Four Key Modern Storyteller Traits
In the constant bombardment of noise in the modern world, to get an authentic story out there seems harder than ever. That's why in this article we'll focus on the mental state of the storyteller and add how you'll need to thrive in this specific to this day and age. We'll immediately dive into the deep end... and come out with a way to use all that noise as creative fuel.
Truth is not what you think it is
Storytellers are truth-seekers. Yet a large contributor to today's turmoil in societies is that many have forgotten a simple truth: Truth is a survival mechanism, not a moral one. In its origin, truth comes from the radical acceptance of reality, for the simple reason that when you fail to do so, you decrease your survival chances. Fail to acknowledge the forest is on fire, and you will perish with it (a deeper look on truth here on Medium or on the TWS blog).
In our evolution, we have created expressions for this phenomenon, including the word 'truth'. We've also created a mental tool to convey truth as this survival mechanism, which is collectively caught under the name 'storytelling'. Or as Kenneth Burke so eloquently put it: "Stories are equipment for living".
Ultimately, human beings perceive the truth as the 'moral right choice' not because it makes us feel righteous when we get it right. It's because we need the acceptance of the real situation to escape the forest fire. When we get it right this is then noted as truth. This principle is ingrained into our collective DNA and imprinted into our physical bodies: endorphins are released when we get it right. Our body makes a mental note for the next time, ultimately making us feel good, and thrive.
Yet now we live in the Postmodern Age, which has a key, underlying story we tell ourselves: to each his own truth. Postmodernism allows us to create our own stories in individual freedom and without interference from others, which is a good thing. However we've elevated that good thing into something out of proportion: the idea that everyone is entitled to their own truth, everywhere, all the time.
That is not how evolutionary truth-seeking works, hence the confusion everywhere. And because this is now the dominant story, we've come to confuse the freedom of expression and free speech with it automatically being the truth.
In a sense, we've put the cart before the horse; the instant-truth-gratification-endorphins are released the moment we express ourselves on the many channels we have at our disposal. Even when this expression is far from the truth. Which brings us to our first insight for today's storyteller.
1. Ditch The Morality Pursuit
In a way, we've created a hyper-individualized world in which eight billion people can have eight billion possible views on the forest fire. This is so pervasive that even in hard sciences such as physics particle theory, many have put the idea of the 'observer' central to their musings. This individualized view however, means we often stray from our soul's truth, or in the sciences from Plato's 'protos'; the underlying truth governing our surroundings.
While in the sciences this puts the observer (possibly a little too much...) in the center, in communication science this is called 'sender-centric' behavior, and in psychology it is called 'projection': the state in which as the sender of a message, you think that the receiver sees it exactly the same as you, the very moment you express. And when this inevitably doesn't happen, we react in surprise and anger, feeling as if our morality is challenged. This not just shows a lack of empathy, a key component of storytelling, but more importantly, it also undermines the potential of your story.
A practical thing to understand is that historically this postmodernism view is part of a phase. Philosophically speaking, the debate about what is truth, and the role of the sender in storytelling and the observer in science, always comes in waves: sometimes there is a period in which the individual is the center of the universe, and sometimes a period in which the collective or outside world is the holder of truth.
The truth is probably in the middle: just like a photon is both a particle and a wave, we are both individuals and social animals at the same time. This has a practical storyteller implication: ironically, in this day and age when many have lost their moral center, the higher moral ground you seek, the less impactful your story will be.
So, in order for you as a storyteller to have the highest impact, you'll need to learn to hold that middle ground, in which both the sender/observer and the receiver/context is held into account. And it is this middle ground that is actually the most dangerous, impactful, unusual, original and thus creatively most interesting road you can take in the Zeitgeist.
The funny thing is, when you accept both your own truth and the universal truth, you also let go of the morality pursuit. It is no longer needed, because now the horse and the cart are in the right place.
2. Build Up Your Shield Before You Begin
Today's noisy world, full of people projecting their truths, requires a new approach that is more mindful: building up your shield.
In your quest to tell authentic stories, it is vital you learn to make the distinction between what you can and what you cannot control as the storyteller. The gist is this: as the storyteller you can only show different perspectives and then let the receiver draw their own conclusions (receiver-centric communication). Of course, you can bring powerful, even moral messages to your story. But you can never force your point of view on the audience, for the simple reason that nobody likes the wiseguy.
Even when you see the real, undeniable truth underneath and have the skills to communicate it, you can still fail in your mission, when you let the noise govern your emotional responses. This effects the quality of your story, especially if it comes from places such as anger or the pursuit of your own unique morality. In essence, this will communicate to others that you have lost control over yourself as the storyteller.
That's why we encourage you to see your identity as a storyteller as a physical force field surrounding you. Since storytellers are almost always sensitive, or even hyper-sensitive people, who pick up a lot of emotions and noise from others. That's why we believe that even before you start, in this modern age it pays off to shield yourself from all that noise with mindful and physical exercises.
