Agree, the same story told by two different narrators sounds different. For one, it will be a boring story that you don’t really want to listen to until the end. Another will tell it in such a way that it will leave a lasting impression. Some people have this gift by nature, while others must work hard to develop this skill. But, step by step, following the tips below, you will quickly learn the art of rhetoric, captivating those around you with your stories. We'll talk about how to tell stories correctly below.

Understanding the fundamental principles of a compelling story

To get the desired effect from your storytelling, you need to.

An example would be:

For a fairy tale: “A long time ago, from time immemorial, when there was magic everywhere and animals could talk...”.
In a funny story: “I’m very calm, domestic, like a cat, right? And my best friend I constantly found myself in funny stories.”

Use as an example

Fairy tale: “The tall white candle blazed with all its beauty. The moth flew up to her and felt a powerful blow in her stomach. Love woke up in him. As you know, it is impossible for heroes to save princesses in one day. So the Moth spent many wonderful nights. Falling more and more in love with the Flame.”
Funny story: “After the New Year we moved to another area. He was cute, but...dangerous. I had to live in constant tension. A good boost of energy."

moral: “This, dear listeners, suggests that you should not rush to conclusions”;
question: “Isn’t this scary? I don’t want to experience this anymore.”

Slowing down your speech at the end of a story will help you understand that there is closure.

What does it take to improve the story?

Using several simple recommendations, you can make your story brighter. Let's talk about them separately.

Secrets of using voice and body language

An important part of creating a good impression of the story you tell is the way you move and speak. Experts advise resorting to the following techniques.

What is storytelling and how it helps to overcome fear, learn to improvise, be interesting and confident, says professional storyteller and actor of the theatrical and educational project “Story Studio” Konstantin Kozhevnikov.

Konstantin Kozhevnikov

Storytelling is a genre, mastering which we learn to tell sometimes very boring stories about ourselves in a way that will be interesting to others. You don’t have to be artistic: good actors can amazingly impersonate the characters in their story, but do not put a personal touch or their truth into it. It’s easier for an artist to hide behind a mask, but a storyteller must be frank, talk about what worries him, and trust strangers- listeners. It's always a risk.

A storyteller must have three personalities at the same time: the narrator, the character who joins the dry material, and the hero. A story will be interesting if it has a hero who overcomes difficulties, changes, and the listener follows him. The story should be simple and universal. Communication will occur if the storyteller and the viewer have the same values and exciting topics. Businessmen, human rights activists, designers, copywriters, and journalists come to storytelling to understand that they have more opportunities than they think. And by the way, I noticed that people who write may not be able to tell engaging stories, but they are always attentive to details, and this is very important in stories.

The viewer comes to watch the storyteller, essentially, for the same thing that they come to an ordinary theater: to worry and laugh. The narrator has no decoration, no music, no lights to interest him. He just has to be himself, be brave and want people to hear him. The viewer is needed as a partner, and this is the difference between storytelling, for example, and a one-man show. There is no “fourth wall”, and the story is fluid and will develop depending on how the viewer reacts to it. It is impossible without improvisation. It won’t be possible to go out and simply tell a prepared program.

Storytelling: How to tell a story in an interesting way without it becoming a boring set of facts?

© Andrey SkvortsovStorytelling: How to tell a story in an interesting way without it turning into a boring set of facts?

