Master These Key Storytelling Techniques For Success - Content Narrative Principles (Part I)

There are endless things to tell about telling tales... yet sometimes you just need the logical lowdown to get you started quickly. So here is an extensive list of great storytelling techniques you can use, described in a concise manner, ordered in three articles (Number 2 and 3 will follow shortly!). It's nowhere near as complete as the book The Whole Story is of course, but it'll get your narrative going for sure! Without further ado...

For Storytelling Magic...

1. Determine the specific emotion(s) before anything else

We'll start with a few basics. The first one is obvious: your story needs to make an emotional connection. Which means the best advice is actually to first - above all else - determine how your story should feel. Write down the primary emotions first.

Remember that our emotions were our first communication devices. They trigger our memories and our actions to help decision-making to survive and thrive. In our cave-dwelling years, we used a basic set of expressions through our faces, eyes, gestures and intonation of our grunts to effectively communicate. This emotion-communication has proven useful to our survival and has since been translated into many forms of media, from music to dance to writing to film, photography, graffiti... you name it. It all has the same origin: feelings.

As such, we don't recognize storytelling that makes no emotional communication. That's why all successful things are never just functional or rational. They always have some kind of emotional intelligence to them (which is also the reason artificial intelligence will not take over, see the blog here). So, the first and foremost question you always need to ask yourself is never about the information you wish to share, but how your story should make people feel.

Ask yourself: what is the emotion I wish to convey? Answer that question, and all information you wish to communicate - even that spreadsheet - will be memorable.

2. Friction is the key to being memorable

In line with this 'emotion-triggers-memory' principle there lies another trigger: that of the lizard brain. Or to be more precise, the lizard brain (amygdala) is the oldest part of our minds that is especially attuned to the 'fear' emotion, with fight, flight or freeze responses attached to it. This means that to our minds, all communication that has some sort of friction in it, is instantly more memorable.

All our lives are full of conflict from beginning to end, and thus full of fears and anxieties. They could be very large survival conflicts such as wars or famine, yet equally in storytelling we use the words 'friction' and 'conflict' when someone misses the bus or hits their pinky toe in the shower.

We are biologically hardwired to recognize frictions in life because they can mean the difference between success and failure or life and death. The more we recognize and accept frictions in life, the easier it becomes to overcome them. As such, friction is a key ingredient all storytelling must have. Even if it is just to be noticed.

Moreover, this principle applies to all forms of storytelling equally. It doesn't matter what the story is you are telling - business, artistic, societal, entertainment or otherwise - what matters is adding conflict. Once you add the right friction(s), it will be written onto the receiver's mind's hard drive automatically, since it is our biological inclination to do so.

Just think of the Seinfeild comedy show: even the smallest, stupidest little things can become incredibly memorable when sprinkled with a little disagreement - in technical storytelling terms, the 'conflict' - between the characters. They can go to all out war with each other, to hilarious effect, on what pizza slice is best.

So, ask yourself questions such as this: What is the problem? The challenge? The friction? The thing that needs fixing? The thing that needs to be learned? The trials and tribulations? Answer that, and people will surely remember your message.

3. Understand the rational function of your story

The reason why this works is because 'stories are equipment for living', as Kenneth Burke once said, and they are 'constructs of the mind' that help us order things, as Yuval Harari has explained in his great book Sapiens. In order for us to function well as a social species, we need to share all kinds of information. From how to best bake a bread to news about a bacteria in your local water supply, we use story-forms to share crucial data.

We've already established this is best done through both emotional engagement and embracing frictions. Yet, now that you've identified both the emotion and the friction, you can take a step back and adopt a more rational approach. Ask yourself the question what exactly the rational information is you wish to share. Is it love advice? A new tech tool? A life lesson? Or just a better washing detergent?

Again, it does not matter if you're writing a novel, painting a work of art or making an advertising campaign: the general rule is that you understand the functional information you want to get across as deeply as you possibly can. The rational is part of the art of storytelling.

4. Make it bigger than ourselves

One of the key reasons we engage in storytelling is to not feel alone in our friction-filled existence. This existence is of course impossible to explain in the first place. We may have rational explanations on the workings of nature and the universe, but ultimately we don't know why our existence exists.

Perhaps the meaning of life is love? Discovery? Random? Predestined? You tell me.

Remember that the human species is a social animal that derives meaning from interpersonal interactions. Even the genetic rarities in the psychopath and sociopath corners still rely on human connections, so they need to mimic them, even if they don't feel or understand them themselves. They need interpersonal interaction, in order to survive. We all need to; within our social element, we cannot endure.

Since we cannot explain much of our shared experiences in this vast universe, there are few things that make us feel more connected than sharing experiences that are 'bigger than ourselves'; the things we can embrace in awe together. Storytelling is ideally positioned to make this 'big' connection as you are free to pick its main themes any way you like.

It is also successful when you do. Brand storytelling for instance, is about creating 'concepts to live by': a combination of very recognizable audio-visual clues spark our memory for a specific product or brand, making it memorable. And a series of emotional cues can connect it to our daily lives or even our values in life. It becomes something we can attach too, something that is more than just ourselves.

