The secret to storytelling is...

The secret to storytelling is...

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 15 seconds

Hello there. Welcome to the Curious Creator.

What's that? From now on each week is going to focus on one particular topic and deliver a tonne of value on it? Correct, how did you know?

This week, storytelling...

1/ Creator Quote - Some Pixar fanboying.

2/ Bangers of the Week - Some more Pixar fanboying (+ a book and free stuff)

3/ Weekly Ramble - The most important thing I’ve learned about storytelling.

It’ll be worth it…

Creator Quote

“The greatest story commandment is: Make me care.” Andrew Stanton (Pixar Filmmaker)

This is one of the most important lessons for all creators.

Viewers are selfish. They don’t care about you, they care about them.

Once I understood this, my mindset about making content completely shifted - a lot of creators focus on what they want to say, but really they need to focus on what their viewers want to hear.

Your sole mission is to make your viewers care and give them what they need.

Bangers of the Week

I’m really fanboying Pixar this week but they are the best storytellers of my generation, so…

These rules were published by Emma Coats (Story Artist at Pixar) and they are a must-read.

Articulating the fundamentals of storytelling extremely well.

This book has probably had the biggest shift on my understanding of storytelling.

The author, Blake Snyder realised that every movie tends to follow the same structure…

And then breaks down that structure down and explains it effortlessly.

If you’ve read any of the previous editions of the Curious Creator, you know I’m a big Seth Godin fan.

So when I recently found that he’s collected all of his free content in one place, I was all over it (he's also a masterful storyteller).

Get in there and have a look. Free value everywhere.

Weekly Ramble

The single most important thing I’ve learned about storytelling...

When I first got into the world of storytelling, I obsessed over structures and frameworks that would apparently make it easier.

And look, they helped. Structure is absolutely vital when it comes to good storytelling.

But…

For a long time I was missing the fundamental part of storytelling.

One that without, no structure or framework in the world can save you.

And that’s ‘why’.

Both within the story, and outside of the story.

Within:

The ‘why’ that actually drives the story forward, the reason you (or your character) is actually doing the things they are doing.

Not some obituary goal but the deeper why that’s motivating them to do it.

Outside:

The ‘why’ that makes the story worthwhile.

What’s in it for the person consuming the story?

Why are you actually telling the story in the first place?

How is this story going to change the way the consumer thinks about the world?

Without a ‘why’, the whole thing becomes pointless. Find a why.

Thanks for reading. Jay Alto.

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