Image: Bobette Buster, DO / Story
During the Story Skills Workshop I attended as a learner (run by Bernadette Jiwa. btw, don’t miss this workshop!), a co-participant pointed me to this book on storytelling. It is chock full of great ideas, like:
- The Gleaming nugget. What element in your story is the crucial moment? Can you polish that moment so that it sparkles and gleams? Can you make us smell it, taste it, see it?
- The juxtaposition. What diametrically opposed elements in your story create tension? Thesis (one idea) and antithesis (the opposite idea) lead to Synthesis (a new idea in the reader’s mind)
- Keep them wanting more. Don’t overdo the lesson. Make a clear point and get out. Let your audience sit back when done, and wonder what it means for you and for them.
CMIO’s take? This brief book captures and illustrates (in STORIES) these and seven other great teaching points. As I’ve been gently corrected in my own stories, SHOW, don’t TELL. This book SHOWS.