When telling a story, how do you make it a worthwhile read? How do you captivate your audience? Reflect on your daily activities to look for life experiences to help reach and engage with your audience. How do your use your life experiences to shape your story?
One thing to keep in mind when writing your story is the focus. As storytellers, we can easily go off on tangents and get distracted. Stay on track by sticking to the focus of your story. If you’re having trouble finding your focus, then stop and think….
and think…
It’s easy to forget a fundamental key in storytelling…thinking.
Think
After some reflection and thought, the focus may come to you once the story’s been told. The focus is what the story is about…why it was told.
Ask yourself four questions when preparing your story:
1. Why does my story matter? Why are you telling your story? You think it matters, but who else does? This goes hand and hand with understanding your audience and telling them a story they’d connect with… emotionally.
2.What’s the point? What’s the purpose of the story. To teach something? To share an experience that changed you? This is your focus. You should be able to define what that is with only a few words.
3.Why am I telling the story? Original content comes from people who are simply willing to tell their story – not attention seekers. So what’s your motivation behind the story?
4.What does this story say about me? Does it reflect you in a good light? Does it tell your audience who you are? Does the story flow? Is there a clear understanding? You want to make your story understandable and relatable. You want to be liked, but you want to leave them with something to chew on.
By answering the four basic questions… your audience may be able to make a real connection with your story and ultimately you (your brand).
Why is it important to focus? Because we want to know what the story was about.
We want to know why that story was shared.
We want to take something away from it… connect with it.
