Storyworthy

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.

Robert McKee - Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

To anyone who does not know about this book; Matthew Dicks, a seasoned storytelling master, takes us on a journey exploring the art of finding, crafting, and delivering compelling stories.

He does that through exercises and practical tips, he shares his expertise in order to help readers become more adept and comfortable at crafting and sharing stories in a compelling manner.

Here are some highlights and notes I took from this book.

1. Stories portray our life

Tell me the facts and I'll learn. Tell me the truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.

- Ancient proverb 

The first and biggest takeaway from the book; stories have way more importance than you actually give them credit to. There is a reason why you can’t stand listening your colleague’s drinking stories at lunchtime, or when someone is trying to tell someone else’s story, they butcher it. As such, there is also a reason why some people can be the heart of the party because they tell good stories.

We all tell stories to express our hardest, best, most authentic truths. This is what brings thousands of people to hear stories at theatres and bars every night in cities all over the world. They want the real deal.

The audience want the kind of stories that just make them resonate with you, feel the same feelings you felt. They want to feel as ashamed as you were in your shameful stories or as in love or in awe in your more loving stories.

Before I read the book, I did not think it was that important to be honest. As an industrial designer, we were taught to be “storytellers.” All of us told the story of how a coffee maker is actually not a coffee maker but it is a peaceful morning, or how a backpack is not just a backpack but it is adventure. I always saw them as some marketing nonsense to make us want to buy unnecessary items. And after the book my thoughts on the subject remain the same.

However, reading the book made me realise, I gave up on the stories in my personal life as well. I gave up collecting or sharing stories. Nowadays the only place I share a story is sending Instagram reels to my wife and friends. They are not even my stories they are anecdotes that resonate with me and I am telling my stories through those anecdotes. Thankfully, reading the book changed the way I view stories. I remembered so many old stories and started recording my days (more on that in a bit) in order to have access to my stories. To be honest, it feels great. I felt like I have something to share in this world and that even gave me the courage to start this newsletter.

The stories Dicks writes in the book, move you and take you back to the similar experiences and stories you have. He explains his techniques while telling a story and step by step pointing out which part of the story comes from his technique. Yet, the first technique he writes is not about how to tell the stories but about how to record, collect stories.

And I believe it is the most useful lesson I learnt from this book. It is called; Homework For Life. It has a high return compared to the effort you put in it. It is about; at the end of your day reflecting upon it by asking yourself one simple question;

If I had to tell a story from today – a five minute story on stage about something took place over the course of this day – what would it be? What was the most storyworthy moment from my day?

Of course, you might not have a storyworthy moment every day as we are all prisoners of our habits. However, we do not have to have "one moment" every day. The benefit of this technique, as I see it, is to have access to your memories in the future. Imagine it like a bookmark in your lifetime. You can read one sentence and be moved to that moment and be able to tell the story behind it. It is a game changer for people who like to record their lives. 

Not every day contains a storyworthy moment for me but I found that the longer I did my homework, the more days did contain one. The truth is this: I simply see more storyworthy moments in the day than most people. They don't go unnoticed, as they once did. 

2. Audience relate more to the stories they can connect to 

Unfortunately, Dicks had the privilege to collect quite many unlucky stories. Multiple near death experiences, unjustly sent to prison, robbed at a gun point etc. You name it, he lived it. Thankfully he was able to heal from them. However, although these types of experiences create unique stories, he reckons they are not the ones that audience resonate the best.

If I tell the story about the time I died on the side of the road and was brought back to life in the back of an ambulance, it is going to be challenging for an audience to connect with my story and with me. ...audience members are probably not thinking, "This is just like the time I died in a car accident and the paramedics brought me back to life!"

According to him his best stories are the ones that are about his most vulnerable moments, his worst moments, or the ones that are about a heartfelt conversation between him and his wife discussing certain topics.

There is nothing in the horror of a car accident for an audience to connect to... ... But if I tell you about my secret childhood hunger, that story is much more likely to resonate with you. Why? We all have secrets that we hold close to our hearts. Maybe it is a secret you never want anyone to know, or maybe it is one that you desperately wish someone would uncover.

We all know what hunger feels like. We know what it's like to want something important and essential –food, friendship, acceptance, love – but never have enough of it. And we all know what it's like to feel embarrassed or ashamed of never having enough of something that you so desperately need. 

3. Every great story is about of a "five-second moment"

Every great story ever told is essentially about a five second moment in the life of a human being and the purpose of the story is to bring that moment to the greatest clarity possible.

Matthew Dicks explains this perfectly albeit, by ruining a lot of classic movies. He explains why Jurassic Park is not actually about dinosaurs getting loose, but about the palaeontologist Alan Grant's unwillingness of having children. Or how Raiders of the Lost Ark is actually about Indy's lack of faith rather than the adventure.

Both of these movies end with the main characters experiencing a five-second moment; Grant starts to tolerate –even like– kids and Indy finds faith when he needs it the most. 

Don’t get hung up on the big moments, unbelievable circumstances or hilarious details. Seek out the moments when you felt your heart move. When something changed forever, even if that moment seems minuscule compared to the rest of the story. 

These are the moments that make great stories. They are the moments we seek while doing Homework for life. Often small and powerful. 

He dissects these stories with dialogs and explains that the five-second moments are a must, in order to complete the story. The rest of details in the story, dinosaurs or Nazis, are there to serve the story and to help keep the attention of the audience. 

You fall in love, you fall out of love, you discover something new about yourself or another person. Your opinion dramatically changes, you find forgiveness, you reach acceptance. You sink into despair. You are drowned in regret. You make a life altering decision. Accomplish something great, Fail spectacularly. 

These are the moments that we make great stories.

4. Present tense is the king

One thing I enjoyed the most in this book, that I was actively appreciating the Storytelling of Matthew Dicks as I read his words. In the chapter, The Present Tense is King, though he really takes it up a notch.

He starts the chapter with an every day problem of a parent, with great descriptive language, and you just tag along. Until he takes a break from the story to explain how he gave you a seat within the story. 

He explains this as;

This is the magic of the present tense. It creates a sense of immediacy. The present tense acts like a temporal magnet, sucking you into whatever time I want you to occupy. 

Of course, just using present tense does not make a story great, but it works as a time-machine that takes your audience back in time with you and live your story. Another trick he used while writing this story was; he used past tense to tell anecdotes that helps within the story. This helps in two ways,

• It establishes even further that story's present tense is the timeframe we are in.

• It makes audience more invested in the story by allowing them to listen an even older story. 

Though, these are only methods to help you keep the attention of your audience at your grasp. Just like dinosaurs and Nazis, they have to serve your five-second moment and that moment of realisation is the main story.

Wrap up

I am writing this issue for the 12th time in my work-room with a messy desk in a cold and misty December morning. The reason is, it is such an insightful book, I feel like I am making it an injustice by skipping the rest of the amazing information that I had enjoyed in the last week.

It is an utterly amazing book, that even if you have zero interest in Storytelling, you would enjoy and understand so much about creativity, especially verbal creativity. I thoroughly recommend you to read it. 

Until next time,

Mete