Storytelling- a buzzword used by Harvard Business Review to describe one of the best business ideas 2006. The meaning of the idea is: “ The best way to make a report or presentation and to convey knowledge is to tell a story.” The father of "storytelling" in modern understanding David Armstrong is credited with introducing this concept in his book Managing by Storying Around. However, there is evidence that people understood the importance of stories even before him.
Few doubt that the method is good. However, questions arise. How to choose the right story? How to tell a story in an interesting way without it turning into a boring set of facts? Finally, how to create a story if there is no story as such, but only a lot, a lot of information?
In other words, how to do it - storytelling? To find the answer, you will have to understand what history is.
Intuitively, we, and not only us, have long felt the answer and use stories in our work. However, we managed to find a theoretical basis and “breakdown” - guess where? - in textbooks for film scriptwriters. And among such textbooks, the book “Story” by Robert McKee turned out to be the most useful for us. Alexander Mitta in “Cinema Between Hell and Heaven” describes (and much more interestingly) the same principles, but Makki’s is drier and more “technological”.
So, let's list story components, enjoying success.
Firstly, stories happen with character. We need a character. It can be either a person or an organization, but then it must be talked about as if it were something animate. A character can also be a film presenter, a speaker, a real or even “hypothetical” person, as well as any creature animated by our imagination.
Secondly, history is a must change. Changes. Moreover, the changes are value-based - that is, so that the character has something important in his life that was not there before. Perhaps this is the most important thing and required quality history. Without it, there will be a narrative, but no history.
Thirdly, a story is only interesting when the viewer can empathize, subconsciously imagining yourself in the character’s place. That is, the presentation of facts is not history. And abstract history, in our case, is also not history.
Further, if an event occurred in reality, formal frameworks are very important for it, or “ coordinates" - when it happened, for how long, where.
The material of history is events. General words can only be a binding cement, but not the content. A story consisting only of general words is a cement porridge. Searching for facts, events, examples is the most difficult, but also the most interesting activity.
Now let’s imagine that we have the task of conveying some information about the company, some of its value, and we want to find or create a story for this.
The first thing to do is start searching. Read the corporate press, talk to people, rummage through the Internet and your memory.
For example, in a film about a large metallurgical plant, the topic of caring for employees is raised. In the corporate newspaper we find a wonderful story on the topic. There and then, on such and such a worker, several liters of molten metal poured out. However, the worker was not injured, as he was wearing a protective suit in full compliance with safety regulations. And after this incident, he began to tell his colleagues about the importance of observing safety regulations and even became an inspector, highly respected by his colleagues.
This is history. There is a character, there is an event that has a date and place, there are significant changes in the character’s life. And this story speaks about how the company cares about its employees, much more clearly and convincingly than any number of general phrases about “increasing safety at work.” And the main thing is not the fact that the worker was not injured, but the fact that this incident transferred him to a new quality - an instructor, that the company saw a benefit in this and gave him such an opportunity. In fact, management has already used “storytelling” - used a happy occasion to competently promote safety precautions. All we can do is repeat the discovery in the film.
If nothing is found at all (which, although rare, does happen), we can “create” a story. We are not talking about artistic fiction (in our inherently informational work, it has no place). The point is to present information in the form of a story.
One of the simplest but most effective techniques is to apply the “ didn’t know - found out - was surprised - changed my attitude" This kind of change can happen to the presenter of the film, to the speaker of the presentation, and to any employee of the company. Such situations are interesting because they allow the viewer to experience the same emotions (surprise, admiration) as the character. This technique is fully used in the anniversary film of Mostransgaz: a complete outsider to the industry, Kirill Nabutov, discovers something that he had never thought about - the complexity and interestingness of gas transportation technologies. A viewer who has been “in the know” for decades will be interested in looking at his daily work through the eyes of a beginner and being surprised along with him. And an outside viewer will be even more interested in learning something new. A good technique that works.
Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, a film about climate change, won the 2007 Oscar for Best Documentary. The film consists almost entirely of a series of stories, and every fact, every evidence in it is presented like a detective story. Even the graphs of climate observations are presented as “mind-changing.” And that is why it is not difficult to perceive them, despite their fair amount. There is a lot of real life, serious, amazing stories. But now our special interest is in the completely invented, and in some ways even stupid, story of a cartoon frog. The author had to illustrate the idea in the spirit of our proverb “until thunder strikes, a man will not cross himself.” To do this, the cartoon frog first tried to get into boiling water and jumped out of it like a bullet (hot!), but she could sit for quite a long time in warm, but gradually heated water, and not show signs of concern until... until... until she will be saved. The frog represented an image of humanity not worrying about climate change, until... She was also a character in an invented micro-story.
In other words, keeping in mind several principles of creating a story, any fact, any information can be presented in an interesting and not boring way.
The question remains to be answered: is storytelling always necessary? Probably not. If the audience is initially interested in the information, there is no point in artificially adding drama (especially if the information is negative). Indeed, in this case, a participant in the present, real story is your listener, and this may be more than enough for him.

Munchausen, Ronald Reagan - were excellent storytellers. Check out their videos on Youtube. ;)

How to build a story composition? What should you pay attention to?

Bright Beginning (intriguing title)

It is advisable to come up with a bright, attention-grabbing, intriguing title for your story:

“I want to tell you how I won a million dollars...”
“Have I already told you this about how I fell from the 10th floor? Well, listen..."
“The CIA once tried to recruit me. And it all started at the university..."

And it is not at all necessary that later in your story you win that same million or actually fall from the 10th floor. The purpose of the name is to attract and hook the attention of the audience. And if your title does that, then great. If not, then you should find a more intriguing title for your story.

Effective premise

A good start is half the battle.

Plato

Sometimes the story begins to be told from afar, listing boring, irrelevant details.

Once, in a story called “Fight with a Shark,” for some reason the speaker spent the first four minutes telling how they bought a ticket, then packed their things, then went to the airport, then flew, then got to the hotel, then checked in... And only after 1 minute before the end of the allotted time, he finally got to the point: how they put on scuba gear and began to descend under the water.

Voltage rise

A speech needs an exciting beginning and a compelling ending. The job of a good speaker is to bring these two things as close as possible.

