emotion – EXSM 3989 – Digital Storytelling Class Blog

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.

Five Little Indians

A great story is one that is memorable, it draws the audience in and brings up emotions and relatable themes. I recently read the book ‘Five Little Indians,’ by Michelle Good, and upon thinking of a memorable story, this one popped into my head. I’m a woman who watches a lot of tv shows and movies, but this book sticks with me most. I grew up as a mixed-race Indigenous person who knows nothing about my family or my history. My indigenous father was adopted in the sixties scoop and my curiosity is spiking more as I get older. Where do I come from? Why is their so much intergenerational trauma? What is our/my story? The story Five Little Indians is not about my family personally, but it is about Canadian indigenous people and there struggles with and after being in residential schools. This story personally relates to me and the emotions I have been feeling this year especially with the data being released regarding the number of bodies being found on residential school sites. It has heroes to root for, a strong theme, and hooks you in with each chapter.

Lucy leaned back in her chair hands folder in her lap.
“They call us survivors.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think I survived. Do you?”

What is this story about?
This story follows 5 children who were taken from their families and sent to a remote residential school. The children are barely teens when they are released from the school with no sense of family, home, language, culture, or self anymore. These teens are left with nothing but a one-way bus pass to downtown East Vancouver to fend for themselves. The world around them does not accept them and the children must learn to overcome their personal trauma. As the children get older, they all find different paths, one is drawn to the Indian Movement, one is constantly in dangerous situations, one can’t stop running from his past, one spends time in prison, and one becomes a young mother. This story shows the emotional quest these children go through to find their place in the world and the effects of trauma and loss of culture.

In a simple context, this story can be described using Kenn Adams ‘Story Spine.’ This is a great outlining story device and a good way to deconstruct a story.

Once upon a time there was five young Indians who were forced out of their family homes and into a strange and isolating residential school.

Every day, they were tormented, abused, unhappy and missed their families.

But one day, they were released back into society. Given a single ticket into East Vancouver they were left to fend for themselves in a new world.

Because of that, they had a hard time finding work, friends, a place to live, and their place in society.

Because of that, they suffered from their own personal traumas and struggles to find themselves.

Because of that, they needed each other to move forward. Their lives crossed at different points but led them to better places.

Until finally, they found their own purposes. One joined an Indian movement and got back to her roots. One started a family. Others must learn some hard lessons but grew from their experiences.

And ever since then, they were known as survivors who went through hell and back and someone ended up okay.

Was this story fair to the people and ideas it represents?

Author Alison MacAdam, asks what questions should you ask before starting a story? One of the questions is, was the story fair to the people and ideas it represents. She asks it all the characters are represented equally; does it have multiple perspectives? The story, ‘Five Little Indians’ represents each of the five characters equally expressing all of their pains and individual stories. The book also does a fair job of representing Indigenous culture in Canada. Michelle Good is a Cree author with ancestors who attended residential schools and a strong story to tell.