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The Power of the Story Formula

what I want to do. This segment is sort of dive deeper into into some of it. I touched on in the last session, which is the story formula, which is really a formula for how to keep your stories from being formulaic. Uh, and, um and, uh and I'm gonna talk a little bit more about I'm gonna give you some examples, and then I want eso Just so you're in the mindset. I'm I'm gonna want some of you to get up and try to tell your story using this formula, anything that you're working on right now, a story that you have coming up the story of your business, the story of the podcasts you're trying to launch. Whatever it is I want to try to sort of see if we can put our stories into this story formula. So I gotta review it, though the formula, uh, and I this to formalize, uh, doing a story about X, and it's interesting because of why, Right, Um, and before I put everybody here on the hot seat, I'm just just to set up that this is a very safe place. I'm going, Teoh, I'm gonna share the um, one of ...

the earlier stories that I ever pitched. Um, and, uh, just to sort of like just this is an unusual formula for people to use. It's unusual to sort of formulate their ideas in this way, and it's unusual. Teoh. It's hard work. It's hard work for me. It's hard work for everybody to try to figure out, like, what is the most compelling way of framing the thing that I'm trying to discuss? What is the thing that, like takes it out of being sort of a stock hacky way of thinking about something and turns it into something that seems fresh and exciting, like, That's really hard. It's really hard, Um, and it takes a lot of time and and it takes a lot of practice. And, uh and but I am living proof that you can that you can cross the chasm because I will now share with you one of my first ever pitches. Um uh, I want to just about community gardens. Um, I e I don't for some of the more public radio minded folks in in here and out there, you might recognize Community Gardens is one of the oldest hoariest story ideas that you could ever come across and public media. Uh, and so that's why it's especially impressing this with the first pitch that I ever sent. And I sent it to this American life, uh, which is sort of the paragon of public radio storytelling. A Senate. Before I was a producer there, I sent it back. And like that early, like in 1996 Uh, and, um, was even more embarrassing. Is that even back then it was absolutely cliche, but I didn't even know. I just I was like, I want to do a story about community gardens, but I didn't have I didn't know which garden. I didn't know what I wanted to talk about in community gardens. I had no idea what was possibly interesting about community gardens. I didn't have a character that I want to talk to about community. And so I was gonna show up at some random community garden, and then I talked to who exactly? I didn't know. Uh, but what I did know is that I knew what I wanted this American life to name the show that my community garden story would be a part of. I wanted them to name that show Flowers From the Dead Earth, which I thought with a really clever title because I thought it was a line from a. T. S Eliot poem called The Wasteland a poem which I've never actually read. And it turns that I misquoted really badly because the actual line from DSL, its actual poem is not flowers from the dead earth, but lilacs out of the dead land. So, out of the six words that were in the line that I was trying to quote, I've gotten to write and dead, uh, so all that to say, um, I didn't do a very good job with that pitch. And But what's weird is that even if I had and I didn't know about this formula back then, I didn't know about like it was a while before I would come up with this formula. You know, I'm gonna do so about X. And it's interesting because of why, um, but even if I had known the formula, I don't know what I would have said. I'm doing a story about community gardens, and it's interesting because I had no idea. Um and I don't know. I mean, I suppose I could have said I'm doing a story about community gardens, and it's interesting because they're a vital part of the community. Not very interesting. It's interesting because their refuge from the bustle of city life again Not very interesting. Ah, I didn't know what was interesting. Um, and so, um and so I was to say it's hard to do all this. Um ah. When if I had come up with something that would had to be interesting about community gardens, I mean, I could maybe make something up. Now, uh, I want to do a story about because there actually drug laundered. That would be interesting. Course. That was not the story that I had background. Uh, and I'm unhappy. Truth. Uh, so, um, so anyway, all of us to say it like this is a safe, supportive place. We all are like, it's hard to do this, But But what I do want to do now is put you on the hot seat and sort of and get you. I think it's a very useful exercise. No matter what you're doing, to try to frame your story. Whatever that story is, If it's if it's an actual sort of radio story that maybe your radio reporters and you're working on a story that you want toe sort of workshop right now, you're not exactly sure what's interesting about it. And you want to sort of put yourself you know you want tryto workshop it here. If you are telling a story about yourself like you're telling the story of your company and you want to try to, sort of, you know you have to get and it's interesting because if it's successful, I make a lot of money. That's not a good wine, right? Right, You need it. Why that other people find interesting? Not just you. So So what's the why of your store with the wife of your company? What's the why of the thing that you're trying to dio um, so who's ready to start? Who wants to go in the hot? All right, There we go. I live in the hot seat. Exactly. I want to do a story about, um, why artists work so hard to make their art. And it's interesting because they often don't know why what you think. It's interesting because they often don't know why. How many people say that? How many people would say, OK, I want to hear that story. Help me. Yeah. Anybody raise their hand, I think we need a different way. Um, so I want to do a story about say it again. I want to do really what I want to do. I want to do a story about why artists are making their art like individual artists. Right? Uh um, And it's interesting because they often don't know why they're compelled to make art about Why don't what? What don't they know? They're really often don't know what's actually fueling their need to make art. But then when you dig deeper, you could find out why. What is feeling? The need to make our pardon? What is feeling? The need to make art. Do