from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to Get Better at Storytelling?

by rullopat on 10/5/21, 1:02 AM with 5 comments

How did you learn storytelling? Do you have a book, video, course, etc. that you can advise?

  • by DLA on 10/5/21, 3:28 AM

    A few items share:

    Check out MasterClass.com It's subscription, but some has amazing content by world-class instructors including courses on story telling, film making, writing, etc. https://www.masterclass.com/categories#film-tv

    Watch TED talks and check out some of the books about creating/giving TED talks. Watch Steve Jobs' presentations too!

    Read this fabulous post: "Nail Your Startup Pitch: Use Pixar's Story Formula to Win Over Investors." The key element of the post is the Pixar Story Formula (classic story arc). Proven formula! Once you learn it you'll start to see shadows of this story arc everywhere. https://startuppitch.substack.com/p/nail-your-startup-pitch-...

    Plan in analog - get off the computer - put pen/sharpie to paper or index cards and plan out your story's spine. The go deeper and flesh out out. When you have a rough plan for your story arc then move back to digital. I'm not kidding here. Analog planning works! It allows you to focus on the story and not the glitz of graphics, fonts, colors, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7fe4t4T1I

    Good luck! [edit: typos]

  • by PaulHoule on 10/5/21, 2:11 AM

    I took lessons in acting based on this method

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meisner_technique

    and came to realize that there is a commonality between writing and acting. An actor might not need to think about the arc of a whole story but they need to think about how it is advanced in a single scene. Sometimes even in real-life situations I think about "blocking" and other concepts from the stage. (e.g. Look at drama and improvisational acting in general)

    Lately I read this book

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Seduction

    which has a lot of fiction and non-fiction references oriented around the technology of love ("Tale of Genji", "Les liaisons dangereuses", "Love and Lust") and works over the stories of very interesting people from various directions.

    I have been reading the references, reading the references of those references, and going off in other adventures in reading including recent feminist scholarship such as

    https://www.amazon.com/Why-Love-Hurts-Sociological-Explanati...

    I think that love is the most popular topic for storytelling and this project has vastly improved my ability to confabulate on the subject.

  • by allenleein on 10/5/21, 12:58 PM

    Here are the resources I found most helpful:

    - On Presentations by Siqi Chen (https://www.beautiful.ai/player/-LiSV45O9K1sE8uv5oMj/On-Pres...)

    - In Defense of the Deck (https://abovethecrowd.com/2015/07/07/in-defense-of-the-deck/)

  • by Rzor on 10/5/21, 3:19 AM

    Search for recs here on HN about a book called Impro by Keith Johnstone. I'm yet to read it, but if people here are right the book is amazing and may help you.

  • by yuppie_scum on 10/5/21, 2:41 AM

    Try joining Toastmasters.