How to Build Stories? Explained in The Art of Storytelling

A researcher once proposed a game to a set of kids from a tribe in Africa. He placed a basket of sweets near a tree and announced that whosoever reaches the tree first wins the sweet. In contrast, the children made a circular ring holding hands running to the tree together, and dividing all the sweets among themselves. When the researcher asked the reason for this, the children said they are "Ubuntu", which means together we are one. This is the motivation for the software operating company to create a system named "Ubuntu" 

Stories work on all levels of the brains of audiences and hence are impactful. They grip the audience's attention in a way similar to the graph shown below:

Let’s get started to understand a framework that explains the graph above:

That was an insightful video. Let’s summarise what you have learnt from this video: 

• Do not forget to mention the basic elements of a story, which are as follows: 
  • Place: Mention the place where the story unfolds. The place should be mentioned at the beginning of your presentation or speech; for example, ‘on a cold windy night in New York’. Here, the place is mentioned at the very start, and this helps in capturing the audiences’ attention.
  • Time: You should always mention the time of the story. Audience indulgence increases if they know the proper time and place of the story, and they are able to picture that in their minds.
  • Protagonist: You must also mention the person or the group of people around whom the story shapes up and takes place. It conveys the proper message to the audience and evokes relevant emotions.
  • Details: Never forget to mention the important details of the story. In the absence of details, your audience will start losing interest in your speech or presentation.
• The OSCRE framework for storytelling is a very helpful tool. Let’s have a look at it: 
  • Objective: Develop your story around a clear objective that you want to convey through the story.
  • Situation: The situations and circumstances in your story should match and complement the objective.
  • Complication: Your story must have a sense of problem and complication. It is only in the presence of a complication that you will be able to pave the way for the next element of the framework, that is, resolution. 
  • Resolution: There must be a proper resolution of the problem in your story. Otherwise, your audience will start questioning you, and as a result, your credibility will suffer.
  • End: Give a bona fide ending to your story. This will make your audience think differently, which, in turn, will start changing them.

In the next segment, Rakesh will explain how you can effectively apply all the frameworks that you have learnt so far under speech writing.

Additional Resources:

• Checklist and Resources for Strategic Storytelling
• Checklist for Creating a Great Story