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Good afternoon, dear readers. Today we will talk about such a thing as storytelling. I will tell you what it is, where it is used and how it can help you in life.
What is storytelling?
Storytelling is the communication of useful information in the form of stories. They have a special structure and plot that encourage a person to certain thoughts and emotions. In addition, they may include small details that are described in unexpected artwork: “pungent smell”, “hopeful meeting”, “fresh wind of change”, etc.
Heard information penetrates the mind, forcing to think about certain things and come to the appropriate storyline and logical conclusions. The most striking examples are presentations and commercials. Thanks to them, the thoughts of the listener (reader) are directed in the right direction, ultimately leading to the desired result.
10 Rules for Successful Storytelling
If you have been given the task of writing storytelling, you need to know the rules for writing it. In this case, you will be able to easily convey information to the target audience, direct their thoughts in the right direction.
- Words are the main thing. Well-chosen text is rightfully considered the very first rule of successful storytelling.
- Scientific approach. Good knowledge of the topic, personally conducted research and voiced conclusions are the key to maintaining interest in your work.
- Bright graphic design. A well-chosen video sequence or pictures that accompany your words will help to penetrate deeper into the minds of the audience. Each of us understands and remembers the illustrated information much better.
- Good headlines are half the battle. A talking headline, a headline with numbers and questions is a great technology to draw attention to your story.
- Create blocks — highlight the main thing. Monotonous reading and listening to information can tire anyone, even the most attentive person. Nurture interest with building blocks that help structure your story appropriately, infuse it with emotion and color, and make it clear what the story is about.
- Conciseness. If something can be said in a few phrases, do not artificially increase the amount of text. After all, in this way you run the risk of tiring your audience or, worse, repelling interest.
- Say a firm «no» to monotony. Feel free to switch your attention from general information to supporting facts and figures, illustrations and diagrams. This way you can keep your audience interested.
- Highlight the benefits. It has been proven that we perceive information much more if we understand how it can be useful to us. Intrigue the listener or reader, make a veiled hint about a possible benefit.
- Put questions inside the text. This is how it is possible to model the dialogue with the audience within the story. Try it and see for yourself how great it works!
- Don’t forget about social buttons. By inviting a person to share information on social media, you contribute to its optimal distribution.
These are the basics of storytelling. Everyone can supplement this list with their personal best practices and secrets to achieve the desired result in creating a quality story. And it will be even more effective!
Elements that must be present in your story
In order for a story to be meaningful and have the desired impact on the target audience, it must meet the following requirements:
- When the protagonist is some kind of living character, he must be either a hypothetical or a real subject. It can also be some mythical or fictional creature, as well as an enterprise or organization.
- It is important that some important changes take place in the life of this character. Otherwise, the story will lose its meaning and realistic appearance.
- The reality of events is achieved by concretizing them — indicating small details, time and place of everything that happens.
- Be emotionally rich in order to gain the empathy of the audience. Many, listening to the story, associate themselves with the main character. Later — it is retold and thus lives in their hearts for a long time.
- There should be specifics, a description of events and ongoing phenomena, it is necessary to mention small objects, but in no case should veiled expressions, general phrases or words be used.
With a story structured like this, you can transfer skills to new employees, increase their resilience to stress in case of failure, and inspire them to do good deeds for the good of the company.
Storytelling is used in every family: relatives and close people, returning from work, tell in detail about the events of the day, the stories that happened to them. Thanks to this, trust and ties between relatives are strengthened, respect and authority are born.
Scope of storytelling
Successfully use storytelling:
- copywriters;
- journalists;
- writers, inserting fragments of vivid artistic descriptions of events;
- company managers at presentations, general meetings, speeches to the audience;
- actors
The listener arbitrarily draws in his imagination a picture corresponding to the story in detail. An atmosphere of communion with history is created, empathy appears. A small retelling can be so intriguing that a person will definitely read it first to the end, while perceiving new information in bright colors.
The main goal pursued by storytelling is to capture the attention of the audience and direct its flow of thoughts and experiences in the right direction. As a rule, a situation is created in which a person thinks that he himself came to this conclusion from what he heard or read. In fact, the whole text was built with the aim of pushing him to such a conclusion.
Today, anyone can learn the art of interesting storytelling. There are special sites, articles and entire workshops where you can learn methods for creating a fascinating story and successfully practice new knowledge.
Abroad, this profession is quite in demand. In the world there are whole associations of specialists of this kind. They often work with seriously ill patients, instilling in them the desire not to give up, to live in spite of everything and not to stop fighting the disease.
Thanks to storytelling, a healthy lifestyle is being promoted not only among teenagers, but also among the adult population. Thus, with the help of the word, not only money is earned, but also human lives are saved.
Conclusion
We also recommend that you read an article about how to speak correctly and beautifully.
Dear readers, I hope the information was useful to you. Now you know the secrets of successfully conveying the information you need to the listener using storytelling. With it, you can not only make a person think in the direction you need, but also push him to logical conclusions from what he heard. And he will think that he himself came to this. Good luck and see you for new conversations!