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Presentation Zen: Robert McKee on the power of story
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At it's core, story is about a "...fundamental conflict between subjective expectation and cruel reality," says McKee. Story is about an imbalance and opposing forces (a problem that must be worked out, etc.). A good storyteller describes what it's like to deal with these opposing forces "...calling on the protagonist to dig deeper, work with scarce resources, make difficult decisions...and ultimately discover the truth." Can not a presentation on a technical or scientific topic be a story — with plenty of data and information along the way — about a long journey of discovery, of trial and error, and so on?
How can executives/leaders learn to tell stories?
We tend to forget lists and bullet points, McKee says, but stories come naturally to us; it's how we've always attempted to understand and remember the bits and pieces of experience. McKee's point is that you should not fight your natural inclination to frame experiences into a story but should instead embrace this and tell "the story" of your experience/topic to your audience. -
What makes a good story?
It's not what you think—the beginning-to-end tale about how results meet expectations is boring and banal, McKee says. Avoid this. Instead, it's better to illustrate the "struggle between expectation and reality in all its nastiness." So, what's wrong with painting a positive picture? McKee says that spin and a glossy, rosy picture actually works against you because everyone knows it can't be exactly true. What makes life interesting is "the dark side" and the struggle to overcome the negatives — struggling against the negative powers is what forces us to live more deeply, says McKee. Overcoming the negative powers is interesting, engaging, and memorable. Stories like this are more convincing. - 2 more annotations...
Interview with Robert McKee
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"If the story is compelling," McKee said, "[readers] don’t think like that. If they’re swept along by the characters and the story you’re telling, they'll keep reading whether the plot points and inciting incidents are in the ‘proper’ places or not. It’s when they get bored that they start looking for excuses to reject a script."
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"Would you rather get paid $25,000 to have your story on the screen exactly as you wrote it, or get paid $1,000,000 by a studio and have your script butchered by development executives?"
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Writing the List Article (or blog entry!)
learn how to write the list article...quick, simple, and easy to use formula you can get published with.
EduWrite-New blog on writing in education
New blog by Miguel Guhlin focusing on a writer's journey through education, writing in, for, and about education topics in K-16.
Ten Steps to Finding Your Writing Voice
At the heart of everything that you've ever read that moved you, touched you, changed your life, there was a writer's fear. And a writer's determination to say what he had to say in spite of that fear. So be afraid. Be very afraid. And then thank your fea
Finding your voice - making your writing sound like YOU
John Berendt (Midnight at the Garden of Good and Evil) who, in a list of 10 suggestions, includes this advice: "Think of writing, even the most serious writing, as a medium of entertainment. I mean entertainment in the broadest sense: engaging the reader'
Around the Corner v2 - MGuhlin.net - The List Article - My Favorite "Structure" for articles
The List Article - My Favorite "Structure" for articles
30 Ideas for Teaching Writing - National Writing Project
30 Ideas for Teaching Writing answers those questions and more with 30 successful strategies contributed by experienced writing project teachers. Since the National Writing Project does not promote a single approach to teaching writing, readers will benef
The Dilbert Blog: The Day You Became A Better Writer
Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.
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