Things to Keep in Orbit Before You Storytell

Watching Susan Blackmore’s tedtalk put me in a bit of a galactic mood, so I decided to theme my infographic as such.

All points are inspired by articles in earlier modules, and do not need to be read in order.

Structure

Do you have a basic understanding of your story spine?

Taken from Kenn Adams’ Story Spine, the storyteller must consider the following:

• Does their story have a proper beginning, middle, and ending?
• Are each of these points clearly distinct from one another?
• Can you tell when the routines are broken? When things are looking up for the protagonist …

Audience

Who are you telling your story to and why?

Taken from Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling, an important factor influencing any story- no matter the medium, is who the story is meant for.

Is your story suitable for your intended audience and have you tailored it to be so?

Message

What is the point of telling your story?

Tied into audience, is your message going to be meaningful to your intended audience? Will it be a worthwhile takeaway?

Does your story properly convey your message?

Characters

How relatable are your characters? Do they contribute to the story?

Another one taken from Pixar, how will your audience relate to your characters? Will your audience like your protagonist, sympathize with their journey, and cheer them on through their failures?

How many characters does your story consist of? Ask yourself if all your characters contribute something important to your story, and consider combining characters- even if it pains you to do so.

Drama

How emotionally invested will your audience be with your story and its characters?

All good stories need drama. How is your climax?

In terms of action, does your story look like a squiggly line in terms of good and bad things happening to your characters, or would you equate your story to a straight line?

For traditional stories, you’d want something like this:

Simplicity

How much do you have to ask of your audience in order for your story to properly work?

How simple is your story? Can you trim it down and still not lose anything important?

Also, how ‘extra’ is your story? How outrageous are the circumstances plaguing your protagonist and consider how this might affect your audience in their enjoyment and engagement with the story.

Medium

Are you telling your story on the right platform?

Are you telling your story in the best way possible? Would it be better for it to be short form? Long form? A twitter thread?

You

Do you like the story you are going to put out? How satisfied are you with it?

To me, this is the most important:

Do you like your story?

Actually liking your story greatly affects the content you will put out; if you hate the story, then consider rewriting or start again from scratch.

If you didn’t have a great time with your story, then your readers will not have a great time consuming it either.