Why most content managers haven’t got a clue and what really constitutes a story.

 

The first question I ask whenever some corporate type mentions the word “storytelling” is:

“What’s your definition of a story?”

I’ve been at this writing lark for the best part of two decades and, in reply, I’ve got plenty of “uhms”, “uhs” and general blathering but I have yet to receive a proper answer.

This is the reason imposter syndrome is such a thing, because the business world is full of bullshit merchants and many of them don’t have a clue and they know it. The higher up the corporate pyramid you climb the more buzzword busy bullshittery they spew.

Sometimes a brave soul will have a go at an explanation of storytelling and it’s usually this:

“A story has a beginning, middle and an end.”

Get the Hell out of here with that one, I’ve heard it a million times and it only aggravates my high blood pressure.

What do you do with that advice? It’s like saying a dog has a nose, four legs and a tail and then wondering why Cooper the Corgi won’t sit when you command it.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: advice is not advice if it isn’t actionable.

Beginning, middle and end; front, left and centre; Huey, Dewey and Louie. Blaah, blaah, blaah.

What is not a story?

In the interests of time and as four minutes is about the ideal length of a Medium post, I’ll have to stretch this out a bit so I’ll start with what a story is not:

1. A metaphor
2. An analogy
3. Simile

I mention these because some people seem to think that adding a metaphor/analogy/simile in an article constitutes storytelling — it doesn’t.

All of the above are storytelling tools. Just like a spanner is a tool you can use to fix a problem in your car, but you can’t hop on said spanner like you were John Wayne and ride it to work, or if you did, you’d look rather silly and no doubt end up in a discussion with HR.

I once had a colleague editing one of my drafts and he went and took out an analogy saying, “I don’t like this storytelling stuff”. Well, he was a former management consultant and everyone knows they don’t understand written English, they only understand PowerPoint, so he gets forgiven for his ignorance.

However, forgiveness does not mean you get away with being a nincompoop, so I asked him the question (you know it by now): “What’s your definition of a story?”

Long story short, my analogy went straight back to where it belonged, in the article.

Okay, I’ve gone on about it long enough and you’ve been plenty patient so let me give you the definition of a story. For those of you not familiar with storytelling, you can use the below as a basic template for a story.

Our minds are designed to remember in story format, so getting these basics down is a great start to writing articles that your readers will remember.

The 4 things that make a story

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a story as:

“a description, either true or imagined, of a connected series of events”

This is a good definition, but for a writer telling a story it doesn’t provide enough actionable advice to frame a compelling story.

For a story to have any chance of being compelling it must contain four things. If these four things aren’t present, then a writer doesn’t have a story.

So here goes. Remember, no such thing as a story without these four:

1. Scene
2. Character
3. Conflict
4. Resolution

In every single story ever told throughout history those four things are present.

Now, for all you pros, you might be thinking of a three-act structure, the hero’s journey, the Fichtean Curve or some other form of story structure, that’s fine, but note that all those structures contain the four things mentioned above.

Let’s take two examples from the most popular story genres: romance and action. First, we add a scene and then:

Romance: Boy meets girl (characters), boy loses girl (conflict), boy finds girl (resolution). Nowadays it could of course be boy meets boy/girl meets girl/they meets they.

Action: Good guy meets bad guy (characters), Bad guy hurts good guy (conflict), good guy kicks the ever-living shit out of the bad guy in true Hollywood fashion. Flexing of muscles, squealing of tyres, guns, explosions, Hooyah! Go ‘Murica (resolution). Cue the Star Spangled Banner.

Both of the above examples have a scene, character(s), conflict and resolution.

Using storytelling in business writing

The business world is full of stories, great stories in fact, it’s just that you have so many execs who don’t know what a story is.

As an example, let’s take my usual beat, investment writing, which deals with financial markets (scene) where investors (characters) are involved in both local and global events (conflict) that affect the value of assets that investors then decide to buy or sell (resolution).

See, there’s a story there, it’s not yet a good story but, by definition, a story nonetheless.

Now, if you want to turn what is a burgeoning story into an exciting story, you employ a guy like me who can then find a unique angle within that story to make it exciting, entertaining and educational for your audience’s reading pleasure.

My point here is that storytelling was, is and always will be a compelling way of getting your message across. Ever since we sat around a campfire in groups we have told stories to teach and entertain. Storytelling is in our DNA, so receiving information in a storytelling format is the strongest way to communicate to your intended audience.

While business executives use storytelling as a buzzword, without really understanding what it is, you can use storytelling as the communication engine that drives business to you.