Storytelling
Structuring a longer story
Anything beyond a few minutes needs a shape the listener can feel, and there are only a handful that work.
Storytelling
Shape, detail, timing and why most anecdotes fail.
Storytelling
The stories organisations tell about themselves
Founding myths and origin stories do real work, and the ones that fail do so for consistent reasons.
Storytelling
Telling a story to a hostile room
Narrative works differently when the audience is sceptical, and the usual techniques can make things worse.
Storytelling
Metaphor and when it helps
Metaphors do not decorate an explanation — they determine how the listener reasons about it, which is why the wrong one is expensive.
Storytelling
Endings
Most stories, talks and articles are ruined in the last thirty seconds by a speaker who did not know how to stop.
Storytelling
Detail and how much to include
One specific detail makes a story vivid and four make it tedious, and the difference is what the detail is doing.
Storytelling
Explaining complicated things simply
A good explanation has a shape, and finding it is a matter of technique rather than talent.
Storytelling
Humour that works
Being funny on purpose is a craft with rules, and most of them are about structure rather than material.
Storytelling
Telling stories about yourself
Personal stories build connection and require judgement about how much to reveal and to whom.
Storytelling
Finding stories worth telling
People who always have a relevant story are not luckier — they collect them deliberately.
Storytelling
Using stories in professional settings
A concrete example is retained where an abstraction is not, which is why stories belong in serious contexts.
Storytelling
Why most anecdotes fail
The problem is almost never the story — it is the amount of setup and the absence of a point.