Storytelling is the art of connecting people. It is examining the grime of reality. It is celebrating the joy of life. Storytelling comes in many forms—in writing and in photographs, in films and in fine arts, in songs and in performances. Storytelling is the act of making singular experiences into shared experiences. It is the human pursuit of making something of the world.
Enjoy the journey.
Don’t miss the exquisite sights along the way. Often the journey is more valuable than the destination. Storytelling is exploring, not just recording. Wander. Process over product—though both matter. Live first, storytell second. Storytelling is living, but living is more than storytelling.Learn to see.
Stop and see what is really there, not what your mind tells you is there. Observation precedes articulation, precedes creation. Learn what good storytelling looks like, sounds like, smells like, feels like. Study art history. Know the major periods, players, paradigms, and pieces. Identify what makes good stories good. Trendy is not timeless.Cherish the tools.
Tools are the artifacts of culture, the mechanics of the trade. Communicate with the tools, not just through them. Tools are the actors on the stage of the canvas. Without them you have no show. Cast them for the parts that fit their personalities. Your creative space matters. Surround yourself with the artifacts that make you creative.Be bold.
Take risks. Risk is the only way to bypass mediocrity. Sometimes finding what doesn’t work is the only path to finding what does. Failure is part of the journey, so fail with style. If failure is inevitable, go down swinging. Defeat is the last resort. Aim high: live hard, work hard, fail hard, play hard, rest hard.Bring the human element.
Stories are for people, so write for people—not publication. Tell stories through the mind of the human experience. Learn to find the beauty in the mundane details. Beauty is already there, but it must be unearthed, brought forth. Evoke emotion. Nudge, don’t shove. Help people see by making them feel.Dare to dream.
Dwell in a world that could exist. Cast a grand vision for how the world could be made aright. Critique by creating. Stimulate, don’t saturate. Don’t over-tell the story. What isn’t there is just as important as what is. Sometimes omissions say more than inclusions. Create a space for the viewer’s imagination to come and inhabit.Be clever, not cute.
Learn the difference. There’s always a place for wit, never a place for gimmick. Clever is gritty but honest. Cute is appealing but false. Honesty is not glamorous, is not trying to sell something. Advertisements do not survive the test of time. Honesty is the essence of real connection.Learn the rules before you start breaking them.
Trust me. You aren’t fooling anyone... until you are. Learn what conventional wisdom has to offer, then be selective about when to deviate. Only with knowledge of what has been and what is can you start to envision what could be. You aren’t playing good jazz until you’ve studied classical.Be flexible.
Sometimes you will stumble upon brilliance by accident. Embrace it. Your public, message, and methods will all change with time. Relevance is predicated upon your flexibility. Collaboration pays. Create in community. Consider the ideas and feedback others offer. Don’t put self-imposed boundaries on what is possible.Write first, edit second.
An idea is void until it is given its words, its imagery, its chords. Most first drafts are rubbish, but write them. The best ideas usually come fifty—or five hundred—in. Edit, but don’t over-edit. Refine the words and images enough to beckon their innate beauty, but don’t polish them into plastic. People are complicated, so their stories are complicated. But complication should emerge from the plot, not from storyteller error.Pursue simplicity.
Attend to detail.
Details are the story. Everything is story; everything communicates something about the story—whether that’s intended or not. Word choice, spelling, grammar, alignment, color, note, chord: these compose your arsenal. Never tolerate misfires. Make sure they’re all operating perfectly.Be relentless.
Good storytelling is one of the hardest endeavors in this world. Fight for beautiful form and clear communication. Apathy and laziness will come knocking; resist their seduction. Most things worth doing in life don’t come without a fight. You don’t buy discipline: you earn it. You don’t become a master overnight, so don’t expect to.Stay curious.
Curiosity killed the cat, not the storyteller. Wonder why things are the way they are. Explore multifarious forms of storytelling, even if they don’t fall into your particular niche. Brilliant stories are wasted on the masses; don’t let them pass you by. Become a miner of the rare jewels that the world has to offer. Collect the treasures; keep them safe.