Storyworthy: Summary Review
This is a summary review of Storyworthy containing key details about the book.
What is Storyworthy About?
"Storyworthy" provides guidelines and techniques to create and share compelling personal stories that connect with listeners and create a lasting impact.
In this compelling book, storyteller extraordinaire Matthew Dicks presents wonderfully straightforward and engaging tips and techniques for constructing, telling, and polishing stories that will hold the attention of your audience (no matter how big or small). He shows that anyone can learn to be an appealing storyteller, that everyone has something “storyworthy” to express, and, perhaps most important, that the act of creating and telling a tale is a powerful way of understanding and enhancing your own life.
Summary Points & Takeaways from Storyworthy
Some key summary points and takeaways from the book include:
* Storyworthy is a book by Matthew Dicks that teaches readers how to create and tell memorable stories.
* The book covers the importance of storytelling and how it can be used in a variety of settings, including work, personal relationships, and public speaking.
* Dicks outlines the elements of a good story, including a clear narrative arc, vivid descriptions, and relatable characters.
* He also provides tips for finding and developing stories, including how to mine personal experiences for material and how to craft an engaging narrative.
* The book emphasizes the power of storytelling to connect people, build relationships, and communicate ideas.
* Dicks encourages readers to practice storytelling in their daily lives and to seek out opportunities to share their stories with others.
Who is the author of Storyworthy?
Matthew Dicks is an American novelist, storyteller, columnist, playwright, blogger, and teacher. His first novel, Something Missing, was published in 2009.
Storyworthy Summary Notes
The Importance of Change and Protagonism in Great Storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful tool for communication, and in "Storyworthy," the author shares essential rules to follow for telling great stories. The key point here is that a great story must contain an element of change, and it should cast the storyteller as the protagonist. The change can be small, but it must reflect some type of transformation happening over time. Without change, a story becomes an anecdote and lacks the ability to create a deeper connection with the audience.
Furthermore, the stories that we tell should involve us as the protagonist, which creates a sense of vulnerability, authenticity, and immediacy. The author explains that telling one's story requires courage and honesty, and it makes the narrative more engaging. However, this doesn't mean that we can't tell other people's stories; we just need to tell them from our perspective.
For example, the author worked with Holocaust survivors' children to teach them how to tell their parents' stories. They learned how to structure their stories to ground the narrative in their own lives while also including their parents' experiences. This approach made their stories engaging, as they revolved around how their parents' experiences had altered their own lives.
Storytelling Tips: Keep it Simple and Natural
One of the key ideas in this book is that good storytelling is about simplicity, authenticity, and relatability. Author Dicks suggests that storytellers should strive to pass "the dinner test" by asking themselves if their story is the kind they would tell over dinner with friends. In other words, a good story should not rely on over-the-top theatrical or poetic flourishes, but rather on natural, simple language and delivery.
Dicks cautions against using strange gestures, unnecessary dialogue, or overly poetic language when telling a story, as these can distract from the authenticity of the story and break the connection between the storyteller and the audience. Instead, he advises storytellers to focus on delivering their story in a way that feels natural and unpracticed.
The Five-Second Moment: The Heart of Every Good Story
The essential truth about storytelling is that every good story is about a five-second moment in someone’s life. These moments are those that bring about permanent change, typically sudden, powerful, and small. The point of a story is to illuminate these moments with as much clarity as possible. Such moments form the foundation of exceptional stories.
The most powerful moments are not those that are unusual or extraordinary, but those to which everyone can relate. It could be loneliness, rejection, or the power of friendship. These are things that we have all experienced, and it is what makes us connect with the story. The most transformative moments are often the smallest, like a teenager's friends showing up in the waiting room to shout words of encouragement before he was wheeled into surgery.
When telling a story, it is essential to identify these moments and focus on them. It is not the grand events that people remember but the emotions and changes that they bring. It is crucial to present these moments with as much clarity as possible, allowing the audience to connect with the emotions and experiences of the story.
Finding the Beginning of Your Story
Every good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But how do you find the right place to start your personal story? According to Storyworthy, you should examine how your story ends to determine the best place to begin. Your story's transformative moment is not only the heart of your story, but it's also the pinnacle and purpose of your tale, so it needs to come as close to the end as possible.
To find the right beginning, you must remind yourself how your story ends and then choose a moment that is the complete opposite of that moment of revelation, realization, or transformation. This opposition is vital because it helps to construct a satisfying arc within your narrative, and this arc is how your story will demonstrate change over time.
Selecting the right moment to start your story is difficult because most of us will have many moments from which to choose. However, by examining the opposite of your transformative moment, you can construct a narrative arc that will captivate your audience and show how you changed over time.