Rilbert Keith Chesterton

Each subsequent sentence in your story should build tension. Your task is to whip up emotions, excitement, and intrigue. Let the listeners listen with bated breath. Let their heart skip a beat and let their interest in your story grow with every second.

All phrases that do not contribute to increasing tension, mercilessly throw out of the story. Or rework them so that they add tension to your story.

Such strict censorship will also make your story as brief as possible. Only masters can keep listeners in constant suspense for more than 3-4 minutes, so try to fit your story into four minutes!

Climax and denouement

If in the first act there is a gun hanging on the stage, then in the last act it must fire.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

And when the tension has already reached its limit and the listeners are already exhausted from curiosity: “Well, how will the story end???”, the time comes for the climax!

The climax is like a loop on a roller coaster. Everything that happened before was just preparation. Climax is the peak of experience, an explosion of emotions overwhelming from within.

Denouement

At the moment of denouement, secrets are revealed, mysteries are solved, riddles are solved, miracles are performed, and accumulated tension is released. A good ending is something unexpected. Just like in a good detective story, you don’t know until the last second how the story will end.

Closing-moral

The last word seems to me to be the most important of all words.

Bertolt Brecht

Completion cannot be delayed. Long rants after the climax will blur the impression of the whole story.

That is, 1-2 phases after the climax (while you are still at the peak) - it’s time to complete your story.

So that the conclusion is not too primitive: “This is how the story happened,” experienced storytellers usually conclude with a certain conclusion (moral) that they draw from their tale. This could be a proverb, a saying or the ending of your own composition.

“So, friends, happiness is not in money, but in...” (to the story about winning a million dollars).
“God protects the safe” (to the story about the fall from the 10th floor).
“All that glitters is not gold” (to the story about CIA recruitment).

This ending makes the story more vivid and memorable. At the end of the story, a sort of exclamation mark appears, clearly indicating the end of the story. Sometimes even an unsuccessful story can be saved by a beautiful and interesting moral that sounds at the end. So, choose strong endings for your stories.

The non-verbal presentation of the story should also be on point.

Dramatization

Play with emotions and intonations. Add acting skills. Don't be afraid to overplay! Your story should be a little show. A one-man show. Make it bright, rich, lively!

Draw images

God created us in his image and likeness. But how can we be sure that he worked in a realistic manner?

Stanislav Jerzy Lec

As your story progresses, an exciting movie should flash before your listeners’ eyes. Therefore, it is important that your words evoke colorful images in the imagination of your listeners.

You can say: “A man came up to me and asked what time it was.” But there is no image, no picture. Therefore, such a phrase is not very catchy.

What if: “A man comes up to me. Height 2 meters. Beard like Karl Marx. Instead of teeth - gold crowns. There is a hammer and sickle tattoo on his forehead. And he asks hoarsely…” There is already an image-picture here that is easy to imagine.

Feed the listener delicious, bright images and pictures!

Keep your pauses

“Sell” your climax at a higher price!

A pause at the right place helps build tension. Therefore, at the most important points take your time and take a break. Especially before the climax.

One option: “We hear someone moving in the bushes. We turned around, and it was Vasya who returned with a bucket of water.”

Another option: “We hear someone moving in the bushes... We turned around... we all peered intensely into the darkness... And then Laika suddenly whined and tucked her tail... We got goosebumps... Our faces were pale... Everyone seemed numb..." And we continue to build up the tension , hold a pause until the listeners’ faces appear: “Well! Come on! I can’t stand it any longer!”

We “sell” our climax at a higher price! With the help of a pause, we add passion and tension to our narrative!

First person

Even if the story did not happen to you, it is better to tell it on your own behalf. Then, after the climax, you can reveal your cards - the matter, they say, happened not about me, but to my friend. But as you tell your story, it will be much easier to draw your audience into your story if you speak in the first person.

Brevity

Nothing spoils like this good story like the verbosity of a speaker. The optimal time for a bike is from 4 to 5 minutes. No more! Be talented - keep it short!

Exercise: story of the day

Develop the ability to see interesting things in your life

Make it a rule every day at dinner to tell what interesting things happened to you today. To do this, you need to find at least one minute during the day when you witnessed or directly participated in an event that is worth telling your loved ones about.

This exercise develops, in addition to storytelling skills, the ability to “see” interesting things in your life. And also the ability to turn the most ordinary incident into a sweet story that everyone will be happy to listen to.

Whether you are telling a joke, a fairy tale or a story, the ability to teach it correctly is very important skill. Some people have a natural gift for storytelling, while others have to learn it. Never be afraid. You can learn to tell better and more engaging stories, and wikiHow can help you do it! Just start with step 1 below.

