Storytelling lesson 1 Ira Glass

Lessons from Ana Ira Glass 1 Anecdotes, This happened, that happened, I felt like this… Keeps the audience in suspense always, and keeps the mind asking questions that they will naturally assume will be answered anyway 2 Finding the story, knowing what to keep and being ruthless with what you cut. What is the story? Knowing why the audience has tuned in and more specifically what you wish to relay to them. Knowing what to kill in the story, gives the story room to leave. “Know what crap to kill”. Everything is trying to be crap, and you have to be a killer in propping up the story. Being really tough on knowing what to keep and what to let go. You want to put yourself on a schedule where you’re doing enough that luck can find you. “Story telling is about luck” An interesting quote I heard from an expert story teller, even he thinks it’s down to luck??? Aaah it’s about going through the motion and looking for what is so compelling it makes the whole search for IT. Worthwhile. Ok interesting. 3. On good taste “If you make content of any form, it’s because you have good taste. But when you start, what you’re making is not that good, it’s trying to be good. But your taste is still good and you can tell that what your making is still sort of crappy” You can say that again! The good news is he said a lot of people don’t get past that point, they quit. This is good because I don’t quit. The best solution as per Ira. Do a lot of work put yourself in a position so that every week you know you’ll finish one story. I will apply this to my long form content, and be more free with short form as that will naturally catch up to what I learn as I go. - Speak in a way that is most natural 4. Common beginner pitfall Trying to talk like people on the radio/tv, we think this is the way because it’s what we see online. However everything is more compelling when you just talk like yourself. Reminds me of “Be you that’s when your really B-eautiful” Mr Beast (example) is already on the internet they don’t need me to imitate him. What they don’t have is me. A large part of having a good personality, Is not just talking about yourself, You talk briefly and humorously on yourself, then you talk about the other person, and ask questions. Because they’re interested in other people and the world. In a good story you get both, most will be about whoever the main focus of the story is on. Then the writer will also be in there as a clear personality, asking questions, providing an alternative point of view. He’s getting to the good bit, I was wondering what about a first person story and he’s started “What’s interesting isn’t just your take on things, It’s seeing you interact with other people, seeing you process the world through your eyes, Seeing the people/circumstance that you have to deal with. Otherwise there’s no drama. You want the interactions, laughter, tensions, human life. And it won’t work if there’s too much of anyone. Because there’s not enough characters to make a drama. This will be a challenge point for me, because I will need to be able to naturally document conversation or catch moments that compel the audience. The good news is they happen naturally anyway. The challenge is documenting it. That was a good small first study session on story telling. I will be implementing this in my coming videos and we will see how the story develops.