When you look up “storytelling” on Google, the majority of relevant results that pop up are about oral storytelling. And the results aren’t really of the “sharing a cultural fable” variety – they involve practical information for business people or other public speakers trying to liven up presentations.
And that got me thinking – surely our kind of storytellers, the writers, can borrow some tips from these “business storytelling” techniques and translate them to the printed page. After all, the only thing better than being a writer is being a well-paid writer, right? And if the business world has found some truisms for storytelling, maybe we had better sit up in our chairs and take notice.
So let’s see what we can uncover.
Business storytelling: Convert personal experiences into engaging anecdotes
What we can take away: It doesn’t matter if it’s a swords-and-sorcery fantasy or a period fiction about the Civil War: you should always find a way to personally relate to the art you’re creating. If art (through storytelling) is about expressing an aspect of the human condition, your very best resource and inspiration is you: your own life and your own feelings and experiences. Plus, naturally your work will be more personally satisfying.
Business storytelling: Have a point, and don’t make it about “me, me, me”
What we can take away: Sure, you’re completely entitled to making a very personal story just for yourself or your family, and then tucking it away on your shelf. But if you want to write for popular consumption, you have to turn your storytelling outward and make it relatable. Your fiction can’t be the equivalent of an inside joke; you have to tap into the realities and truths we all share, and then find a way to say something significant about those realities and truths.
Business storytelling: Use stories to ingratiate yourself with your audience and get them on your side
What we can take away: We’re not exactly concerned with selling ourselves when we write a story, but there’s an undeniable “contract” that takes place between writer and reader. Just like attending a presentation, seminar, or lecture series, there is an expectation that the speaker will provide something entertaining or informative that will be worth the listener’s time. As a writer of stories, you have to walk the line between telling the story you want to tell and servicing the needs of the audience. That means concerning yourself with things like narrative intelligibility, story world believability, and character likability.
Business storytelling: Raise a question, answer it, then allow time to reflect on the answer
What we can take away: I love this piece of advice, because it’s really just one more way to state the necessity of the classic three-act structure. You get your audience’s attention by asking a question (Act I); you maintain that attention by answering that question (Act II); and then you take a moment to allow your audience to reflect upon the question and the answer (Act III). You can’t get more essential than that.
Have any more tips for storytelling? We’d love to hear from you!
Tags: ascentive, finally fast, finallyfast, story telling
One Response to “Borrowing Writing Tips from the Business World”