you think that's what I'm gonna find out? You have you Do you have examples of things that have, like, sort of that? I think it's just an innate need to, um, express their humanity and to connect with other people. That's way abstract. And this is a difficult subject because it's already hard to talk about theirs. There's this this there's this quote, I think it's David Byrne. I'm not sure that talking about music is like dancing about architecture, right? So it's a really tough Why worry telling topic. So want one thing that I always do that I often do in this situation is sort of like you. You have a You have something that is drawing you to this topic. There is something that fascinates you about this topic and often would. Coming up with the right formula is about sort of getting in touch with the thing that you're actually drawn to about this because and And I think I'm the perfect audience because, like, I sort of don't give a crap about are just talking about There are I think a lot of people don't Yeah, And I think and, um but that doesn't matter because, like I have been, I have been riveted by artists are just talking about their art in certain settings in certain situations, and I think it's possible to do so. What is it that what drives you to the topic? I'm an artist. Uh, and I that doesn't work right, you know, And I actually help artists uncover what their purpose in their mission is in their value. Proposition, like, actually, will help pull that out of them. So what is the go ahead? And Morgan, I was just going to say, think that there might be a difference between artists not maybe knowing. I mean, I think they know why they're making art. It's just a matter of finding the words and and talking about it. And they feel that. I think a lot of times artist Stone feel like they need to talk about it because what they're producing is what they're putting out into the world. But, um, you know, just through talking about their practice and just breaking it down into, like thinking about it as his object that they're just creating and talking about sort of just being transparent about, like, the building blocks of what led up to making it. And it helps them to determine why they might have started making something. Yeah, yeah, you know, So but I But I think with you know, you you know, you talked quite eloquently about your art yesterday, and and most a lot of artists don't can't do that or don't do that very well, but what's he talking eloquently? I mean, I think this is where we're getting to like when she was talking. Ah, lot of the moment that we remember did not contain the word art in them. When we were talking about the moments that we remember, there was the moment of this sort of like, amazing moment of realization with her husband. There was the realization with Angela, her co worker, there was a salad. There was like none of that was like there was like braids, right. But that was also sort of a nostalgic moment about childhood. So what is what? I think that's what you're getting at is there's a connection between art and making art that has nothing to do with the mechanics of art, right? Saying that I don't care about our don't care about down process. I don't care about your materials. I don't care. And no one else does. What we care about is you know, General General, it's not an interesting story. I mean there and this is the thing you were trying to like. There is there. Like I said before, there are things that we care about that nobody else cares about. And like the first step of trying to figure out how to tell your story better is to recognize that is the recognized that some of the things that I care about nobody cares about and like, and that's that's that's important. But there's something that I'm connecting to in it that if I could explain the people, I could get a wider audience and that that's just a matter of sort of like figuring out what it is that draws me to this thing. That that is more universal. Um and so so when you were So So we have a couple. I think we're closing in on something here. So the what would be yeah. So sometimes the question is changing the X also like sometimes you start out with bad ex. Yeah, but anyway, go ahead. Yeah, So from what I connected with yesterday and from what you just said and from actually what I'm interested in, I'm doing a story about and artists creating, and it's interesting because there's of their self actualization. So yesterday, what we would I would connected to is you had life moments of sex, self actualization. You recognize something about why you're here. You're close. I think if you're using the word self actualization that that's a red flag. But close like jargon is a bad is a bad thing. With what? What do you mean when you say self actualization? Why? What, like you had moments of clarity about your life, your own growth and why you're here and how you are connected to others and how you express that. Uh, okay. All right. Close. They were close to what you would you got. What you got were closing in, I think, Uh, do you story about working artists? I think cause that's something people are really interested in, people who are artists for a living. And it's interesting because ah, lot of them have fascinated and unexpected origin stories because I think that's where getting out is like, what is that moment that made you either make the switch to being a working artist, which I do think a lot of people are interested in or what? At what point did you decide like that something was doing it again. I'm doing a story about working artists because I think that narrows it in, and it's interesting because, um, a lot of them have unexpected origin stories work. Who Who said that? Who says we can stop there? Who says we still need to work? Stop there. It's going to go. All right. Okay. Uh, all right. Although I think you're getting there, but you're getting that What you got. So, actually, the truth, the truth of it is that I help artists actually articulate or lead them towards their purpose and their mission by having them examine most painful times in their life. And okay, this weight, the most painful times in their life, is a good way. Uh uh. Was suffering. So why? Well, suffering the X suffering makes great are. Yeah, but that's but what? So? So where was it? So you're helping with the X, though, I think, and with interesting is I do it by making them relive the most painful moments in the lives. So that's the good. Why? What's the X? Because art transforms. Put in X. I'm doing a story about doing a story about Think about it. Ryan's got something. Yeah, I'm doing a story about people making beautiful things, and it's interesting because it usually comes from the most painful moment in their life. What about that is I work. All right way. Okay,