Story structures

- All good stories have a structure. Without it, you might skip an important part of the story or just as bad, put a bunch of stuff in that you don't need. I've seen too many fabulous four-minute leadership stories wind up as boring, ineffective, 10-minute nightmares because they didn't follow a good structure. I'm going to lay out the structure I recommend, and if you follow that structure, it'll make sure you answer the eight questions every story should answer. Let's walk through those sections first, and then the eight questions, okay? All right, first, the hook is what gets your audience to pay attention. The context is the setting of the story, where and when it took place. The challenge is the problem or opportunity the main character ran into. Now, that's where the hero meets the villain the first time. The conflict is the action of the story. That's where the hero actually does battle with the villain. The resolution is how everything turned out in the end. And the lesson and recommended action are where you draw conclusions and move your listener to some kind of an action. Those are the main parts. Structuring your story that way allows you to answer the eight questions your story needs to answer, and in the order you need to answer them. Here are those eight questions. The first question you have to answer is why should I listen to the story? Because if you don't answer that question in the first 10 to 15 seconds, your audience might not listen to your story. They might mentally, physically, or emotionally walk away from your story. Once you've given your listener a good reason to listen, then you've earned the right to answer the next five questions. Where and when did it take place? Who's the main character and what do they want? What was the problem or opportunity they ran into? What did they do about it? And how did it turn out in the end? And that should sound like the flow of a typical story, but you're not done yet. After you tell the story, you'll want to make sure your audience understands what they were supposed to learn and what action they should take. That's why the last two questions are what did you learn form it? And what do you think I should do now? And the order you answer those questions matters, because unlike in a business memo, the resolution and recommendation, they go at the end, not at the beginning. Just imagine if you found out at the beginning of a murder mystery who the murderer was. It'd ruin the entire story. Or imagine you're telling someone a fantastic story but you didn't answer the question about where and when it happened. Now, depending on how fantastic the story is, they might actually start wondering if it was true. In fact, sometimes it bothers them so much, they stop you and ask. They say, "C'mon Paul, is this true? "Did this really happen? "When was this? "Where was this?" They'll actually ask you question number two because until they get those questions answered, it's just too hard for them to move on to the rest of the story. That's how stories should flow. They should answer the eight questions in the proper order. And doing that helps make sure that you don't leave out anything important and that the story makes sense, while also making sure you're not including too much information that can make your stories too long and too boring.