3 ways to find the details that make your story lively
There is nothing like flying into Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and looking down and seeing the particular Dutch landscape. As the plane descends over the North Sea, the coastline comes into view and as it flies ever lower, the shapes of fields and cities emerge. If we’re lucky, our flight path goes over Haarlem and I […]
Learn Malcolm Gladwell’s Most Valuable Storytelling Tool
Malcolm Gladwell is a 56-year-old Canadian living in New York City, a runner who loves cars, and probably our most popular public intellectual. Except that he isn’t really a public intellectual, he’s a storyteller. That’s how he describes himself, a storyteller. I’ve been a Gladwell fan for a long time. According to my reading journal, […]
11 Journals You Could Start Keeping Today
A consistent writing practice is the key to getting comfortable with words and sentences and paragraphs and, ultimately, stories. When people tell me they have an English language test and ask for advice, I tell them to read as much as they can in English to get the patterns of the language into their heads. […]
January 2020 Book Reviews
Last week, I promised you an article about setting goals this week. I’m putting it off. First of all, I came up with a brilliant idea for a giveaway that I want to take time with. Also, I have been on a more serious reading bender than usual and wanted to share what I’ve been […]
How to use personal stories in professional presentations
I wrote this article on a writing retreat I took a couple of weeks ago. It was my first writing retreat and I used some new technology. I wrote the first draft of this blog post in a hotel room, talking to my computer ! I felt like a fool, at least as foolish as […]
Navigating the Middle of your Story
The middle of a story seems like it could be intuitive. It’s the “and then, and then, and then” part of the story where you tell your audience about the series of events that leads you hero from the beginning, through the turning point, and on to the climax of the story. Now, if you spend […]
Start your Story Right
My friends, this post is part of a series about story structure. You can catch the overview of story structure and separate posts about the hero and goal in your story by clicking those links. They’ll help you out if you haven’t read them already. We’re going to talk about the beginning of your story. […]
The Story Diagram at the Core of the StoryCraft Method
Today, I want to give you a tool for improving your stories. It’s a diagram to show you what your story should look like. I draw it on chalkboards and flip charts and white boards and paper everywhere! This diagram is the core of my approach to storytelling. I use it to plan my stories […]
What the 10-year challenge teaches us about storytelling
The beginning of 2019 gave us the 10-year-challenge on social media. It’s a simple task to participate, you post a picture of yourself now and ten years ago online, add a catchy caption (or not) and you’re in. It’s been discussed as a way to show off your great fortune,potential data mining event, and a […]
Show, don’t tell to bring your hero to life!
updated 28 June 2023 The image of a woman walking into the distance, carrying a bucket away from her body, like someone used to carrying heavy loads has lived in my mind for decades. The source of the image escapes me, but the author used the show don’t tell rule so well that I’ve never […]