#167 – But How Does it FEEL?
There's truly nothing like the feeling you get at the end of a good story
This is Adventures in Storytelling your bi-weekly note with resources, insights, and actionable tools for better communication through storytelling. Enjoy.
Deep breath. In. Now out. Again. And one more time.
Now listen. Feel.
What’s going on inside of you? Right now for me, there is a calm. As I listen to the spring breeze in the trees, the birds trilling, and the sound of a car driving by in the near distance. It’s peaceful and I feel it right at the centre of my body that peace.
That’s right now in the moment for me. What’s it like for you? Check in, ask yourself without judgement.
A version of this exercise is how I start all of my workshops. Because it’s hard to craft a story without being tapped in to what you’re bringing to the table, how you feel. Good or bad (which is why the no judgement part is there). It’s about knowing, acknowledging, accepting, and then working with wherever you are.
This is simple exercise you can do to tune into yourself and work with awareness as you craft your stories. It’s part of why I don’t believe in writer’s block. Like many writers I know who were also journalists at some point, we know that the words need to be written, the story needs to be shaped, and there’s a deadline to consider. That approach to your story can be helpful.
Sometimes you may not feel like it, whether you’re writing copy for your website or putting together the outline for your memoire. You’re not always going to be in the “mood” to write—that energized, inspired, almost giddy feeling that the first sip of coffee sometimes imitates. But the story needs to be told and the ideas brought to life.
So take a minute before you start to ground into how you’re feeling (and this works for storytelling and any activity really), accept and acknowledge, then get into it.
Now with that long intro, I want to share with you what I really wanted to write about to you today (think of this as a two for one note). And that is the feeling your stories can create in your audience. But first you have to decide the feeling you want to leave them with.
Have you ever finished a book or a movie or a tv show and just felt full? Satisfied in a way that few things can satisfy? Like what you just took in (consumed if you want to be crass about it) was absolutely delicious? That’s the feeling I aim for with some of my writing. Sometimes I want to leave people feeling inspired and like they can do it too—that’s often my goal with this newsletter. Or even excited just to try.
That feeling created by a story is done with intention. It may be subsconscious for some storytellers but it is there and I want you to do it consciously. To consider your audience. Not during the time your idea is coming together or in your messy first draft, but in the editing and elevation process (head back into the archives using search for these steps to storytelling).
How do you want your audience to feel? Visualize it, hold onto it and let it guide you as you edit. Does that word or phrase or image do the work or do you need to make a change?
This awareness and consideration of your audience, especially when it comes to business storytelling and customers, is key to engagement and reflecting them and their needs in your story. It’s what will help them see themselves and maybe even leave your story with that full, satisfied feeling I love so much.
Do you ever consider the feeling you want to leave people with when crafting your story? What might change about your approach if you did? I’d love for you to share in the comments, or hit reply on the email if this is in your inbox and let me know.
A Story Well Told
“Go see Civil War. It is perfect…The reviews don’t capture it. Wow. My head is throbbing. Prepare to lie down after.”
That’s the series of texts I got a few days before I did exactly what my good friend suggested. “Excellent. No notes,” she added.
And she was right. If you’re interested in the morals journalism, covering war, and just being immersed in a world somewhat like our own but not, I’d encourage you to check it out. It’s just storytelling at it’s best. As a former journalist, it was especially meaningful to me, but anyone who thinks critically about how we exist in the world and share stories about it will find it meaningful and leave with that full satisfied feeling of a story well told.
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