Your Story, Well Told

“Corey Rosen's book is a great resource. I know I will return to it again and again for ideas, inspiration, and entertainment.” ―Samantha Harris, cohost of Dancing with the Stars and Entertainment Tonight and author of Your Healthiest Healthy

2021 International Book Awards finalist in Self-Help: Motivational
#1 New Release in Speech and Public Speaking

Learn the art of telling stories and make the sale, land the client, propose a toast, or impress a date. Corey Rosen is an Emmy-award winning writer and actor with years of experience as a skilled story telling coach. His book is Jam-packed with some of the best story telling strategies out there.

Telling stories well is a skill we all need. We’ve all got stories to tell─but how do you make your story the best? In his book, Moth veteran and master teacher Corey Rosen inspires you to tell your story. Using the best storytelling techniques from improvisational theatre, Rosen designs an accessible guide for all ages and skill levels. Crafted to help ordinary people tell extraordinary stories, this laugh out loud handbook covers everything from how to tell a good story to going off script.

Learn how to sell yourself through the art of telling stories. The best story telling uses improvisation to enthrall, entertain, and keep audiences on edge. Laugh along with tales of performance triumphs (and disasters) and explore ways to tell your story with confidence and spontaneity. From brainstorming and development to performance and memorization techniques, learn how to tell a good story with:

• A variety of structures and editing approaches to bring out your best story
• Improv exercises to stimulate creativity without feeling foolish
• Quick and easy lessons on building stories
• Resources for putting on a showcase to tell your story

If you’re ready to sell the story straight or enjoyed books like Stories That Stick, Long Story Short, or Storyworthy, you’ll love Your Story, Well Told.

Success in Storytelling  

I am a big fan of the Heath Brothers (Dan and Chip Heath), a pair of authors and teachers that work at Stanford and Duke Universities. Their book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die really “stuck” with me. It’s one of the best books on effective communication I have ever read.   

In it, they present case studies of stories, marketing campaigns, and brands that succeed because they are able to stand out by leaving a lasting “sticky” impression. Brands like Apple, McDonalds, Southwest Airlines…  Brands in crowded fields can differentiate themselves with a strong point of view and a number of common unifying traits.  

There are many overlapping concepts from their book – primarily targeted towards marketing and advertising – to storytelling. One is the goal to overcome the “curse of knowledge” – where the storyteller or presenter has information in their head that they assume the listener can also infer. They might predict that their listener will “get it” more often than they can – based on the fact that it’s a story they know, have experienced, and can remember.  

By adapting Dan Heath and Chip Heath’s “SUCCESS” system for storytelling, you can edit your stories to be more interesting, actionable & memorable. 

Here is a brief breakdown of these steps and how they can be applied to measure and assist in the editing of your story:  

Simple

Does your story have a single, understandable, through line?   Can you summarize your story in a line, like, “my son’s tooth falling out made me realize I was having trouble letting go of his childhood?” Or, “getting punched by a mother at my kids’ elementary school changed the way I drive?” 

This does not need to mean that the story itself is “simple.”  The plot and detailing of the story may be quite complex, but in the end, we should gather that a single arc of change has occurred and the character transformed or made to realize something has changed.   

If there is not a simple core, and there are multiple threads, this may be an opportunity to try removing the emphasis on the second or third threads – to make the primary focus the heart of the story.  

Here is an example I see often. Many people feel like they have more than one great story to tell. So, they tell a story, but then before it can end, or maybe after it already technically did end, they will continue, “and then one day I decided to move to Africa…” Wait, what?  The story ended, and we had a lovely satisfying ending. But when I hear “until one day” show up at the end of a story, my PERSONAL Story Spine tingles and I want to scream, “stop!”    

So, look for the simple core of the story. Or reverse engineer it.  

Say you want the story to be “about” something that it’s (currently) not. By writing or crafting what the simple core is, make edits to the story. Whatever is not supporting or necessary for that core message – try removing it. Does it help or hurt?  

Universality 

Your stories are 100 percent yours. You come from your own life experience and nobody is quite like you. But regardless of that, even when you have experienced something truly unique, it’s important for your audience to find some connection to it. This is what we mean by “universal.”  What is the universally understandable aspect of your story that we can connect with?    

Here is an example from Jeff Hanson. Jeff has lived an extraordinary life. From a childhood in rural Wisconsin, he migrated to Minneapolis, married his sweetheart, and transplanted to the Bay Area. Life happened and children, divorce, and job changes started him on a path of transformation and self-discovery.   

One of Jeff’s stories mesmerized and baffled me. He enrolled in a rather intensive self-help seminar in a rural area. Part of the program involved sensory deprivation and mind probing with sensors under extreme conditions including “listening” to his own mind “waves.”    

The whole story seemed crazy to me, because I could not put my finger on any universal aspect of it. It felt so far-fetched and vague that I assumed it was invented.   

But upon further development, the story revealed something I could grasp on to. Jeff was confused, afraid, and searching for answers. This I could relate to. He was skeptical of the program, even if the methods were unorthodox. That too I could get behind. By acknowledging that we’re entering an unusual world, and seeing it through his eyes, I could relate to the experience of trying something new and hoping for the best, even when the tools and techniques seemed unusual.  

Once Jeff’s story started including the point of view of his reactions to the world, I felt more comfortable going down the rabbit hole with him to the strange places he was willing to try going. In fact, it became fun, from that point forward, hearing how strange it was, because I could relate to Jeff’s interest in it. I too take interest in new things.   

Check your own story for “universality.”  Is there something in it that anyone could relate to?  An emotion? A relationship? This will keep your audience engaged while you relate your specific experiences.