In the Chinese medical practice of Qi-Gong and the martial art of Kung Fu, there are many movements and exercises that resemble building mental and physical shields around your aura and your body. We've even incorporated some of these movements into our storytelling practice when we work with leaders and leading creatives: we first get the mindset - or 'the story you tell yourself' - right, before we even begin with capturing their story (For Leader Flow, check on Medium here and on TWS here).
These practices will calm your spirit down which connects you to your intuition better. In turn, this creates the paradox of connecting better to the outside world, because a calm mind also connects to its surroundings and nature. That will then allow you to filter out noise, while being mindful of your own emotions within your viewpoint, making your story more grounded in reality (outside world) and give it authenticity (inner world).
Now that your shield is up and your morality is in the right place, let's proceed with a more classic trait of the storyteller, that is more useful now than ever: listening.
3. Listening, Observing & The Socratic Method
In an informal business meeting with my dad and I, someone once asked my dad what the secret to his business success was. His answer was this: "I just ask a hundred questions. I don't create your story. I just unlock it through your answers."
Any reader here who has ever spoken to a good journalist, already knows what I'm referring to here: the Socratic Method of asking questions. As a storyteller it pays off massively if you use your curiosity to get to the bottom of your message first and foremost, both asking questions to others and yourself. You will not only get insight into the best information but crucially, also learn the emotion behind it.
In the end, it's the emotional impact that will sell the story, since we are emotional beings. Through billions of years of evolution, it's been the emotional drive that sustains us. If you give the audience the right cues they will fill in this emotion themselves. And to get there, the most fireproof method is to keep asking questions until the story unlocks itself. This curiosity leads to understanding and empathy, strengthening you as the storyteller.
4. Separate Empathy & Sympathy
Empathy is the ability to understand others, even when you disagree with them. Sympathy is becoming one with the emotions of the other, and support them. This is a crucial distinction that every good storyteller should master.
People that already agree with you don't need emotional convincing. Yet those who disagree with you, will only move towards your story if they are not pushed, but allowed to fill it in themselves. Again, this boils down to the fact you can't control others. The distinction here is that you can show empathy and understanding for other viewpoints, without automatically aligning yourself to them.
A great example is the acclaimed film Sinners. On the surface level you'll hold no sympathy for the vampiric bad guy Remmick in that story, since he is destructive and has lost his soul. But on a deeper level we can still feel empathy for him. Since not only does the film show what happens when African-American people stray from their own soul music and culture, but Remmick too used to be connected to European-Irish culture and its music. A connection he has lost, driving him to sin.
On the surface level we feel anger to the stereotypical vampire, which gives us satisfaction if or when he is beaten. As such, we can enjoy an action-packed film with popcorn at the ready. Yet the brilliance of the film is that another emotion is added on the deeper level; that of sadness for Remmick and everyone else who feels the need to 'suck' out the life energy of those who are still connected to their soul.
And he's far from the only 'sinner' in the film who has strayed from their soul's purpose or desired culture, giving the audience a measuring stick for basically all characters they meet.
This soul-culture connection becomes the theme of the film and a message that all humans of all demographics can understand: don't stray to far from your heart, culture and soul's desire, or else you will become 'vampiric' and fall into sin. It even connects back to Bram Stoker's original, in which Count Dracula needs to be stopped (we feel no sympathy for his actions) but is still understood (empathy), since he does his sinful things to try and reconnect with his lost love.
Don't Think, Become
These themes old and new are still what will bring people to your story and cut through the clutter of all the noise. So, lastly in this article, I'll give an insight into my own process, that might help you to reach flow (more on flow on Medium here and on TWS here). There is a way to turn all of the noise today into something useful and productive... and that way is to use it as your chaotic creative starting point.
This summer, instead of fighting my easily distracted creative soul, I decided that for once, I should completely embrace it. I started over a dozen new series, watch many films, often in intervals, started reading several books and went through a batch of magazines as well. It was chaos. After a while though, all these signals became less noisy, because my creative mind started connecting things between them and I found a surprising new focus.
In your mind, it pays to flip your perception of the noise around: our world may have a very messy, noisy media landscape right now, full of false signals, distractions and bad stories. Which yes, of course, you should try to be selective about, to prevent becoming overwhelmed. But the flip side is that it's also a world full of options and inspiration. There will always be demand for good storytelling, for the simple reason that we actually need it to convey all that survival and thriving info, old and new.
The factor that comes into play here is this: the best artistic endeavors are always born out of a point of chaos. And today, the noise is everywhere, meaning that you can use all those chaos-points to your advantage. Provided of course, you have your shield and filter up. Furthermore, it also means you'll have already developed an natural sense of what good and bad storytelling is, and you don't need guys like me to always explain it to you.
That means that the most classic advice I can give you in this most modern age is this: don't think too much, just become the storyteller. Because in the end, all roads you take will bring you to the proverbial Rome. Just as long as you start walking.
Love, as always,
Rogier van Kralingen
Check out my book The Whole Story — The Ultimate Guide to Storytelling here!
(Plus, for our dreamy indie symphonic surf music, check us out on Spotify here!)
For more insights into reaching your best creative health and storytelling, check out these blogs on Medium and TWS as well:
