Storytelling is a very beautiful and old art practiced all over the world. It’s an art of interest, learning, and passion.
It is a very old tradition as nowadays with the growth of technology facilities and newer methods of storytelling like e-books or smart apps, the method of storytelling is fading away day by day.
Still, if you insist on continuing your career as a story teller then you must work very hard for this. This old age tradition is not much popular with everyone.
What is Storytelling?
Storytelling can be defined as a process of conveying a message to the audience with the help of few facts and effective narrative style. The story is a art form of communication with the audience in order to make sure that the core message is passed on successfully.
Components of Storytelling:
The components of storytelling clearly provides an outline on what exactly stories are,
- Narrative in nature
- The motivational factor of the team
- What does your brand defines
- About the clients
- It is engaging
- Emotional
- Beginning followed by Crisis and finally Resolution
- Communication between brand and clients
Purpose of Telling Stories:
There can be many reasons for storytelling, some of them being, to pass on an message, to share information, to entertain , to promote something etc. Though all this can be done in other forms but storytelling does this in a effective way.
- Stories bring people together
- Stories help them get motivated
- Stories are inspirational
- Stories pass on positive attitude
What Makes a Good Story?
The answer for it depends upon the audience or the reader or the individual who is receiving the story. The good and bad completely depends upon the mindset,their thinking process and ideology towards a specific topic.
Now generally the basis of a story depends upon three major factors and they are,
- Character
- Conflict
- Resolution
Moreover to define what makes a story good, we need to consider the below mentioned unique features
Basically, Good stories need to be
- Educational
- Entertaining
- Informational
- Organized
- Universal
- Memorable
Process of Storytelling:
When talking about storytelling process, it is creative, engaging art form of interaction. This can be made more productive with right vision and continuous practice.
Here are few tips which one needs to follow for performing a productive storytelling process.
- Research the market well
- Understand your audience
- Defining the core message
- Set up a call to action
- Writing
- Share and promote your story
- Determining the story type
- One which educates
- Collaboration
- Fostering community
- Conveying value
- telling about your life experience
- Triggering action
8. Pick a story medium which suits best
- Digital story
- Audio story
- Spoken story
- Written story
Highly Effective Storytelling Techniques:
If the person is too good to attract people’s attention and lure them to hear what he/she is saying then that person is worth taking the job. The kids are the easiest one to attract as an audience as their innocent mind is more imaginative and interested in hearing about new things.
The teenagers and adults as we know are less creative and rather less interested in hearing those stories and making them hear your words is harder than the previous one.
Storytelling is beautiful yet lost art which needs to be revived again. It is not such an easy task and we all know that. So first if you want to revive this art, you must perfect it within yourself. Be such a master in this tradition of story reciting that others will be compelled on admiring your knowledge and skill. Here are a few steps to make you reach your goal a little faster and easier.
1. Show your talent wherever you can:
If you are a good storyteller, never miss the chance of showing it off. Do as much you can. Practice a lot between audiences and people so that you can get better day by day and polish your skills.
Of course, as you are a beginner you must perform it for free for few times but as you get more and more renowned, paid performances will occur each and every time. Never lose hope and give up on this job as it needs more perseverance and talent.
2. Have a storytelling event or club at your school or college:
It is not necessary that work will come to you on its own. If it is hard finding you a job then make a job out of your talent on its own. Take the first step by making a storytelling club or an event so that you can share your talents with others.
It can be any local area in which you select a theme and tell stories accordingly. Don’t make the story too long as it will be boring for many people.
3. Luring topic:
Don’t keep a romantic theme as it is very frequently used topic; choose something like adventure and mystery kind of theme which can irk the curious minds.
Be an active member of your club and perform various events on daily basis. This will help you gain acknowledgment and more job opportunities. Make sure the topic each time is a new and good one.
4. Attend storytelling events:
Have a look at the different storytelling festivals and learn to polish your talents even more. Learn new ways from them, participate in different events and compete to know your flaws and learn new things from the other participants. There must be something you are missing while doing your job.
It is easy to know when you watch other people. So listen to them carefully and pay attention to their good points and make sure to use them well. The new ideas or stories will also inspire you to create new things for your own and use it in the future.
5. Read more:
Reading more and more of fiction or non-fiction stories will help you to improve your ideas and know what makes the stories more interesting and good to read. Learn how to bind the readers or listeners to your story and use that while you are reciting your own stories.
Learn how to frame your story in an interesting way to move your audience. Play smart and try to learn from reading something you like. Learn how to properly deliver a story and you can do that if you read properly. Be a learner first then only you can teach others.
6. Create your own podcast:
The podcast is downloadable audio in which you can say or recite your story. It is one of the best ways to let others know your talent. You can add music or any other audio on your own so that it can create a good effect for the storytelling. Consult a sound engineer to make a podcast as it is not so easy to make one.
If you want a good attractive one then take help of an engineer. You can also do a simple podcast in your home with your microphone and earphone and share it as much as possible.
7. Get feedback:
Get feedback from various famous actors, directors, storytellers or writers. Ask what did they like and what are the faults and try to rectify them. Continuously keep on trying to make your story more attractive, listenable and good. This will help you to get to goal a little faster than before.
There is no point in taking feedback from an unknown person but yes of course also hear to your audience request and observe what kind of stories does our audience would like to hear. Work accordingly.
8. Have good timing:
Laugh when there is a comic part in your story. Don’t rush with the story or else the audience will lose the story midway. If the joke doesn’t get through the listeners or audience doesn’t laugh or overreact, you can take a pause and wait or else you should continue with your story.
Pause between the lines and breath evenly to give the audience the impression that you are very comfortable and telling the story with ease. Always wait for the reactions whenever you are going to reveal a mystery or shocking conclusion. This will irk the interest of the audience.
9. Shorten it up:
If you have limited time never go for the stories which are lengthier than the time given because if you do so then when you race through the story, the audience won’t like it. If you are going to put something very important in some part of your story, make sure to emphasize it with your speech.
If you want to set the mood of that story, emphasis on the parts which relate to the story’s emotions. Try to improve your timing not only in the story but also between two or more stories. Don’t recite two long stories at the same time. Your listeners need to reset their attention and creativity.
10. Keep the story fixed on the theme:
Keep your stories revolving around the theme you have decided. Don’t run off to some other theme and lose the main goal of the story. Keep reminding yourself about the storyline and keep revising it so that you don’t lose sight of the topic.
Always rehearse before delivering your story as they can point out your faults and you can know if in some places you are off the theme and later can work on that. Deliver your story in such a way that the audience will be able to understand your points and view.
Let other close members give you some advice as it is necessary to know the interest of the audience. Put the narration or the flow of the story in a logical way so that the audience can understand it better.
11. A good body language:
Having a good body language and moving your body to signify a certain thing will always help you to engage the audience. Move your hands up and down, move while you are in stage and let others know how comfortable you are.
If you are telling others about a flying bird then you can signal to the sky or can move your hands above swiftly over your head to signify about the ‘flying’. But never overdo it as it will not look good. Don’t move too much as the audience’s attention will only be your movement then, not your story.
Your voice will also fluctuate if you move too much. You are a storyteller, not an actor. So do your part but also keep the attention of your spectators on you. Nobody would like to hear a statue before a mike.
12. Act confident while delivering your story:
Even if you are worried or nervous, don’t let the audience know it or else it will be the end. Keep your voice commanding and pleasing, don’t let your voice shiver. Keep your eyes forward and head up and never look directly into the eyes of the audience.
Whenever you take a pause never use words like ‘hmm, umm, uh, yeah, anyways, okay’ etc. this will make you look more nervous or worried. Be energetic whenever trying to tell a story and try to imitate the voice of characters if you wish to or else the story will sound monotonous.
13. Learn or add music if possible:
It will be a good thing if you can add music in your storytelling as it will make the story more easy to understand or the feelings of the story will be easy to convey. Like if the part of the story is a tragic one then you can add a sad piece of music or a song that will help the audience to relate better to the story.
Musical storytelling isn’t that easy but if you are sure that you can, then you must as it will add a different feeling to your story.
14. Have an awesome story:
If you don’t have an awesome storyline no matter what you do these all won’t help you at all. Work on your storylines. Listen to your own story and decipher whether it is interesting enough or not. This will help you to realize your own mistakes and faults. Everyone can’t become an artist but if you want to be one then work hard.
A lame or casual story won’t be liked by the audience and therefore won’t help you to get any better in your profession. Always create a great story and try to improvise it more.
So by using these methods you can feel free and learn more to improvise your skills and attract more spectators. Storytelling isn’t an easy job but if you do it right then you can surely excel in your field.
Everyone needs to work hard to achieve their aim they have set and surely, all the storytellers have their own aim too. So, a huge amount of work is necessary to get established as an artist. The artist finds a tough time searching their place in society so never lose hope and keeps on working.
Master the Art of Storytelling:
Always pay attention on the interest of the customers or audience as you are doing it for them, not for yourself. An artist is the only person who works very hard to convey his feelings and can also ignite the emotions of other people. Be proud to be an artist and work hard to maintain that tradition with happiness in your heart.
As it is said that eyes and body language says it all, so make sure to carefully look into those points and work accordingly. Work on your speech and talking capabilities. If you are an introvert then don’t let others know, but if you are an extrovert then never let it reflect on your story as it will backfire on you.
Deliver whatever you want with an expression matching your current feelings of the story-line. Never laugh during a tragic part or have a dull face during a happy moment as it will kill the mood of the spectators.
So try these above techniques to its best and master the art of storytelling in a jiffy and without difficulty.
Storytelling Resources:
Digital story:
Vimeo’s video school
Audio story:
Huspot’s guide on how to start podcast
Spoken story:
Written story:
Hubspot’s list of writing tools
Effective Visual Storytelling Techniques:
Visual form of storytelling process works well when compared to text version of the same. Beautifying visuals impacts the audience mind effectively. Such form of content storytelling triggers people to take action and it is very inspiring.
Here are few tips to make your visual storytelling work out for your text content.
- Start with your best visual to grab the attention
- Showcase dynamic movement
- Tell the complete story
- Make use of superheroes
- Understand the importance of visual hierarchy
- Make use of light
- Utilize the concept of color psychology
- Use visual metaphors to convey the context
- Direct your readers’s eyes
- End with a credible visual
- Your final message should serve the purpose
