writing & storytelling
So you’ve got yourself a five-second moment — a moment of transformation or revelation or realization. This is good. You’re already a better storyteller than most people in the world. Truly. Tell a story about a real moment of meaning from your life — a five-second moment — and people will want to hear more. More good news. You’ve also found the en
... See moreMatthew Dicks • Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
Much as working with a piano teacher is not, fundamentally, about learning songs, but about using songs to push yourself; I now think of our projects, not as ends in themselves, but as means to help us improve the underlying process and ourselves. This helps put me in the right frame of mind. I want this essay to turn out well, of course. But the g... See more
On limitations that hide in your blindspot
This is the trick to telling a big story: it cannot be about anything big. Instead we must find the small, relatable, comprehensible moments in our larger stories. We must find the piece of the story that people can connect to, relate to, and understand.
Matthew Dicks • Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
Every great story ever told is essentially about a five-second moment in the life of a human being, and the purpose of the story is to bring that moment to the greatest clarity possible.
Matthew Dicks • Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
Some prompts for thinking and writing.
You win $100,000,000 in the lottery. How do you allocate it?
Write out an average day in the life of you in 10 years. What makes it beautiful?
If you had to flee America and start a new life, where would you go and why?
You go back in time to when your great grandparents were your age. How would you explain the fu
It’s hard to see which parts of your experience and opinions are distinctive and resonate without sharing them. In my experience, it’s rarely the big grand vision that people are attracted to but rather something more mundane and grounded - something that has a clarity and weight about it that is distinctive.
tomcritchlow.com • Rejecting Specialization
Every story must have an Elephant. The Elephant is the thing that everyone in the room can see. It is large and obvious. It is a clear statement of the need, the want, the problem, the peril, or the mystery. It signifies where the story is headed, and it makes it clear to your audience that this is in fact a story and not a simple musing on a subje
... See moreMatthew Dicks • Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
These five-second moments are the moments in your life when something fundamentally changes forever. You fall in love. You fall out of love. You discover something new about yourself or another person. Your opinion on a subject dramatically changes. You find forgiveness. You reach acceptance. You sink into despair. You grudgingly resign. You’re dro
... See moreMatthew Dicks • Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
That’s the trick. A simple one: Make sure that every moment in your story has a location attached. Every moment should be a scene, and every scene needs a setting. It’s the simplest, most-bang-for-your-buck strategy that I have to offer.