In my previous posts in this series, I covered my interest in using storytelling for training, briefly explored what storytelling actually is, and presented my list of guidelines for what I believe a great story must have.

In this post, I’m going to further explore the power of storytelling and attempt to simplify my process of writing a story that will be powerful in the context of training.

BUILDING A STORY

A story by definition is a narration of a series of events told with a specific purpose in mind.

As I continue to look more deeply into storytelling, I’m starting to realise how involved this process can actually be. In this Introduction to Storytelling, Pixar tells the truth about how long it can take to get a story right.

Stories should have a structure, with a beginning, a middle and an end.

The Beginning – where we start
The Middle – where we travel through
The End – where we stop

This is much easier to understand if it’s put in context with examples as in this Essence of Structure video.

In my next post in this series I’m going to look at effectively communicating through story. I’m also going to introduce the concept of digital storytelling and why I think should be using this for training.