what's your story: engaging your readers with the power of storytelling
TRANSCRIPT
WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Harnessing the Power of Story to Engage Your Readers
CINDY REED
Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher
CINDYREED.ME
@REEDSTER2
WORDCAMP ATLANTA
MARCH 27-29, 2015
Why should bloggers tell stories?
© 2014 Cindy Reed Photo by Allan Ajifo/ CC BY
Story engages.
“The brain of the person telling a story and the person listening to
it can synchronize.”
~ Leo Widrich
“The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains”
(December 5, 2012 Lifehacker)
© 2014 Cindy Reed
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Spin a good yarn and your readers will:
Linger.
Dig through your archives.
Share your stuff.
Come back for more.
Story persuades.
“Facts tell, but stories sell.”
~ Bryan Eisenberg
“Content Marketing: Superheroes Teach the Art of Storytelling” (ClickZ)
© 2014 Cindy Reed
WHAT IS STORY?
© 2014 Cindy Reed
THE STORY EQUATION
Story = Conflict + Narrative Structure
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Conflict is You vs. Something.
Without conflict, nothing would happen.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
CONFLICT
Story is more than an emotion or an idea.
“This happened and I was sad
or angry or elated” is NOT a story.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
© 2014 Cindy Reed
EXAMPLE: EMOTION VS. STORY
Gardening is peaceful.
“As my life spiraled into
chaos, I tended my garden:
the one constant keeping
my soul intact.”
Story is more than a sales pitch.
“Use our services because of
these five bullet points” is NOT a story.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
© 2014 Cindy Reed
EXAMPLE: SALES VS. STORY
Buy my scarves on Etsy
because they’re awesome.
“I perched on a rickety
stool, memorizing the way
my grandmother’s
leathered hands scraped
the wool between the
carding boards.”
Story is not simply reporting facts.
Chronologies, straight reporting, and
instructions are NOT stories.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
A
happy
birthday party
is
not
a story.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
HOW DO WE TELL STORIES ON OUR BLOGS?
IN A FLASH = 500 WORDS (OR SO)
© 2014 Cindy Reed
What is flash nonfiction?
DON’T tell your story
quickly.
DO tell a story with ONE
core concept.
EDIT until your story is
blog-sized: 400-600
words.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Break it down.
Wool
• Visited farm to shear sheep
• Grandma taught to card wool
Dyes
• Learned which berries to use
• Harvested berries on hike
Knitting
• Chooses patterns from art.
• Knits as mindful meditation
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
© 2014 Cindy Reed
STORY REQUIRES STRUCTURE.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
“Not every word that comes out of our
mouths is a story.
Story is narrative.”
~ Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher:
Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story
(New World Library 2007)
© 2014 Cindy Reed
In the beginning…
© 2014 Cindy Reed
JUMP IN.
Don’t tell the reader what
you’re going to tell them
Start when your story
starts
Short first paragraph
© 2014 Cindy Reed
THE NARRATIVE HOOK
© 2014 Cindy Reed Photo by Beta-J / CC BY
THE PURPOSE OF THE FIRST SENTENCE
© 2014 Cindy Reed
“[T]he first line exists for one reason and one reason only: to compel the reader to read the second line.”
Michael Larson, “Great Opening Lines: How to Grab Readers and Never Let Them Go” (San Francisco Writers’ Conference, March 23, 2011)
http://sfwriters.org/blog/great-opening-lines-how-to-grab-readers-and-never-let-them-go/
FIRST SENTENCE | CONFLICT, SETTING JEANNETTE WALLS, THE GLASS CASTLE
© 2014 Cindy Reed
“I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.”
© 2014 Cindy Reed
WORDY
“I was flying from Asheville to
Las Vegas, connecting through
Atlanta, on my way to speak at
a conference that is literally
called BACON.”
PUNCHY
“I dropped into the window
seat, on the wing.
The exit row.”
The middle.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
THE MIDDLE | THE RISING ACTION
Flesh out obstacles in the protagonist’s path.
Show characters grow and change.
Create tension leading to the climatic moment.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
~ Mark Twain
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Show, don’t tell.
Example 1: Crowded Taekwondo Author: Cindy Reed of The Reedster Speaks
Telling Showing
It was crowded at my
daughter’s taekwondo
class.
