Top 3 Secrets to the Best Story - From a TV Writer In the Know
Mandatory Credit: Michael Buckner
Emmy winners this weekend from Fleabag to Veep reminded us of the hours we spent binging when we probably should have finished our taxes or fed our children.
Instead, like lab rats, we hit the NEXT EPISODE lever for another hit of story because these characters, created by writers, compelled us.
Their struggles, foibles, and fates reflect our own. They give us hope and make us laugh. In short, they know how to write a story that makes us sit up, lean in, and feel.
In the Kamikaze existence, most of us live that rare power. Show me a tax return that does that, and I'll give it a gold statue.
I wrote and produced TV for 15 years (The Colbert Report, Madam Secretary) before sharing my storytelling expertise with mission-driven people looking to articulate their value so others invest in, hire or promote them.
Here are a few things I teach my clients about how to tell and how to write a story that compels.
Find Your Character
“Relatable:” a very subjective term
You cannot control which pieces of your story people latch onto, but you can engineer a predictable relation by knowing your audience – your VP of crypto vs say, a seen-it-all investor. And consider what in your experience they would find relatable and pertinent for their purposes.
Figure out how to write a story that tells them what they need to know about you to convince them you're the hero for the job. Highlight those things. Ditch the rest.
Be “active!”
Once you have a few experiences or skills narrowed that matter to your audience, remember that no one hires, promotes or invests in a sad sack who lets life happen to them.
Think of your favorite story – that heroine probably decided to go for the promotion, find her birth mother or slay all the vampires at her high school.
Like her, frame your experiences as a series of decisive actions you took to ladder up to the place you are today and where you wish to go (get the new job/be the next Sheryl Sandberg).
We root for active heroes. Figure out what your audience needs to know to trust you to solve their problem, then show how you actively found your way through a struggle to be the hero who provides that solution.
Conflict: The Struggle Is Real…ly Interesting
Without conflict there is no story.
Steves Jobs and Wozniak didn’t just build a computer and start minting money. That’s not the kind of story that compels follow-on investment. First, they set up shop in Jobs' parents' garage and had to figure out how to run this risky new computer biz on their own – without degrees! Without money! Without people really knowing what computers were!
But through Woz’s engineering talent and Jobs’ marketing chops, they found their way to building an iconic global brand… Now, that’s how to write a story!
Reframe your professional successes as overcoming some struggles.
Did you just get that job, or did you earn it out of a pool of 400 applicants?
Did you just happen to get promoted, or did your passion spur you to work nights and weekends for three years and to grow the business 3x?
You don't become Heisenberg without defeating the cartels. Who are your cartels?
Let’s not (necessarily) be dramatic.
Your don't have to live Game of Thrones to prove you’ve overcome something. Conflict is a very broad term– maybe it was as making it through business school, sticking with something when it didn’t look like it was gonna work, or growing in your role & mastering your craft.
But hell, if you also overcame disease or survived being poisoned by your relatives and part of what you’re about is resilience or overcoming all odds, please tell us about it. You will absolutely stand out from the crowd.
Good stories showcase an active hero who moves through difficulty (whether large or small) to achieve her goal.
Core Emotion: A Story Ain’t A Story Without The Feels
We are wired to connect.
Homo sapiens are the only species that tell stories. According to Yuval Noah Harari of Sapiens fame, it's the reason homo sapiens were able to coordinate & mobilize their group to wipe out all other humanoid species on the planet.
We convince each other through reason, but we spur action through emotion. And not necessarily because we've all been in the exact same situation. Most of us aren't competing to be America's next drag queen, but we've felt the same emotions–grit after a setback, elation at that Aha! Moment; disgust at the status quo.
Stories connect through emotion.
Compelling stories that get a callback or people to hand over their hard-earned cashola bore into their brains because they connect with their hearts. When was the last time you leaned into someone who just recited his resume?
Evoke a feeling. Leave more impact. Don’t believe me? Hit it, Maya Angelou!
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Emotions are the ecstasy of the rave that is your story. They bond us.
Maybe you’re thinking: “this is a lot for a LinkedIn profile!” Fine. But adding emotion will make you way more human which is something that’ll make your LinkedIn profile read way less like… well, a LinkedIn profile…
We are wired to connect through shared experiences and emotions. Good stories are, by definition, emotional help you relate to your audience. When they relate, they trust. When they trust, they buy, hire, or retweet.
Where could these be helpful to your own story?
What TV show heroes/stories inspire your own work?
Curious about my story? https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-cooley-16a15211/
Intrigued by this work? www.acelectric.co
Ready to do the work? https://www.acelectric.co/contact
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