How to tell a story: How to tell a story in three minutes?
How to tell a story?
If you tell a story based on the six elements of time, place, character, cause, process, and result, it will be boring. Because this is a narrative expression method, it is relatively straightforward.
Before I talk about the method, let me tell a story:
A young man grew up dreaming of seeing the world's richest man in person and talking to him, but since he is an unknown person and his family is not famous, it is almost impossible to meet the richest man. In the process of young people's troubles, I met a person who gave the young people a trick, that is, the two of them worked together to make a name and attract the attention of the richest man.
This person suggested: "When writing social media, as long as the article is well written, it can definitely attract the richest man. You are responsible for writing, and I am responsible for running it."
Young people think that this is a good method, so they study and write day and night. When they wrote the 99th article, they really shocked the richest man in the world.
The richest man decided to talk to them, but unexpectedly, one night, just as the young man was happily preparing everything to talk to the richest man, the person who cooperated with the young man went to meet the richest man alone and chat with him. very happy.
At this time, the young people were disheartened and decided to give up their wishes and go back to their hometown to continue working.
It's just that I saw the wrong person in the first place.
The next morning, when the young man was packing his things, a familiar voice asked him, "What are you doing?" The young man looked up and saw that the richest man was in front of him.
It turned out that the person the young man met before was sent by his father, and the young man's father and the richest man were brothers many years ago. Later, his father returned to his hometown and lived an ordinary life. Because his father couldn't make it easy for his son to see the richest man, a bureau was set up. As a result, the young man chatted with the richest man all night.
And this young man is the founder of a brand.
What kind of story
What kind of story attracts the audience more.
The reason why the story is attractive is not only because of the exciting and quirky plot, but also because of the protagonist's experience, to break through the predicament to the perfect ending, and follow the protagonist to explore a different life. Different from the subjective judgments of essays, a good story can be thought-provoking, causing ripples in our hearts, which cannot be calmed down for a long time.
If you want to be able to create a compelling story yourself, you must learn how to write a complete story.
The development of the story takes the protagonist to achieve a goal (dream) as the line, but on the way to the dream, he encounters some kind of difficulty, which prevents him from reaching the goal smoothly, making the reader want to know how the protagonist breaks through the difficulty, he How hard it will be to achieve the goal, and what the outcome will be (usually a bad outcome). At this time, the story needs to set up an "accident" to push the story to a climax, turn the plot through the accident, return to the protagonist's predetermined track, and finally move towards the ending (the achievement of the goal).
Let’s abstract the formula of the story again:
Goal - Obstacle - Effort - Result - Accident - Turn - Ending
The obstacles and unexpected twists in the seven steps must be carefully conceived because they are realistic and make the reader cognitively sound the plot while avoiding clichés. The resolution of the conflict is very important. This is also the turning point of the protagonist's life. It is the sublimation of the protagonist's inner and spiritual world, which can most resonate with readers and inspire wisdom.
Of course, these seven steps are just the basic writing method and framework of a story, and the creator may not follow these steps. For example, more obstacles and conflicts can be set up in the arrangement of the plot to make the story more exciting and make readers deeply I was so attracted to the content that I couldn't put it down when I read it.
With more practice according to the seven steps, I believe you can also write a good story.
Familiar story structure?
Let’s not talk about this story first, okay, let’s talk about the structure of this story first, have you seen it in many places?
When you finally know which celebrity he is, everyone will sigh with emotion after reading it: "So this is him!" So, what I will tell you today is that as long as you master the logical structure of writing a wonderful story, your story will Do it at your fingertips, don't be afraid to write boring articles again.
A good story can make readers more impressed with your article. People like to listen to stories. Even if many things are forgotten, as long as someone mentions a story, he will remember which article it came from. The quality of a story can determine the readability of an article. In any era, you have to be able to make up stories to get your readers' attention.
7 steps to writing a great story
Take the above story as an example:
1. What is the "goal" of the protagonist?
Meet the richest man in the world
2. What is his "obstruction"?
An unknown person can't meet the richest man in the world.
3. How does he "work hard"?
Write an article via social media.
4. What is the "result"?
usually a bad outcome) [encountered by friends cheating.
5. If the result is unsatisfactory, it means that the effort is ineffective, so is there an accident?
The richest man in the world came to his house.
6. When the accident happened, how did the plot turn?
It turns out that the young man's friend was sent by his father, how young his father knew the richest man in the world.
7. What is the ending?
Young people talk for a night and what did they become in the end.
Of course, my story is made up on the fly, and the design may be a bit bad, but that's how a wonderful story is born.
If you're a storyteller, you probably don't need skills like mine.
But for the average person, a story formula like this can definitely take your article to the next level.
Why do many people like to read the stories of celebrities, there is no doubt that there are mysterious colors in the stories of celebrities.
Maybe the authenticity of the story is not important, the important thing is to shorten the distance with the reader through such a story.
After using the seven steps, what should I do if the story is not exciting enough?
Sometimes I use seven steps, but I still feel that the story is not exciting enough. What should I do?
After the above story uses seven steps, it is indeed decent, but it lacks a little atmosphere in it.
So when you have used the seven steps and want to optimize the story, it is recommended that you use the "dilemma" plot.
What is a "dilemma"?
First, tell a story:
Who do mother and wife save first when they fall into the water?
So, this is called the "dilemma," neither doing this nor doing that.
If you want to optimize the story written at the beginning of the article, you can do so.
"When the young man found out that his partner had secretly met the world's richest man, he really wanted to go over and reveal his true face, but would the richest man believe the young man?
But if you don't expose it, there is no chance.
In the end, the young man comforted himself and said to himself: At least the richest man appreciates my article, and my wish is fulfilled.
So young people give up the opportunity to testify themselves. "Deliberately creating a dilemma plot can stimulate the tension more, and can make your next accident have a more impactful effect. There is a saying in psychology called "Peak-End Law", an experience is impressive, and its peak Moments - the best and worst experiences - and the moment of the end. As for the total length, so good or not bad, we often forget. For example, if you go to Disney for a day, you may be in line most of the time, which is really exciting. There is very little time, but after a few days, you will only remember the wonderful moments. So the dilemma option is added, which can make the last accident more exciting and maximize a person's peak moment.