For example, consider a romantic comedy whose opening scenes show a young woman being fired from her job in a bank and her banker boyfriend running off with her female best friend. The complete opposite of this moment is that she finds a new lover who is the very opposite of a banker and a new job in a very different environment, such as opening a bakery. Finally, she makes a new best friend, but one very different from the one who betrayed her, such as an open-hearted gay man. By working out what’s the opposite of the first quarter of an hour, you’ll probably have a pretty accurate answer of how the movie will end.
Tips for Immersing Your Audience in Your Story
Telling a story is not just about recounting a sequence of events. It is about making your audience feel like they are right there with you in the midst of the tale. And to achieve this, there are certain do's and don'ts to keep in mind.
One effective technique for immersing your audience in your narrative is to use the present tense. This helps to create a sense of immediacy and transports your audience into the moment that the story takes place. It enables the listener to feel as if they are experiencing everything alongside you, and makes the storytelling much more engaging.
However, there are certain things to avoid as well. For instance, it's important not to ask your audience any rhetorical questions. This can distract them from the story and turn it into a question-and-answer session. It also reminds them that they are not present in the moment being described, but rather in a room listening to someone else talk.
Another mistake to avoid is addressing your audience directly. This can break the illusion that you are weaving, reminding your audience that they are not a part of the story but rather outside observers. By just telling your story without addressing or questioning your audience, you can keep them immersed and invested in the narrative.
Clean Storytelling: How to Avoid Swearing and Vulgarity in Your Stories
In storytelling, the words you use can impact your audience's perception of you and your career potential. It's important to avoid swearing and vulgarity in your stories if you want to have mass appeal and be invited to speak at various events. Swearing too much can limit your opportunities and make your stories unsuitable for certain audiences. Although vulgarity may seem like a way to create a mental image for your audience, it's more likely to disgust them. Being restrained in your word choices can actually help your storytelling career.
However, this doesn't mean you have to sanitize your stories or censor yourself completely. It's okay to use some colorful language if it's authentic to the story and appropriate for the audience. The key is to strike a balance between being true to yourself and being mindful of your audience. You don't want to come across as fake or inauthentic, but you also don't want to alienate your listeners with excessive profanity or explicit details.
In the end, the goal of storytelling is to connect with your audience and take them on a journey with you. By avoiding swearing and vulgarity, you can broaden your audience and increase your opportunities as a storyteller. So think carefully about the words you choose and remember that sometimes less is more.
Book Details
- Print length: 368 pages
- Genre: Nonfiction, Self Help, Writing/li>
Storyworthy Chapters
Chapter 1 :A Coward Tells a Story
Chapter 2:What Is a Story? (and What Is the Dinner Test?)
Chapter 3:Homework for Life
Chapter 4:Dreaming at the End of Your Pen
Chapter 5:First/Last/Best/Worst: Great for Long Car Rides, First Dates, and Finding Stories
Chapter 6:“Charity Thief”
Chapter 7:Every Story Only Takes Five Seconds to Tell (and Jurassic Park Wasn’t a Movie About Dinosaurs)
Chapter 8:Finding Your Beginning (I’m Also About to Ruin Most Movies and Many Books Forever for You)
Chapter 9:Stakes - Five Ways to Keep Your Story Compelling (and Why There Are Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park)
Chapter 10:The Five Permissible Lies of True Storytelling
Chapter 11:Cinema of the Mind (Also Known As “Where the Hell
Chapter 12:The Principle of But and Therefore
Chapter 13:“This Is Going to Suck”
Chapter 14:The Secret to the Big Story: Make it Little
Chapter 15:There Is Only Way to Make Someone Cry
Chapter 16:Milk Cans and Balls. Babies and Blenders: Simple, Effective Ways to be Funny in Storytelling (Even If You’re Not Funny at All)
Chapter 17:Finding the Frayed Ending of Your Story (Or… What the Hell Did That Mean?)
Chapter 18:The Present Tense is King (But the Queen Can Play a Role, Too)
Chapter 19:If You Practice Storytelling or Public Speaking in a Mirror, Read This. If You Don’t, Skip It.
Chapter 20:The Two Ways of Telling a Hero Story (Or… How to Avoid Sounding Like a Douchebag)
Chapter 21:Storytelling Is Time Travel (If You Don’t Muck It Up)
Chapter 22:Words to Say. Words to Avoid.
Chapter 23:Time to Perform (On the Stage, in the Board Room, on a Date, or at the Thanksgiving Table)
Chapter 24:Why Did You Read This Book? To Become a Superhero.
What is a good quote from Storyworthy?
Top Quote: “Your story must reflect change over time. A story cannot simply be a series of remarkable events. You must start out as one version of yourself and end as something new.” (Meaning) - Storyworthy Quotes, Matthew Dicks
* The editor of this summary review made every effort to maintain information accuracy, including any published quotes, chapters, or takeaways. If you're interested in enhancing your personal growth, I suggest checking out my list of favorite self-development books. These books have been instrumental in my own personal development and I'm confident they can help you too.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
