Fishing for a Good Story

When thinking about how to tell a good story, there can be a lot to remember. Good stories have a clear structure – a beginning, middle and end. Good stories answer the 5 Ws: Who, What, When, Where, Why. Good stories have a purpose, a conflict, a character, the list goes on and on…

But knowing how to tell a good story can be as simple as knowing how to fish. All you have to do is remember these 3 principles: hook, reel, and capture.

Hook

We live in a world where access to information is quick and attention spans are short, so every good story must have a hook to attract your audience.

In some stories, the hook is a character to root for. As Emma Coats shares in The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar, characters are the heart of many good stories because they give an audience someone to admire and challenge so they have a “reason to root for the character”.

A hook can also be a mission or puzzle, or even a problem that needs to be solved by the audience. Your story then presents a journey for your audience to discover the solution.

Reel

After you’ve hooked their attention, you need to reel your audience in so that they stay engaged with your story.

Alison MacAdam in Beyond the 5 W’s recommends asking these questions when developing your story:

1. How can you illustrate it in a way that’s interesting?
2. [Is there] an emotional or intellectual thread that can run throughout the story?
3. Are there ear- or eye-grabbing ways to attract the audience?

Whether it’s adding emotional elements to resonate with your audience or captivating visuals to catch their eyes, find ways to keep your audience engaged while they read your story.

Capture

Good stories capture an audience and leave a lasting memory. Patrick Foster in Storytelling And Advertising: How To Bring The Two Together states that a good story is “a compelling story; one that reaches the heart of the consumer and evokes a feeling or a memory.”

When a good story is told, audiences remember and often act.

If your story introduces a problem-solving product to a target audience, telling a good story can mean that the audience remembers your brand and even purchases your product.

Let’s Go Fishing

Telling a good story is hard work, which can also be said about fishing. But if you remember the 3 simple principles of hook, reel, and capture, your work becomes a little bit easier.