Storytelling is an art that requires creativity, vision, skill, and practice.
Stories are as old as time – having a place in every culture and society. They have gone from caveman drawings to silent movies with the purpose of educating, engaging, and motivating audiences. Ancient civilizations sought out storytellers, to engage in tales of hard times and happy endings.
Great storytelling captures people’s attention and embeds information into their memories. Essentially, a story expresses how and why life changes. It begins with a situation in which life is relatively in balance before everything is seemingly derailed.
A captivating storyteller will have you hanging on every word. The craft displays the struggle between expectation and reality in all its nastiness.
Think about this story. A young lion cub runs away from his evil uncle, encounters a new land and later returns to be king. It’s a classic Disney movie – The Lion King. The author created a story that was relatable, heart-wrenching and realistic.
Good stories are:
- Entertaining: keeping the reader engaged with what’s happening next.
- Educational: sparking curiosity and add to the reader’s knowledge bank.
- Universal: relatable to all readers – tapping into emotions and experiences that most people understand.
- Organized: follows a succinct flow that conveys the core message
- Memorable: through inspiration, scandal, or humor, good stories stick in the reader’s mind.
If you can harness imagination and the principles of a well-told story, then you get people rising to their feet amid thunderous applause instead of yawning and ignoring you.
“Linda has published sixteen books. She blogs about the publishing world, posts useful tips on the challenges a writer faces, including marketing and promoting your work, how to build your online platform, how to get reviews and how to self-publish. She has mentored many authors and edited their work.”