Create compelling situations with sense and surprise to keep listeners engaged.
Craft stories with relatable characters and elements of suspense for audience connection.
Deep dives
What Makes a Good narrative or Story
Elements like the plot, characters, setting, and conflict are essential in creating a good story. The uniqueness of a narrative stems from its elements' combinations and emphases. Different individuals may define a good story based on personal preferences, cultural influences, and exposure to diverse narratives. The balance between familiarity and surprise plays a significant role, ensuring a story remains engaging and avoids predictability.
The Role of Empathy in Storytelling
Empathy and recognition are vital in engaging listeners and readers with a story. Familiarity through recognition triggers a sense of belonging and value among audiences. Crafting stories that evoke empathy and familiarity can enhance the audience's connection to the narrative and drive emotional responses.
Crafting Compelling and Motivational Stories
Creating compelling narratives involves incorporating suspense, surprise, and relatable characters to captivate the audience. Intriguing characters that evoke empathy or interest contribute to the narrative's success. Balancing coherence, humor, and suspense forms a successful communication recipe, ensuring the story resonates and engages the audience effectively.
“Make them want to turn the page,” says Paula Moya, a professor at Stanford University and author of The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism.
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Moya sits down with strategic communication lecturer Matt Abrahams to share how the elements of story can be used in other types of communication. Create compelling situations, full of sense and surprise, she says. Create characters we can empathize with; speak your written sentences aloud, and, Moya advises, think of the images your words may conjure up and how they may be interpreted by different audiences.