153: Elements of Storytelling

ELEMENTS OF STORYTELLING  This episode reveals the 6 essential elements of storytelling. There are many kinds of storytelling. There are novels, short stories, parable, screenplays, to name a few. This podcast and episode focus specifically on persuasive storytelling for business and for personal influence. In this context, think of storytelling as sharply focused intentional communication that engages people, arouses their emotions, and inspires them to take actions that will improve their lives. Listen to this to learn the WHAT of storytelling. In future episodes, you learn the HOW by exploring each of the elements of storytelling in greater detail. Here are the… 6 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF STORYTELLING IMMEDIATE ENGAGEMENT – Your goal as a persuasive communicator is to grab your audience’s full attention immediately. MYSTERY – You hold people’s attention by creating a mounting sense of mystery. VIVID – Always communicate with sensory language. Paint three dimensional word pictures by using your senses – all 5 of them. Make people hear, see, smell, taste, and feel what you are talking about. By doing that, you touch and move their emotions. CONFLICT – People identify with struggle. Learn to make your audience central characters in narratives that take them on a journey from a painful before state to a desirable after state. Along the way, they will face obstacles that you will help them overcome. This process involves tension and conflict. You are taking people on a hero’s journey in which they play the hero. SHOW, DON’T TELL – Showing is like lecturing; it speaks to people’s heads. “Show” storytelling bombards your audience with data. It does not touch them emotionally. Telling is example based storytelling that uses vivid sensory language that depicts human beings in struggles and actions as they move toward a desired goal. “Tell” storytelling speaks to the heart and moves people emotionally. UNIVERSAL – A universal story allows people to see themselves in the narrative. They identify with the character’s pain, struggle, and desired outcome. Universal stories create deep rapport, and they win trust. Listen to this episode more than once. Burn the 6 essential elements of storytelling into your memory. Use them when you speak to people every day. You communication will gain great clarity, confidence, and power.