#155 - How to Be Satisfied
The feeling of being RICH that a good story can create
This is Adventures in Storytelling your weekly note with resources, insights, and actionable tools for better communication through storytelling. A shorter one this week because I got a puppy this week and that is a time and a half job. Enjoy.
Have you ever finished a book or a movie or seen a piece of art that just left you absolutely SATISFIED? That happy, contented feeling that only a good story can create. Happy or sad ending or experience there’s just something that resonates inside you at your most human core. I love that feeling. I seek it like a drug.
It’s the feeling of that special pasta dish at your favourite restaurant; the feeling of a luxury leather purse bought as a treat after a good quarter; the feeling of a new fall wardrobe; the feeling of a treat from your favourite bakery; a shopping spree. It’s the feeling of abundance, richness, and luxury—from a great story. It’s not better than sex but it is still certainly a delight. And too rare, which I guess is what makes it special.
I’ve gotten it a few times reading a whole slew of new fantasy novels recommended to me by #booktok on tiktok. I even get it reading the less exciting ones because there’s something about the effort of storytelling that I appreciate.
I want you to give that feeling to your audience. Whether they’re customers you want to buy your product, readers of your fan fiction, or viewers of the ad you’ve created. They deserve it. Not just some meaningless, boring “content” (I’ll get into my problem with content another day) but creation born of your unique experience and ingenuity.
So how exactly do you do that?
It’s not easy. It’s an approach that is centred in you and your heart and a process that requires a bit of diligence. I teach the approach in my storytelling workshops and (free) webinars. What it comes down to is three things I call it my Three Steps to Crafting a Compelling Story:
1. Establish your foundations. You don’t start a story by diving right in to making. You need a bit of planning or at least to pause and consider; who are you and what you’re bringing to the story. For brand storytellers and storytelling this usually includes the building blocks of business: mission, vision, and purpose and also the rest of your brand fundamentals and specifically your unique context.
2. Define your story elements. The next step is getting clear on the elements of your story including defining and understanding your audience, remember they are the true owners of your story. This also include your benefit or value proposition, channels where you’ll share and why you’re telling the story.
3. Craft and elevate your narrative. THEN you can start putting the words, images, or ideas of your story together. The more you do this process (and if your audience doesn’t change with every project) the first two steps will become habit and be established your first time out and you can jump here. This step is about putting the story together but ALSO making sure you get feedback and do the work of elevating from your ugly first draft using your unique context, tension, and ensure there is transformation at the end. In other words, make it interesting.
Simple right? I know, a lot of links to paid subscriber posts but start with post and build from there. It will become simpler the more you do it, promise. For now. Take it one story at a time and start with establishing those foundations.
A Story Well Told
Have you ever had a cup of coffee in the morning that was just everything? The ritual of grinding the beans, putting it into whatever machine you use, pouring it into your favourite cup, adding whatever you add (for me it’s steamed oat milk) then sitting, staring out a window and just appreciating that first sip? That is an experience that entire ad campaigns are developed around. And that feeling you have similar to the feeling of the end of a great story. So my story well told is a hot cuppa (tea or coffee) on a fall morning when the sun is bright and the air is crisp, or at least the story born of it. Savour the season, friend.
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