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Rob ClarkStoryteller & Problem [email protected]/in/theelusivefish
Frank and Joe looked in horror at the oncoming car. It was careening from side to side on the narrow road.
“He’ll hit us! We’d better climb this hillside, and fast!” Frank exclaimed, as the boys brought their bikes to a screeching halt and leaped off.
“On the double!” Joe cried out as they started up the steep embankment.
Stories allow us to envision the future
Not sure if actually
experiencing the future…
Or just
hearing a
really good
story.
Stories allow us to accept change by experiencing it in a safe setting and fully examine the rewards of taking risk.
Evolutionary advantage to the storytellers:• Learn and understand without
the need for first hand experience
• Predict the outcomes of actions
• Risk/reward analysis
Freytag’s Pyramid
Inciting incident
Rising action
Falling action
Denouement
Climax
Resolution
Exposition
Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth
Call to adventure
Reward
KNOWN
UNKNOWN
Meeting Mentor
Crossing the Threshold
Tests
Helpers
Climax / Ordeal
Refusal of the call
Enemies
Return with Treasure
The Road Back
The stories we’re most likely to latch on to are structured around change which comes through conflict
Chekhov’s gun
Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first act that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third act it absolutely must go off.
If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.
And then what?To hook your audience, you need to establish quickly that there is a puzzle or an emergent pattern.
My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen years old when I was murdered on December 6th
1973.
And then what?
Is everything in place?
You aren’t supposed to relieve me.
I know but I felt like taking a shift.
You like him, don’t you. You like watching him. We’re going to kill him, you
understand that?Morpheus believes he’s the one.
Do you?
Remember the see saw experiment
The brain wants reality to fit the model it has built for itself.
The brain doesn`t like randomness or abstraction and will seek to impose order or establish a pattern.
Metaphors be with you
• Hold your tongue• I beg to differ• Let the cat out of the bag• Spring to life• Barking up the wrong tree
• “Their eyes meet and her heart starts flopping around weakly, like a bunny in a Ziploc bag.”
There is a payoff when we connect the dots and give meaning to a pattern.
Likewise our brains do not like random occurrences or puzzle pieces that do not fit
Emotion gives weight to events. Creating an empathic response captures the attention and ensures greater connection to the story.
!!!
Grab and hold your audience:• Cue a puzzle for solving• Feels > Plot• If this, then that. • Set it up and then pay it off.
Image CreditsBrain• Allan Ajilfo https://flic.kr/p/of4Z3W
Hans Christian Anderson• Granger
Tiger in the Grass• National Geographic
Thinking• Freddie Alequin https://flic.kr/p/dS7kwj
Baby with Fork• Bridget Coila https://flic.kr/p/9ho963
First Day of School• Michael Newton https://flic.kr/p/51N4Xt
Empathy• Rosenfeld Media https://flic.kr/p/7qnHDb
Cyclist on Hill• Jeremy Brooks https://flic.kr/p/7qnHDb
Chicken• Marji Beach https://flic.kr/p/ag4XcH
Eggs• Moyan Brenn https://flic.kr/p/8YS4gk
Fried Eggs• Irish Jaunt https://flic.kr/p/b4KSCc
Kite• Don DeBold https://flic.kr/p/dL2ePB
Remembering• James Lee https://flic.kr/p/7qnHDb