reed wordcamp storytelling 05.30.14

Cindy Reed Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher

Twitter: @Reedster2

cynthiakreed@gmail.com

www.reedsterspeaks.com

www.cindyreed.me

#wcavl

What’s Your Story? Engaging Your Readers

with the Power of Personal Narrative

© 2014 Cindy Reed

www.reedsterspeaks.com

Imagine…

Why storytelling for bloggers?

Stories engage.

Because Science.

If we listen to a recitation of facts,

just a fraction of our brain is activated.

“A story can put your whole brain to work. . .

The brain of the person telling a story And the person listening to it can synchronize.”

Leo Widrich, “The Science of Storytelling:

Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains” (December 5, 2012 Lifehacker) (discussing Princeton study)

Stories persuade.

“Facts tell, but stories sell.”

Bryan Eisenberg

“Content Marketing: Superheroes Teach the Art of Storytelling” (ClickZ Dec. 28, 2012)

So ditch the lists – unless . . .

… you can find the story.

What is story?

Story is more than an emotion or an idea.

“This happened and

I was sad or angry or elated”

is NOT a story.

Compare: Emotion vs. Story

Emotion: I am angry about the lack of diversity in

children’s media.

Story: “Mommy, why is Calliou bald?”

Story is more than a sales pitch.

“Use our services because

of these five bullet points”

is NOT a story.

Example: Sales vs. Story

Sales: Buy my scarves on Etsy because

they’re awesome.

Story: “I perched on a rickety stool, memorizing

the way my grandmother’s leathered hands

scraped the wool between the wooden

carding boards.”

How do we tell

stories on our blogs?

Tell it in a flash.

Flash Nonfiction

DON’T simply tell a fast

story.

TELL a story with ONE

core concept.

Break it down | Again with the Etsy Scarves

Wool

• Visited farm to

shear sheep.

• Grandma taught

to card wool.

Dyes

• Learned which

berries to use.

• Harvested

berries on hike.

Knitting

• Chooses patterns

from art.

• Knits as mindful

meditation.

Edit to 400-600 words.

CUT

Tangents

Asides

Exposition

Summaries

Use narrative structure.

“Not every word that comes

out of our mouths is a story.

Story is narrative.”

~ Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story

In the beginning.

Grab the reader’s attention.

Don’t tell the reader what you’re going to tell them.

Jump in.

Short first sentence.

Short first paragraph.

Example: Wordy

“I’m back from the Blissdom blogging conference in

Nashville, and it was wonderful to take a break with so

many smart, funny, powerful, creative, and determined

women who are communicating their stories to the world,

one post at a time.”

Example: Punchy.

“I dropped into the window seat, on the wing.

The exit row.”

Stuck in the middle.

Show, don’t tell.

If you tell me, it’s an essay.

If you show me, it’s a story.

~ Barbara Greene

In other words …

Don’t say the old lady screamed –

bring her on and let her scream.

~ Mark Twain

Example: Crowded Taekwondo

Telling Showing

“It was crowded at my

daughter’s taekwondo class.”

“The backside of a

backpacked dad poked into

me, uncomfortably adjacent

to my face.”

~ Cindy Reed

“The Layered Look Only Works if You Wear Layers”

(The Reedster Speaks, Jan. 16, 2014)

Example 2: Grandma’s Old Car

Telling Showing

“My grandmother gave me

her old car.”

“She was wide-hipped and thirsty and I called her Bertha after the Grateful Dead song. . .

. . . a two-tone ’72 Cutlass handed down from my grandma.”

Louise Ducote, “Here, this is for you”

(Hair of the Dogs, June 18, 2012)

… and in the end.

Know when to stop.

NO neat bows

NO navel gazing

NO summing up

Follow the Coco Chanel rule.

Example: The Accident

Too much:

“Should I have done more?

Aren’t we defined by the

choices we make, in the

blink of an eye?”

Just right:

“When the local news called

today, I declined to be

interviewed on camera.”

Find your voice.

Who are you as a person? Be that as a writer.

DON’T write like you talk.

Write like you ARE.

Informal Voice | The Reedster Speaks

“When you juice things, you

bring out the micronutrients

. . . blah, blah, blah. I didn’t

really listen. But when some

non-physician dude in a

movie tells me I should

make everything into a

beverage or I am going to die?

I’m doing it.”

Cindy Reed, “My Juicer, It Mocks Me”

(The Reedster Speaks June 11, 2012)

Lyrical Voice | Bill Dameron

“When we drive along the

rocky coast of Maine and

watch the green ocean swell

like it is a living being larger

than eternity I do not say it.”

Bill Dameron, “Don’t Say It”

(The Authentic Life Jan. 5, 2014)

Minimalist Voice | Michelle Longo

“My mother would twist her hair at the nape,

secure it with one barrette, and walk around with

a wet washcloth around her neck.

If I aggravated her, she’d simply say, ‘Michelle, it’s

hot.’”

~ Michelle Longo, “I Am Not Safe”

(The Journey, Sept. 26, 2013)

Resources for writers.

Find a writing home … … and hone your craft.

Check local meet-up

groups.

Join an online writing

community.

Attend writers’

conferences,

workshops, and retreats.

Resources | Writing

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius within You by Ray Bradbury

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

The Situation and The Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick

Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussion on Story Writing by Ursula LeGuin

Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by Jon Franklin

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser

Resources | Grammar

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed

by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner

The Elements of Style by Strunk & White

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl

The takeaway.

Cindy Reed Writer | Blogger | Speaker | Teacher

cynthiakreed@gmail.com

Twitter: @Reedster2

www.reedsterspeaks.com

www.cindyreed.me

LINK TO MY PRESENTATION