Storytelling comes with its own set of challenges and pressure that can often lead us into committing some common mistakes. Here we list a few of these errors, with tips on how to avoid them.
As humans, we tell stories all the time – be it to a group of friends, at a public event, or at a business function. But as soon as we consciously start thinking of telling a story, we freeze. We end up doing something that comes to us naturally in an artificial way. The pressure leads to us making some common storytelling mistakes.
Storytelling can be hard, even for veterans. A Forbes article from 2016 said, “Storytelling is hard, it requires a bit of discipline and distance to know the right amount of detail to include and the temptation is to go for shock value (and then the building blew up!) because that seems like it’s better storytelling – even though it isn’t.”
However, avoiding a few basic Storytelling mistakes can not only help you elevate the narrative but also avoid any jitters and doubts associated with the art.
Talking to Yourself
Don’t tell stories that are interesting only to you. Often, writers tell stories that are important to them but aren’t really relevant to the readers. Tell stories that the audience would take an interest in – the ones that directly affect their lives or about the life they wish they were living.
Too much Dialogue
A lot of storytellers make the mistake of stuffing their stories with too much chatter that doesn’t significantly contribute to the tale. The audience gets bored of the mindless blabber and thus loses interest. Additionally, it’s essential for your dialogue to sound realistic and not overtly literary. As a solution, you can try using ‘indirect dialogue’ which basically means summarizing the conversation in a sentence or two without losing its essence.
For example, instead of many pages of dialogue where Katy’s husband Ross and his buddies make impractical plans to rob a bank, you can just say – “Over a pack of cigarettes, Ross and his buddies planned their insane bank heist. Katy went upstairs and started packing.”
Unrealistic Characters
Characters that are ‘too nice for their own good’ usually don’t resonate with the people. There must be some aspect of the main character that the audience can identify with. She must be from their world or at the very least possess characteristics, values, or challenges they can identify with. She must have flaws so that they can feel her pain. Not even superheroes are perfect.
No Details
When it comes to telling a story in a professional setting, people feel they need to be serious constantly. Hence, the structure is very rational and often cuts out descriptions to solely keep the key pointers. This loses the interest of people, as we know they connect more to tales than facts.
For example, if you’re telling the story of how XYZ Company was founded, don’t start with how one day two men had an epiphany and decided to become entrepreneurs. This builds no foundation and hence no connection. Start by narrating how two young boys dealt with everyday struggles and frustrations, which led them to identify a similar problem in the market and eventually to the development of the current product or service. This will provide a relatable context to the story.
No Conflict
Without conflict, a story is boring and there is no reason for listeners to pay attention. Conflict keeps the action going and your audience interested. Conflict is the key element of story structure because it keeps your protagonist from achieving her goals. There lies the drama and the human
For example – What if Cinderella didn’t have to rush back at midnight and didn’t lose her slipper? What if the prince married her right away without having to chase her? The story wouldn’t be a classic fairytale and just another ‘boy met girl and fell in love’ story. The chase, aka, the conflict makes it a classic.
Inconsistent Emotions
The emotion your story triggers in your audience is what inspires them to take action. Readers need to form an emotional connection with the characters before they care about whether they survive the battle. Otherwise, they might as well be rooting for the opposite team.
Trying too Hard to be Funny
In order to be liked, we often try to make our stories funny. The more people laugh, the better they’re engaged. The tricky part is that the audience knows when you’re trying too hard, and your big haha moments just fall flat. The funniest jokes naturally develop from the commonplace mistakes and frustrations we all encounter in life. It’s founded on reality. The likelihood that someone will laugh at your story about missing your luggage is far higher than it is for some prepared setup or punchline.
For instance, if your story is about your 18th birthday party, an anecdote about how your friends decorated your face with cake would sound funnier than a made-up story about how the cake never got delivered till the last moment.
Constant Editing
Nothing is more important than getting words on the page while writing the first draft. You’ll invariably come to a creative halt if you’re continually self-editing and rereading every sentence you write. Create two independent processes for writing and editing. By doing this, you’ll be able to write more freely and help yourself get past any moments of self-doubt that would otherwise happen.
Pleasing Everyone
In our attempt to please everyone, we manage to please no one. A very easy trap to fall into is to forcefully build a story around whichever genre is the most popular at that point. Own your market by concentrating as precisely as you can on one goal; from there, you can always expand. It’s impossible to find the heart of something if it’s too big.
For example, if you narrate a story about how the biotechnology sector is going to be the root of scientific development in the coming years, you cannot expect folks from outside the science arena to be interested. But that’s okay because that is a community of its own that can garner a lot of attention for you.
No Sense of Setting
It’s a common mistake to miss the necessity of setting up the scene since you’re so focused on advancing your plot and reaching the next significant scene in your story. A strong sense of place is essential for grounding your story and characters in the real world. Provide your readers or listeners with a sense of the life and activities that surround your key characters. Show them the locations where their lives are taking place.
Don’t Be Afraid To Take Hard Calls
As writers or narrators, we tend to be extremely attached to our stories. But it is important to identify and more importantly, to accept when a piece of content isn’t working out. You might love the story, but for whatever reason, it is just not clicking and that is alright. It’s time to take the story out of your
For instance, one of the funniest moments of my life was when I was running to catch a train and ended up taking a terrible fall. Back when it happened me and my friends could not stop laughing. But every time I narrate this story, there is little to no reaction. Even worse, people tend to give me lectures on how unsafe it is to run on a railway state. It took me some time to come to terms with the fact that this story is only funny to me and my friends who were there with me at that moment. It is now an inside joke that we friends reminisce and laugh about once in a while – but that’s it.
While these are some common mistakes, you can also take time and analyze your own stories. See if you find any scope for improvement and work on it.
It’s not just the story that matters; it’s also how you tell it. Give your audience the time to process the information, understand your point, and reflect on what it implies for them. Simultaneously, be patient with yourself – not every story is going to be great and that is alright. Stay at it, till you find your rhythm and the story flows.
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