Is your storytelling missing THIS key ingredient?

As you know, I sincerely believe that your story matters. But what do I really mean by “story”?

A story is an experience.

It’s not just the specific writing or information that creates a story. (i.e. the stuff in your head.)

It’s how all of these things work together to create an experience for someone else.

Think about that for a moment: all your communication efforts add up to an experience for whomever you’re communicating with.

What kind of an experience do you want your reader to have?

I believe this is a really important consideration in storytelling (and it’s often missed).

Because when we remember that it’s not just about OUR story but also THEIR story – the person we’re communicating with – we can focus on making that a better story for them.

And that’s how we have real impact with the people we seek to serve.

Doing this requires some extra thinking and exploration, though. It means we can’t just focus on the story we want to tell.

We must ruthlessly consider our readers, and the kind of experience we want to give them...

...and the experience THEY want to get.

In other words, the secret ingredient you might be missing is your reader.

So, with that in mind, here are some of the questions I ask myself (and my clients) when it comes to any storytelling project.

First I ask:
Who are you communicating with? (Who is the reader, participant, listener, etc.)

Then I explore:

• What’s the situation they’re currently in?
• What are they struggling with?
• What are they doing here? What do they hope to get?
• What do they need to feel/think/do at the end of this experience?
• What will make them feel successful?
• What are their signs of progress?
• What do they need to keep going? Keep reading, keep showing up, keep believing?
• What do they need next – at every stage of the communication experience?

You can use the above questions as prompts before, during, and after you draft your story, book, or written communications.

As you can see, I’m not just focusing on the story I want to tell, or even what I want readers to know.

Instead, I’m imagining and empathizing with their experience, which informs how I tell the story, whatever it is.

I’ve learned that the more you can focus on THEIR story, the better – and more impactful and effective, and even more heartfelt – YOUR story will be.

What storytelling projects are you working on right now,? How might you apply some of the above questions to those projects? I’d love to hear your thoughts.