Ira Glass is a public radio personality in the US and a great storyteller. I recently came across a set of videos on Youtube where he explains some best practices for creating an engaging story.
Although the videos are very low quality and over three years old, the advice is more than solid. There are four parts, each approximately five minutes in length. I've highlighted the main points if you don't have time to watch them.
Although the videos are very low quality and over three years old, the advice is more than solid. There are four parts, each approximately five minutes in length. I've highlighted the main points if you don't have time to watch them.
Part One: Building Blocks
Part Two: Finding Great Stories | In this clip, Glass highlights the two main building blocks necessary to create an engaging and powerful story. 1) The Power of the Anecdote. This is the sequence of events that creates a sense of suspence and baits the reader to continue reading. The key is to raise questions along the way that being answered as this and that happens. 2) The Moment of Reflection. This is when the narrator explains the point of the story. This is the 'why'. Why is the reader been put through this journey. What was the point of reaching the destination. Glass emphasises that you need both for a story to fully engage and work. This clip highlights the difficulty of finding a good story. Although his focus is on broadcasting, I think the advice can be applied to all storytelling genres. Here are the key points: 1) Allocate Time. 50% of every story you find will be crap, so you have to spend a lot of your time searching for a decent story. 2) Just Kill and Enjoy the Kill. Again, be ruthless in abandoning bad stories. 3) All Paths Lead to Crap. Glass makes a good point that most stories once produced tend towards crap, much like entropy. It is your job as the writer/editor/producer to control it and structure it. 4) Luck Be a Story. Create enough material to put yourself in the lucky position of getting the one story that sticks. This clip focuses on the struggle of making the story as good as the ambition you have for it. Here are his points: 1) Don't Quit. Everyone starts out with good taste and poor execution. It can take years to get to a point when you start producing at the quality that you envision your stories to be. You have to power through it and you will get there. 2) Work and Work. The best way to get better is to create and deliver as much work as possible. Create a strict schedule with specific deliverables and don't deviate. The last part of the video focuses on showing Glass' own learning curve and how bad he was when he was 27. This clip points out two common pitfulls that beginners tend to exhibit. Again, it is focused more on broadcasters but can be applied to all storytellers. 1) Be Your Own Self. Most beginners feel the need to immitate existing successful storytellers. Everything is more compelling when you tell the story from your unique pov. 2) It's Not All About You. Even when writing in the first person you need to keep the story about the interactions and conflicts with others if you want to create drama. Nobody will be engaged with a soliloquy for long. |