENTENCE | CONFLICT, SETTING JEANNETTE WALLS, THE GLASS CASTLE

“I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.”

“I was flying from Asheville to

Las Vegas, connecting through

Atlanta, on my way to speak at

a conference that is literally

called BACON.”

PUNCHY

“I dropped into the window

seat, on the wing.

The exit row.”

The middle.

THE MIDDLE | THE RISING ACTION

Flesh out obstacles in the protagonist’s path.

Show characters grow and change.

Create tension leading to the climatic moment.

~ Mark Twain

Show, don’t tell.

Example 1: Crowded Taekwondo Author: Cindy Reed of The Reedster Speaks

Telling Showing

It was crowded at my

daughter’s taekwondo

class.

The backside of a backpacked dad poked into me, uncomfortably adjacent to my face.

~ Cindy Reed “The Layered Look Only Works if You Wear Layers”

(The Reedster Speaks, Jan. 16, 2014)

Example 2: Grandma’s Old Car Author: Louise Ducote of Hair of the Dogs

Telling Showing

My grandmother gave

me her old car.

She was wide-hipped and thirsty and I called her Bertha after the Grateful Dead song … . [A] two-tone ’72 Cutlass handed down from my grandma.

~ Louise Ducote, “Here, This is for you”

(Hair of the Dogs, June 18, 2102)

… and in the end.

Reaching equilibrium.

“In life, we long for equilibrium. . . . But in stories,

when equilibrium is achieved, the story ends.”

Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon

http://allaboutwritingcourses.com/online/online-creative-writing/

KNOW WHEN TO STOP.

No Neat Bows

No Navel Gazing

No Summing Up

Photo by jayneandd / CC BY

Example: The Accident

Too much:

“Should I have done more?

Aren’t we defined by the

choices we make, in the blink

of an eye?”

Just right:

“When the local news called

today, I declined to be

interviewed on camera.”

Follow the Coco Chanel rule.

Find your voice.

WHAT IS VOICE?

Making your story sound like you.

Making your story sound like what’s in your head.

DON’T write like you talk.

Write like you ARE.

Discovering your Voice.

What’s your personality?

How do you speak?

How does your mind work?

What do you think about?

Informal Voice | The Reedster Speaks

“We stood in line behind all of America. A woman

dripping with perspiration and toddlers learned the hard

way that the orchard only took cash. A man towed a

Radio Flyer wagon overflowing with apples. The Duggars

couldn’t have eaten that many apples in a lifetime.”

Cindy Reed, “Apple Hell: A Fun Fall Family Tradition” (The Reedster Speaks Sept. 10, 2014)

Lyrical Voice | Bill Dameron

“When we drive along the

rocky coast of Maine and

watch the green ocean

swell like it is a living

being larger than eternity

I do not say it.”

Bill Dameron, “Don’t Say It”

(The Authentic Life Jan. 5, 2014)

Minimalist Voice | Michelle Longo

My mother would twist her hair at the nape,

secure it with one barrette, and walk around

with a wet washcloth around her neck.

If I aggravated her, she’d simply say,

‘Michelle, it’s hot.’

~ Michelle Longo, “I Am Not Safe”

(The Journey, Sept. 26, 2013)

The takeaway.

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

CINDY REED Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher

http://cindyreed.me

www.reedsterspeaks.com

Resources for writers.

THE EDITING PROCESS

BE THE READER

1. TELL A STORY. Is it more than an emotion, an opinion, or a bunch of facts?

2. READ FOR MEANING. Are you saying what you mean?

3. CHECK YOUR STRUCTURE. Do you have a clear beginning, middle, and end?

4. DON’T BE BORING. Are you using the storyteller’s toolkit to keep it interesting?

5. CUT IT OUT. Can you ditch fancy words, summary, and exposition?

PROOFREADING CHECKLIST

Are you using the correct verb tense?

Are you preferring the active voice?

Do your subjects and verbs agree in number?

Do your nouns and pronouns agree in number, case, and gender?

Is the antecedent clear?

Is your punctuation correct?

Have you double-checked apostrophes, quotation marks, and

parentheses?

Are you correctly using commas?

Is your spelling correct?

Have you checked for homonyms, commonly confused words,

typos, and missing or doubled words/letters?

Resources | Writing

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius within You by Ray Bradbury

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

The Situation and The Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick

Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussion on Story Writing by Ursula LeGuin

Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by Jon Franklin

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser

Resources | Grammar

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed

by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner

The Elements of Style by Strunk & White

Grammar Girl: Quick & Dirty Tips http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl

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Enhancing Your Storytelling Techniques