The backside of a backpacked dad poked into me, uncomfortably adjacent to my face.
~ Cindy Reed “The Layered Look Only Works if You Wear Layers”
(The Reedster Speaks, Jan. 16, 2014)
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Example 2: Grandma’s Old Car Author: Louise Ducote of Hair of the Dogs
Telling Showing
My grandmother gave
me her old car.
She was wide-hipped and thirsty and I called her Bertha after the Grateful Dead song … . [A] two-tone ’72 Cutlass handed down from my grandma.
~ Louise Ducote, “Here, This is for you”
(Hair of the Dogs, June 18, 2102)
© 2014 Cindy Reed
… and in the end.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Reaching equilibrium.
“In life, we long for equilibrium. . . . But in stories,
when equilibrium is achieved, the story ends.”
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon
http://allaboutwritingcourses.com/online/online-creative-writing/
KNOW WHEN TO STOP.
No Neat Bows
© 2014 Cindy Reed
No Navel Gazing
No Summing Up
Photo by jayneandd / CC BY
Example: The Accident
Too much:
“Should I have done more?
Aren’t we defined by the
choices we make, in the blink
of an eye?”
Just right:
“When the local news called
today, I declined to be
interviewed on camera.”
Follow the Coco Chanel rule.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Find your voice.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
WHAT IS VOICE?
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Making your story sound like you.
Making your story sound like what’s in your head.
DON’T write like you talk.
Write like you ARE.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Discovering your Voice.
What’s your personality?
How do you speak?
How does your mind work?
What do you think about?
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Informal Voice | The Reedster Speaks
“We stood in line behind all of America. A woman
dripping with perspiration and toddlers learned the hard
way that the orchard only took cash. A man towed a
Radio Flyer wagon overflowing with apples. The Duggars
couldn’t have eaten that many apples in a lifetime.”
Cindy Reed, “Apple Hell: A Fun Fall Family Tradition” (The Reedster Speaks Sept. 10, 2014)
Lyrical Voice | Bill Dameron
“When we drive along the
rocky coast of Maine and
watch the green ocean
swell like it is a living
being larger than eternity
I do not say it.”
Bill Dameron, “Don’t Say It”
(The Authentic Life Jan. 5, 2014)
Minimalist Voice | Michelle Longo
My mother would twist her hair at the nape,
secure it with one barrette, and walk around
with a wet washcloth around her neck.
If I aggravated her, she’d simply say,
‘Michelle, it’s hot.’
~ Michelle Longo, “I Am Not Safe”
(The Journey, Sept. 26, 2013)
The takeaway.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
© 2014 Cindy Reed
WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
CINDY REED Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher
http://cindyreed.me
www.reedsterspeaks.com
[email protected] © 2014 Cindy Reed Image © 2014 Julia Spencer
Resources for writers.
© 2014 Cindy Reed
THE EDITING PROCESS
© 2014 Cindy Reed
BE THE READER
1. TELL A STORY. Is it more than an emotion, an opinion, or a bunch of facts?
2. READ FOR MEANING. Are you saying what you mean?
3. CHECK YOUR STRUCTURE. Do you have a clear beginning, middle, and end?
4. DON’T BE BORING. Are you using the storyteller’s toolkit to keep it interesting?
5. CUT IT OUT. Can you ditch fancy words, summary, and exposition?
PROOFREADING CHECKLIST
Are you using the correct verb tense?
Are you preferring the active voice?
Do your subjects and verbs agree in number?
Do your nouns and pronouns agree in number, case, and gender?
Is the antecedent clear?
Is your punctuation correct?
Have you double-checked apostrophes, quotation marks, and
parentheses?
Are you correctly using commas?
Is your spelling correct?
Have you checked for homonyms, commonly confused words,
typos, and missing or doubled words/letters?
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Resources | Writing
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius within You by Ray Bradbury
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
The Situation and The Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick
Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussion on Story Writing by Ursula LeGuin
Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by Jon Franklin
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser
© 2014 Cindy Reed
Resources | Grammar
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed
by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White
Grammar Girl: Quick & Dirty Tips http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl
© 2014 Cindy Reed