Author: marinab123

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A post shared by Aerah (@aerahtheadventurer)

I was raised in Port Llast, literally one of the most boring places in the whole world. Nothing ever happens there. You get up at the crack of dawn to try and make it out on the water before every other fisherman, come back to the docks to sell the stinky fish, go to the pub and then pass out early so you can wake up the next morning and do it all again. 

My dad said I was the last unusual thing to happen to the town. He found me as a baby in his fishing boat one morning, and apparently I was so quiet he wouldn’t’ve even noticed it except that he almost sat on me. Everyone I grew up with was human. I… am clearly not. Although I can pass if I pull my hood up high and cover my pointed ears with my hair. 

No one let me forget that I was weird, so I didn’t have that many friends as a kid. I mostly hung out with my dad, which was great, don’t get me wrong. But like I said: fish – docks – pub – sleep – repeat. 

When I was old enough I headed out for Waterdeep. I knew my way around the docks, was a decent sailor, and getting pretty good at navigating, so I figured I’d be able to find a job that could at least give me a little more excitement. 

That has definitely been true. 

On my last job, we were on our way to Daggerford, across the Sea of Swords. I was standing on the crow’s nest keeping an eye out, when this massive raven landed in front of me with a letter and this big old ruby attached to it’s leg. Finally, I was getting some sort of adventure. 

It’s kind of a long story from there, but after a dinner party with this old baron dude and a bunch of random strangers, he died mysteriously and we all ended up here in Barovia. “The Plane of Dread,” or whatever. It hasn’t been too bad – there’s lots of nice animals and so far I’ve adopted one stray dog, a crate of frogs, and a horse named Cinnamon. On the down side, everyone seems to be trying to kill us. 

Good news though – I’ve finally made some friends! These guys are the best, even though they’re a little quirky. We’re on our way to a winery right now, so it’s almost like we’re on a cool road trip together. 

I’ll post again when we get there with a brunch review. 

XOXO, 

Aerah. 

People love stories. From the bedtime stories we grew up with to getting the hot gossip from a coworker. Our brains are designed to respond to stories and imagine ourselves as the main character.

Using storytelling in communications

However, sometimes it can be difficult to keep the principles of storytelling in mind when we work on corporate communications materials. We get lost in the technical speak and the features of our product and service, rather than placing our target audience as the hero of the story.

It’s important to always remember the key elements of storytelling when we’re delivering a message:

1. Setting
2. Character
3. Conflict
4. Climax

No matter what service, product, idea or message you’re trying to deliver, your brand needs to show how you can solve your customer’s problems and make their life better. 

For more specific tips on how to use these principles in corporate communications or marketing, check out this infographic:

Be creative

Storytelling opens up a world of possibilities to engage with audiences and build relationships. These elements are just building blocks for an endless amount of stories in different genres, mediums, and perspectives.

As long as you’re focusing on ways for your customer to star as the hero, and offering interesting, attention-grabbing and meaningful content, you will connect in a way that benefits you and your target audience.

I moved into a new apartment last week. For my live-tweet thread, I chose to document my cat exploring his new home. I was curious about what he thought of the whole moving process. What is it like for a cat to suddenly be in an entirely new place without understanding why or how he got there?

This is River. River recently moved, and it's been kind of overwhelming, but mostly super exciting. The best part is having all new places to explore… #EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/qOfZ1WhyiG

— Marina Bryan (@mrnabrn) July 12, 2021

The 8-Point Story Arc

To tell River’s story, I roughly followed the 8-Point Story Arc. This outline for setting up a plot goes like this:

1. Stasis: sets the stage for the story, introduces the characters and setting, and shows what the protagonist’s every day life is like.

2. Trigger: the spark for the story, which is outside of the protagonist’s control, and leads to the evolution of the story.

3. Quest: the protagonist embarks on an adventure as a result of the trigger.

4. Surprise: during the quest, unexpected events take place and provide obstacles or assistance to the character.

5. Critical choice: the protagonist must make a decision on the quest, which reveals their true character.

6. Climax: as a result of the protagonist’s choice, the story reaches the climax, which is the highest point of tension.

7. Reversal: the characters undergo a major change as the result of the critical choice and the climax.

8. Resolution: the characters reach a new stasis and have evolved and learned new things from their journey.

River’s Journey

The live-tweet thread starts by introducing River, my high-energy poorly-behaved cat, and the main character of this story.

The trigger in this story is clear: he’s moved into a new place and must explore this environment and find new opportunities to get into trouble.

During his adventure, he encounters new surprises, strange smells, and unexpected furniture. Many of these surprises are good – some take him a little bit longer to get used to.

After he almost gets into trouble, he decides that he likes this new place, and is willing to give it a try and make his home here.

Due to this journey, he learns that as long as he has a warm place to sleep and good food, he can be happy anywhere. A real lesson for all of us to appreciate the important things in life.

Twitter storytelling

Keeping the principles of good storytelling in mind helps plan out how to write content for social media and engage readers, no matter what the format of your story is.

However, it definitely helps to choose a topic such as cute pets, which has proven to be one of the most popular and shareable content on the internet.

Automatic reply: Out of Office

One of my all-time favourite movies is Mr. Bean’s Holiday. I think it is one of the few movies that truly has it all: comedy, obviously, but also romance, adventure, and mass-choreographed dance scenes. 

Mr. Bean: the man, the mystery

Mr. Bean is a great character, who manages to entertain, engage, and communicate while using very little spoken word. Rowan Atkinson, the actor, has said that he decided Mr. Bean would rarely speak so it could be accessible to everyone, no matter what language they speak. I think one of the reasons Rowan Atkinson’s sketches as Mr. Bean became so popular is because he is a very average man, someone everyone can relate to, who gets himself into incredibly absurd situations. In the movie, he wins a trip to Cannes and a video camera in a raffle. His goal through the entire film is to just get himself to Cannes and enjoy his vacation. It’s a simple desire, and a pretty universal dream. Who doesn’t want to go to the beach and enjoy a holiday? 

The universal travelling experience

Of course, just as in real life, his vacation goes off the rails. When he asks a man on the train to film him getting on to start off his vacation video, he inadvertently causes the man to miss the train, separating him from his son. While trying to reunite the father and son, he loses most of his luggage and his passport. The rest of the story follows along with their hijinks as they attempt to make it to Cannes and find the child’s father again. Along the way Mr. Bean meets an aspiring actress with an identical car to the one he has back in England, and is accused of kidnapping. 

I think that at the heart of the movie, the problems are so universal: the stress of losing a passport, the fear of losing a child in a strange city, or one of the many other obstacles that come with travelling. It resonates particularly strongly with me, since I have personal experience with losing passports on a train.

As much as Mr. Bean causes chaos and annoys almost everyone around him, you still want to root for him. He does his best to fix the problems he’s caused, while still making it to the beach. He’s not perfect, but he’s genuine, and that makes him likeable and engaging. The other characters around him are believable and likeable, pursuing their own missions in life. I think one of the reasons it’s such an enjoyable movie is that you genuinely care about whether the characters get to where they want to be: the beach, the movie premiere, or back to mom and dad. 

It’s about the journey, not the destination

All in all, Mr. Bean’s Holiday follows all the basic principles of a good story: a clear mission, a well-structured plot arch, authentic characters, and a relatable situation. It throws in a few musical numbers for good measure and some physical comedy, and it becomes pretty much the perfect movie. 

I will end by wishing that all of you experience the same joy when you finally reach the destination of your next vacation: Bean at the Beach.