Storyworthy Book Review

Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks is a book which I found via the Ali Abdaal YouTube channel. I have read a lot of the books recommended by Ali and generally they have all been amazing and impactful.

I enjoyed the way this book written as Matthew mixes practical advice and tips on storytelling, some of which I describe below, with real examples and stories from his own life. He then breaks down the stories and their structure so you can see how they are formed. I have to say that some of the stories in this book are very emotional and powerful which really drives home the message.

The book starts off with a very interesting tip which I am trying to implement. This is to spend a few minutes every evening to write down the one story worthy event which occurred. It can just be one sentence which captures a moment, or a thought which you had and might later become the source of your own personal story. Ask yourself, if you had to stand up on stage and tell a 5 minute story from today what would it be.

Storytelling tips and tricks from the book

The key thing with stories is that they need to be about transformation. You start somewhere and end somewhere else, either physically, or mentally. It needs to convey change. Importantly it should be about you or at least your view of the story. People would rather hear about what you did last night than what your friend Jane did last night.

All stories should be about a single key 5-second moment in a persons life. The purpose of the story is to build the greatest clarity possible around this moment. Anything in the story which is not adding clarity should be removed and anything adding clarity reinforced and highlighted. Once you have decided on your 5-second moment you need to think of the opposite and start your story from there. As you are trying to describe change you need to start from the opposite and walk to the moment.

Matthew Dicks gives a great example of this from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The defining moment is where Indiana Jones sees the power of the Ark of the covenant. The story starts with a very atheistic and unbelieving Indy who is constantly pushing back on the mystical aspects of the artefact. Then in the final scene he sees the power and this fundamentally changes his view of the world.

The next tip is to add stakes to the story, and you need to do this to relatively early so that the audience gets hooked and knows why they are listening.

Stakes answer questions like:

• What does the storyteller want or need?
• What is at peril?
• What is the storyteller fighting for or against?
• What will happen next?
• How is this story going to turn out?

Then add an “Elephant in the room” It needs to be a large and obvious and indicate to the audience that this is a story and heading in a direction.

You can use the “Backpack” strategy where you load up the fear and/or anticipation of the audience by increasing the stakes. Backpacks are most effective on an audience when the “plan” does not work. An example of this is the Oceans 11 film. There is a big build up where they are planning all aspects of the heist. This builds anticipation which crescendos with the inevitable failure and expected events which occur.

Now as you approach your “moment” from the story this is where you can slow-down the pace, this builds even greater anticipation.

Now ask yourself, if you stopped talking right now, would anyone care? If the answer is no, you need to increase the stakes. You are competing during a story with, everything else going on in a persons mind and even their phone notifications. You must grab their attention!

Conclusion

These above tips are just a few of the items which I picked up from the book and I have not done them justice. If you want to learn more about story telling whether to improve your dinner table conversation or your impact presenting in front of a large audience I would recommend you check our this book.

Let me leave you with two final quotes which really resonated with me.

As Blaise Pascal first said,  “If I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter.” Brevity takes time, because brevity is always better.”

Conversations about the weather are the antithesis of this ideal of an entertaining, connected, meaningful world. They are the death of good conversation. They are the enemy of the interesting. My humble suggestion: Avoid these conversations at all costs. Change the subject. Do not engage. Walk away if necessary. You will be the happier, and the more interesting, for it.

What are your thoughts, if you read the book and have any comments please leave them below.