How do you keep your storytelling skills fresh and up to date?

Steven King famously said, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” I think this simple bit of advice is so underrated.

I keep my storytelling skills sharp by not only writing and reading but also by analyzing why a story works. For example, think of a favorite book and then drill down to a favorite scene. Why is it your favorite? What makes the scene work? How has the author created tension in each sentence, paragraph and throughout the entirety of the scene? Are the sentences long or short? Heavy on dialogue or more descriptive? Investigating the details of good story structure is an excellent (and fun!) exercise for learning how to bring those same elements into your own storytelling.

This is the most critical aspect to both growth and creativity for me. It’s critical here to cross genres. Read with an eye toward figuring out how an author conveys ideas in, say, science fiction, young adult literature, mystery. Study the mechanics of the text. Also, read authors from different backgrounds than you in the genre to which you gravitate.

I joined a writing group in 2021 and it was one of the best things I did that year. As a storyteller, sometimes (okay, often!) you can lose objectivity, holding everything so close in your head and your heart. By having another person with fresh eyes and no emotional attachment to the work provide feedback, your story will gain greater depth and breadth (so long as you are open-minded enough to receive the feedback).

Create deadlines for yourself. E.g., ...a page a day, a story a week, a film a year. Regardless of your medium, it's only by doing a volume work that we get better.

In my role, interactivity has been an effective way to enhance storytelling for time-poor and heavily sought after audiences. It gives them a new and unique way to access insights and increases time spent with the content. In particular, I've repurposed separate pieces of static content with similar themes into interactive experiences. That approach squeezes more value out of content and it has produced strong results.

Knowing your audience is key. I recently shared a story during a small group study at church about an encounter with ny supervisor, many years ago. Because this story was related to my faith and the topic on hand, the story was well-received. In a general audience, it would have not received the same response, since it would be harder for some of the audience to relate with my story.

Love the idea of "borrowing" from other fields. Everyone is a storyteller no matter where you are in life. Great lawyers know how to tell stories to win over a jury. Great actors use stories to win over an audience through effective use of emotion. It's a skill we often use yet never notice. Perhaps you have to convince your spouse or child that your idea is a good one? Tell a story. It's a great way to connect to people's hearts and minds.

We learn by reading, by watching others but most of all by doing it for ourselves. Storytelling is not a science or an art: it's a craft. You have to start small, with everyday conversations. Listen to people around you talking about moments of changing circumstances, other people's behavior or their own emotions - these are the vital ingredients of story. See what moral or message you draw from their stories. Then reverse engineer: what message do you want to get across? What's the moment of change, behavior or emotion that helps us see what you mean? Useful stories rarely begin "Once upon a time..." They usually start with "For example..." This page will help you create your own basic story: https://pipdecks.com/pages/movie-time

The connection between us and the stories we share and how to make it meaningful for the audience. An honest narrative of our experience is one of the most important things that I found to make the story tauch the audience. Of course we need to know our audience for a more effective result.