Think of it: a brand such as Harley Davidson is much bigger than just that one person riding a motorbike: it's about freedom, independence and joy. This goes for all forms of storytelling. For instance, we often don't remember most of the scenes from a movie, but we do always remember the central theme(s) and how they made us feel. So ask yourself: what bigger theme is my story part of?

5. Can I make it smaller?

Once you have this theme however, it is best to bring it down to a smaller, more individual level. It's a paradox: a big theme, with great information and lessons to be learned, yet conveyed in a personal, recognizable, individual manner, so we can relate to it, and 'crawl' into the same emotion as our fellow social animal, is best.

A great example is in art is the incredibly big theme of civil war playing in the background of Scorsece's Gangs of New York, while we view a deeply personal story of the characters in the foreground. Only in the ending do background and foreground come together, to incredible dramatic and surprising effect.

A superb example in the world of charity is the 'Cooling Down the Planet' campaign from Justdiggit (by Amsterdam based Havas Lemz creative agency), the foundation that plants countless of trees around the world to reverse global warming. In this campaign, you can join by actually digging into the soil (justdiggit... get it?) and physically plant trees. It all becomes personally emotionally involved as a result.

An example in business is an anecdote from my father Roland his experience dealing with Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony, in Japan. Back in the day, Morita had five advertising agencies pitch on the introduction of the Walkman. My dad was the youngest one, and after he pitched, he asked Morita on the secret to his success.

Morita explained that whenever a brilliant scientist or engineer would come into his office with a great new invention, he would compliment them and - having no clue how they'd build it - then ask: "Can you make it smaller?". The answer was always yes. This is how Sony went from the big, shoulder-carrying boombox to the portable Walkman, according to Morita.

In the end, my dad was called in again and told he would not get to do the campaign. But Morita took him aside and said to Roland that he didn't have to worry, since not one of the five ad companies got the deal, and he had found a different way. My dad's pitch had been the best, Morita told him. Of course, Roland asked what the plan was then. Morita explained that while the campaign ideas were brilliant, they would also be expensive. So, he asked himself: "Can I make it smaller?".

He took one Walkman, stepped on a plane to London, met up with Mick Jagger, and gave it to him. Jagger walked on stage at a Rolling Stones concert that night with the Walkman on his ears... and everyone immediately related to the idea on a personal level: 'I gotta get my one of those small boomboxes'. The rest is history.

So ask yourself: how do I make it personally relevant? Emotionally engaging on an individual level? How do I get the social emotions to be copied?

How do I make it smaller?

6. Create a Paradox

One of the most memorable things to do is create a paradox. A paradox is a combination of two things that seem unlikely, even impossible... yet they work perfectly well together. A great example of a paradox is topchef Jamie Oliver. He is a deeply talented chef, capable of cooking on a Michelin star level. Yet he chooses to bring this Michelin star level - this 'high' kitchen or haute cuisine - into the homes of everyday people. His message when he started with one camera and a couple of pots and pans in his tiny little kitchen was simple: "I'm going to teach you, the everyday, average person, how to cook on a Michelin chef level."

You wouldn't think it would work... but the combination of 'everyday' and 'high-kitchen' worked. As such, it is a perfect paradox. So for your story, think of a few things that are contradictory in your case and see if you can combine them nonetheless. Again, it does not matter if it is art, film, television, charity, organizational, educational, business or government storytelling.

A few quick fire examples: a phone or internet provider that people can actually reach when they need help. Instantly memorable right? Or the name of a great vintage clothing shop around the corner from me: The Vintage Detective. Vintage clothing can have the reputation of being old, but what if there is a detective around that snoops up all the great gems?

The naming of Apple Computers is also a great example: all computers were functional and grey, yet Apple made them 'personal'. They had the vision that we were all looking for creative insights, the same as that apple falling on Newton's head when he discovered the notion of gravity. This vision led to colorful computers later on, great design and all kinds of software positioned on creative industries such as music, design and film. All because of a paradox: the grey, functional computer... is now colorful and emotional.

7. Focus on the journey, not the goal

The last principle for this first part is to remember that the journey in storytelling is always more important than the goal. You could skip to the ending of every book, film or series, yet that wouldn't be much fun would it? The joy is in the discovery of the path that the persona takes. Only then will the goal have meaning.

This applies to the biggest and greatest stories ever told. Yet also for the smallest. Even your typical washing detergent commercial has a journey (something happens), full of conflict (the stains are horrible!), before it shows you the goal: the soap that 'saves your life'. Or at least, your clothing.

The start of your story

So, there you have it, a quick and simple lowdown on the first few principles of storytelling, before we discuss the rest in our two other blogs. It starts with recognizing the primary emotion and embracing friction, before noting its rational function. It is then important to find the theme that is 'bigger than ourselves' and then bring it down into something more personal and smaller. That last sentence is a paradox, something that is worth having in your story too. And the final bit here is to remember that in the journey the story's inspiration ultimately resides.

Now go make that story!

Love, as always,

Rogier

And if you really want to hone the craft... check out my book The Whole Story - The Ultimate Guide to Storytelling!

The Whole Story - The Ultimate Guide to Storytelling - Rogier van Kralingen