Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need

by Margot Leitman

To hell with facts! We need stories!

Sure the story was a little off-color and raunchy, but that wasn’t why it worked. It worked because I was being both real and vulnerable.

lot of first-time storytellers provide too much unnecessary information up top. When telling the story of a bad date, for instance, it’s useful to give a synopsis of your dating history, but it has to be kept supershort, e.g., “I was in a ten-year relationship throughout my twenties. When I hit thirty and was thrown back into the dating scene, I had no idea what I was doing.” That’s enough intro to get the audience to come on board.

When you’re telling a story, if we don’t know what you want—e.g., to meet your soul mate/make the team/start a family—we end up disinterested and not rooting for you. So be like Steve Jobs—tell us what you want!

Near the end of his presentation, Jobs’s clicker malfunctions and his slide does not appear. And guess what he does? He tells a funny personal story from his high school days to kill the time. You can tell from his easy delivery that he had the story in his back pocket, that he had probably told it socially dozens of times. I encourage you to have a few of these ready to go, just like Jobs.

Steve Jobs concludes his speech by coming full circle, recounting Apple’s inventions over the years and looking forward to the direction the company is going. He doesn’t hit us over the head with a preachy ending, or insult our intelligence by telling us what we should have learned. He lets his presentation speak for itself, and you should too.

Storytelling is recounting a true experience from your life that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your story is, as long as you were affected by it.

Let the story speak for itself, and if some laughs end up happening, think of those laughs as icing on the cake.

Most events in life can be categorized in one of two ways: a good time, or a good story. —

Think about what people ask you about constantly. What aspect of your life are you asked about the most?

It wasn’t being a mom that was interesting; it was my personal and vulnerable perspective on being a mom that was interesting.

Here’s a quick thing you can do to see some of the stories already within you. Fill in this blank with true statements until you run out. I AM __________

After you’ve exhausted all your I am statements, jot down a few notes next to the ones that have a corresponding anecdote. Then move on to part two: I WAS ________

The final part of the exercise is this: __________ IS THE STORY OF MY LIFE

Some of the most successful artists out there have found one recurring theme and told variations of that story over and over, to great success.

Write down a list of ten quirks about yourself.

We all have a story about the craziest thing that ever happened to us, but the best stories often come from everyday life

Live life for the story

But in order to be a great storyteller, you must start saying yes to scary things again.

try diving into the crazy instead of running from it.

Say yes to scary things!

In order to create more stories, you have to be open to new experiences.

Don’t wait for things to happen to you. Make them happen

when someone is trying to connect with you, let it happen. But preplan an exit strategy in case it gets too weird for you to take. And if you sense danger, get out. No story is worth that!

I challenge students in every class I teach to stray from their routine, stand up to something that messes with them, do something out of their comfort zone, and so on.

But usually I find the best stories are when a person creates a challenge for himself/herself that is deeply personal.

be brave! Do things that scare you. Don’t cop out on life or you’ll have no stories to tell.

I have to live a life in order to tell a life. —SPALDING GRAY, monologuist and actor

SIMPLE WAYS TO GENERATE MORE STORIES 1. Travel. 2. Switch the way you get to work every day—take a bus, carpool with a fun or quirky coworker, walk. 3. Say yes to more of the things that you are invited to. 4. If you are single, go on a date with an unlikely person. 5. If you are attached, convince your partner to do something adventurous with you. 6. Don’t run from the weirdo at the party; engage with him/her. 7. Try a new method of exercising—make sure it’s something you never thought you’d do.

There is a difference between purposefully doing crazy things in order to manufacture a story and being open to new experiences that may or may not inspire a personal story from you.

Tell a story with a clean conscience

Remember, you are the star of your own story

Storytelling isn’t about bashing someone else; it’s about being brave enough to share your story and make others feel better about their own lives

Sedaris succeeded at one of the most important things a storyteller can do—he made his audience (in this instance, me) feel better about my own life via sharing his misfortunes.

In order to fully express yourself, pretend the boss/ex/friend/etc. your story is about is dead.

If you censor yourself before you begin, you’ll never get anywhere.

The older you are, the more stories you will acquire, because more things have happened to you.

People will care about your life as long as it relates somehow to their own life.

If you keep your story universal, the audience will be on board.

Don’t be afraid to be uncool

If you ain’t desperate at some point in your life, you ain’t interesting. —JIM CARREY, actor

By admitting she was less than perfect, she got me on her side.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.