Good Storytelling Needs Heart

 Great stories share common elements, from longer stories that follow a hero’s journey and full story spine approach to short advertising messages that make you the hero, solving your problem by using their product. 

In learning about storytelling principles, I noticed that various authors count their rules differently, but that there are definite themes. This makes so much sense – as humans, we all respond to intense emotions and familiar situations.

In the 22 Rules of Storytelling According to Pixar, would-be storytellers are given some great hints for appealing to audiences. The Rules were distilled from years of making heartwarming animated movies, but do we really need all 22 rules for every type of storytelling?

Introducing the Short List

Let’s explore these, and integrate the insights from another source, 

“Storytelling and Advertising: How to bring the two together.”

4 Storytelling Rules

This is based on Pixar’s rule #2 “You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.” 

You want to target your customer by thinking about what kind of content they want to see.

Down to Pixar’s rule #15 “If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.”

You can inspire emotions so your story is heartwarming, funny, uplifting, or gives fear of loss so the audience is moved to action. Like a photo album, each emotion builds into a larger narrative, and as long as they are authentic you can inspire nostalgia or fellow feeling or more. You can create a ‘friend’ bond with the right tone in the story.

The next rule is based on the Pixar article’s rule #16 “What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character.”

Your character can be the audience themselves, or a character or hero that you create. What problems are they facing? Include an apex where the audience can connect emotionally to the outcome, and use compassion. Solve the problem in a unique way to stand out from the crowd and make your audience really remember your story and your voice.

To finish, I used the last rule on Pixar’s list, #22 “What’s the essence of your story? What is the most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.”

Use a strong level of detail to make a memorable story, but be wary of irrelevant information that is distracting. You want to make a vivid picture, and not lose focus. Also, use a photo or video to get your message across even more clearly. Our brains can process an image in just 13 milliseconds, get that on your side!

Try out the rules for yourself!

Whether you follow these 4 rules or you choose to lean on a different list of storytelling principles, just remember to get those stories out! No one can tell your stories but you.