On a daily basis, we listen through various presentations filled with engaging facts and inquisitive statistical data. Most of these bulleted data points get lost in the magnitude of facts thrown at us over a 45 minute period. When this is over, you might ask yourself–what the hell just happened?
Non stories may provide important information, but stories have a unique power to move people emotionally and move them to take action. If you don’t believe me, take a look at Tell to Win by Peter Guber. A book about purposeful stories that can serve as powerful calls to action. Think about when you watch a great movie. You listen intently for two hours straight. Not talking, commenting, moving or worrying about the world around you. You’re fully engaged in the story being told.
Last week, I attended the Mckee Story Seminar in New York city. Four intense days of listening to Robert Mckee speak about the principles involved in the art and craft of story design.
Here are some things I learned that could be applied to all writers telling a story:
- Writing story is an art form
- Quality story structure demands creativity; it cannot be reduced to simple formulas that impose a rigid number of mandatory story elements.
- Write alternate scenarios for each draft
- Never repeat yourself – it gets boring
- Trash something if it’s not great
- It’s all about turning points
- Characters need to experience things they have never experienced before
- Conflict is to story as sound is to music
- Don’t write what your audience expects
- Write vividly
These are a just a few things I learned at the seminar and if I list everything, I’m sure most of it would just get lost in the magnitude.
