We live in a world filled with stories. The muse storytelling we read, the ones that we hear, and the ones we experience. Stories shape our life stories and give us a sense of recognition, appreciation, and enlightenment. They also have a way of spreading like wildfire or viral as we call them today. Storytelling is a powerful form of communication. It is used to share ideas and information or to entertain an audience. Few simple tips for storytelling can be used for many purposes, that will help you entertain and aware your audience.
There are many ways to tell a story, and the most compelling stories are those that leave the audience wanting more. But not all stories have the same effect. Many people have a hard time telling engaging stories that hold their audiences’ attention. So, we have brought you ten tips for crafting a successful story that will capture your audience’s attention and leave them wanting more!
Focus on your audience, Give them what they want
One of the first tips for storytelling is to focus on your audience will help you improve your storytelling and help to avoid many common pitfalls. One way to ensure you deliver your message to your audience is to keep interacting with them that will help you understand them. This provides you with an idea of what your audience is interested in, allowing you to target your content specifically to them.
This makes it easier to get their attention because you are directly targeting the one person who will be motivated to act on your specific story. You have to know your story inside and out before you begin telling it. Also, you must know it well enough to deliver it without worrying about any of the inevitable problems you might encounter.
Use the correct language, tone
Every story has a different tone to match. It is not a word that every writer is familiar with. However, the tone of stories and the information you communicate to your audience affect the meaning behind your words. A monotonous, emotionless, flat story can make your audience leave without gaining anything from your initiative. If you’re using a quick response story, your tone can play a very important role in terms of engagement.
In some cases, you might want to use the story to emphasize a message. The way you use language will affect the length of your story, the depth of your story, and how many people will understand and interact with that message after reading it. For more information about the tone of your writing, check out the seven ways to perfect your writing tone.
Make a connection and hook them early
Most people will only watch a movie or listen to a story if they already know the director or actor or know the storyteller. Ask yourself why someone is going to pay to watch something that they don’t even know. If you don’t have a great audience that will captivate your story, try to create an emotional connection with your viewers, followers, or social network.
Your audience should feel like they are not only getting to know the characters, but you are taking them to a new world or into a new emotion. Give your audience motivation to explore your character. Offer different perspectives from your life, different from the cliche life, and different from the current surroundings.
Give your audience what they need or desire to be happy, which will help them develop an interest in your stories.
Reveal secrets slowly
Another important tips for storytelling incudes a point on secrets. Good stories usually contain more information than the audience expects. While the story should be engaging, it shouldn’t be so surprising that the audience doesn’t remember it. The trick is to reveal only as much as it needs to be exposed. Avoid going too far and revealing too much. Mentor your readers throughout the journey of the story.
Some people have trouble telling a good story because they tell the story in a self-centered way. Instead of letting your audience hear how the story revolves around you, ask yourself what your audience is concerned about. Do they want to know the backstory, or do they want to hear how things will go down? Begin with the end in mind. Continue the story with the right amount of suspense and revelation.
Create suspense
As human beings, we want to know what will happen next. So, if you are creating a story meant to captivate your audience, it is essential to create suspense and a sense of anticipation. Create tension as the story unfolds by placing your characters in impossible situations.
You should create a sense of mystery and keep the audience guessing as to what will happen next. As a storytelling author, you must have a grasp of your story better than anyone.
You don’t have to capture all the attention at once, leaving the audience wanting more; you also don’t need to tell your story in a logical progression. You don’t have to have the plot to create an engaging story. Every story is different so try to capture the essence of a story, not produce something complex.
Build the tension
Your story has to be interesting, but they will quickly lose interest if you don’t keep feeding your audience. Whether you are telling a suspenseful horror story or writing a story about yourself, you must build up interest throughout the story to draw in your audience.
Focus on your character. You have to make your personality or the unfolding situation interesting enough for your audience to want to know what happens next. In most storytelling initiatives, the main character is not necessarily a hero but rather a commoner who can relate with many people.
Add an unexpected twist to keep them guessing
Adding an unexpected twist to your story can keep people guessing until the very end. Little clues will allude to the surprise, and their brain will begin to search for the answer. Leave out crucial pieces of the story that are needed to complete it until the end. Add suspense to the end of your story and keep them guessing.
A simple twist on an already well-known story will grab their attention and keep them guessing as to what is to come. Avoid boring your audience with repetitious facts. People don’t enjoy reading about the same event or the same life experiences over and over. There’s no need to bore your audience with information they are already aware of. The key is to give the story an angle that requires them to think on their feet.
Give readers closure while leaving them wanting more
If you want to leave your readers wanting more, you need to give them what they are looking for. By leaving them wanting more, you are setting yourself up for a great writing opportunity. For example, in the form of sequels and other crossovers, you can leave your readers wanting more because they still have questions they want to be answered.
For example, ask yourself, “What happens next?” and create a story around the hints you left before. When you make a cliffhanger, you leave them wanting more and want them to continue reading. When a character is talking to someone, use the present tense. But also use both past and present tense when describing a story as you can create more stories around it.
Twist endings are encouraged
Don’t give your audience a short story that quickly turns back into history. Tell them an interesting twist, which adds a new dimension to the story. Maybe something unexpected happens that makes your story better. Use a climax and conclusion instead of an ending and begin. Surprise your audience.
Tell your story without revealing any of the major plot points upfronts. First, tell them about the beginning. Then, have them follow your main character or witnesses through the story without ever telling them the “WHY?” as if they are watching a movie on TV. Make the people around them talk about the protagonist so that they can provide details of the story. Then end with a fantastic twist at the very end.
Consider all channels for distribution
Our last tips for storytelling is that consider all of the different ways you can get your story out to the public. I can almost guarantee that someone will be more excited to tell you what they would like to read your story on a specific platform. So you might want to get outside your comfort zone and seek out all potential platforms to get your story out. There are a lot of different mediums like best storytelling podcasts to consider for your storytelling effort.
You can use four different methods of distributing the story such as podcasts, Live telecast, social media, and website. None of those channels is a bad choice, so try each one. Engage and anticipate the audience on different platforms. Next, you need to make sure that you use the appropriate medium to engage and answer audience questions or concerns.
Conclusion
Oftentimes, business owners and entrepreneurs don’t know how to tell compelling stories and really convey their message in a captivating manner. The best way to craft an entertaining story is to write down the first thing you think of when you think of the solution to your problem and then read that in a passionate and compelling way.
Start your story off with a bold opening that makes it clear to the listener that the story has to be told. If your listener asks for more details about the story you just told, offer more details and try to make your story more interesting. It’s easier to change the direction of a story that has already been started.
We can read books on storytelling, quotes about storytelling, join free storytelling courses to refine our skills, or simply read the power of storytelling- Why and how to tell your story for more details.
Now that you have read the tips for storytelling till end, you are ready to start your storytelling!