Steps

Part 1

Learning the Basics of Storytelling

Engage your audience. Begin your story by capturing your listeners' attention or engaging them in the story. Ask questions, even rhetorical ones, related to some conclusion, plot twist, or context of the story. Alternatively, you can say something catchy to grab attention (get your audience hooked, just like big newspaper headlines do). This way you will intrigue your listeners and they will want to hear more.
- Example for a fairy tale: "Have you ever wondered why a moth flies into a flame?"
- Example for a funny story: “I have a story from my university days that will outshine all others. It has to do with the toilet.”
Build an action scene. Throughout the story, you must create an immersive experience. The audience should experience the story as if they were participating in it. Start with the introduction. Create a story by adding details that convey atmosphere, emotion, and action. Choose your expressions very carefully: use words with strong emotional connotations.
- An example of a fairy tale: “A long time ago, in the old world, where magic did not cease to exist, and animals could speak...”
- An example of a funny story: “I’m pretty quiet and homely, like a cat, right? But my roommate in the hostel was quite a party animal.”
Build up and release tension. Of course, the main one storyline will become more and more intense, reaching a climax, after which the action will tend to completion. However, you should also ease tension between the most intense moments. Otherwise, the story will seem crumpled or too schematic. IN real life there are moments that fill the gaps between events. The same goes for stories. This could be a description of a scene, a small aside to add detail, or a joke to add flavor to the story.
- An example of a fairy tale: “The Moth flew up to a tall white candle, where the Flame was blazing in all its glory. The Moth felt a blow somewhere in the stomach area and love awakened in him. Of course, heroes do not save princesses in one day, and the Moth spent many delightful nights , falling more and more in love with the Flame."
- An example of a funny story: "It came New Year, and we moved to a new area, nice and... unsafe. So I lived almost all the time in a state of emergency. By the way, it stimulates blood pressure quite well."
Focus on what's important. When telling a story, it's important to include details to create immersion. However, the story should not turn out to be incoherent and drawn out. Therefore, it is very important to focus on the main thing. Omit the unimportant details and leave in those that add spice or clarity to the story.
- Try not to get ahead of yourself or slow down; add details if necessary to see the audience's response. If they get bored, speed up and get to the point.
The narrative should flow logically. This is where it is very important not only to know history, but also to teach it correctly. You've probably met people who constantly interrupt their story with the words: “Oh, I forgot to say...”. Yes, you don't need to be that kind of person. Don't stop to go back. This distracts the listeners' attention and confuses them. The story should flow smoothly and logically.
- If you forgot to mention something, weave the detail into the story without interrupting the main line. For example: “Now the Pied Piper was hunting for the city’s money for a reason. After all, a deal was made with him earlier."
The story must have a clear conclusion. It's very awkward when your audience isn't sure whether you've finished your story or not. So your story needs to have a clear ending. There are several options for completion, for example:
- Ask a question and answer it. “Isn't this crazy? So I'm not going to do it again."
- Draw out the moral. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect example of why you shouldn't bring your cat to work."
- Choose your tone and manner of speaking carefully. Try to speak louder and faster to escalate the situation, and then lower your voice and slow down to show that you have come to the end.
Part 2
Using voice and body
1. Create characters. Let the characters in your story sound different. If you get used to different roles, you will avoid a dull and annoying empty story. You can also make the story more real. Play with accents, speech, people's voices. You can add comedy by parodying silly or stereotypical voices.
  - For example, make your father's voice sound overly deep and raspy, adding a special twist to the dialogue: “[Important part of the story] ... I'm also going to the garage to build a platform. Or part of the platform. Or maybe I'll watch a TV show where they build platforms."
2. Make your narrative "big" or "small." Choose the sound of your voice so that it is appropriate in one or another part of the story. Change the intonation, tone, volume to make the story sound calm or exciting, depending on the plot. Speed up and speak a little louder towards the end. Slow down at the very end.
  - You should also experiment with dramatic pauses. A little silence and facial expression can make a story much more interesting.
3. Control your facial expression. If you want to become a truly great storyteller, you must master the ability to create and change facial expressions depending on the progress of the story. The whole story should actually unfold on your face. If you really want to learn this, watch a video on Youtube, search for John Stewart or Martin Freeman.
  - Remember, facial expression has more than 3 shades. You can create truly vivid emotions with very specific facial expressions.
4. Speak with your hands. Knowing how to sign can take you from a really boring and boring storyteller to someone who commands all the attention in the room. Hands convey emotions. Hands capture the audience's attention. Hands create a sense of action. If you don't use your whole body, at least gesture with your hands as you talk.
  - Of course, you shouldn't overdo it. There is no need to hit someone or knock over your drink. Or throw it in your face.
5. Play the story. If possible, move your whole body while telling the story. It is not necessary to reproduce every movement, but in key points It’s worth using your whole body to capture the listener’s full attention. It also adds a comedic effect.
  - Look at the behavior famous people and their facial expressions and gestures. For example, enter in a search engine: Groucho Marx, Rodney Dangerfield, Conan O'Brien and Robin Williams.