Author-Matthew Dicks
Understanding the meaning of the book.
The book "Storyworthy" explains the core values and methods to tell better stories and how to be more attractive and engage people with your experiences. It is a book about our own-self. It is a journey to become good at engaging people with your stories. This book contains several stories of the author itself. He explains the terminologies of a better story from his experiences at the Moth's main stage where people share their stories. Matthew is the pro player of that game, winning the Moth story slam championship 36 times and 5-times grand-slam champion. Now Matthew shares his tricks and tips with us so that we can prevail at storytelling.
What makes a perfect story? Opening your mouth getting out of your head and your house so that you are fully engaged in your life and the lives of others for the night is what storytelling is. What connects people is the real experience you share with them and that's why people feel influenced by you. Just sharing some really good experiences of your own life creates a great bond. Also, your story should have some sort of a change. If you start with something really simple and common end with something interesting. You should always tell your own story. People will be more interested in your story rather than your friend's story which might seem better to you. But be free to tell your side of that story as long as you are the protagonist in that story. A story is like a diamond with various facets which has many relationships connected to it. If you find your part of the story compelling you can tell that story as your own. Matthew says that if the story passes the dinner test then it should be told. The story should pass the dinner test. Your story should be interesting so that you can narrate it to a friend at a dinner table. It should not be like something out of the blue thing because you are not going to tell that way on a dinner table.
Homework for life We actually don't look at the small moments. These moments are actually special or they teach you something but you don't notice them often and if you do you don't catch it with the experience you had. People are not going to relate to the stories they haven't experienced or a story that has a common end. If you tell a near-death experience to someone that might not feel so compelling to them but if you tell them an experience that happened in your class or a supermarket they might feel it more interesting and compelling. Writing the most story-worthy moment of the day every night makes you remember the actual thing which you went through the day. It even shows some unusual patterns which follow over time. This is the homework of life. Do the homework of life. Give yourself just 5mins every day and ask yourself "what was the most story-worthy moment of the day?" It might not be worth telling these experiences to someone but just do it for some time once you do it you will find the link and you will enjoy the process.
Things which every story should contain.
Your story should contain an elephant the part which is obviously visible and the most important one. When you are telling a story the audience doesn't know what is going to come so you should have that proper reason why the people should keep listening to you. The stakes of your story should be certainly high.
A story should have a spice of humour that will elevate the story. But the story can't be full of humour it should leave the audience moved. If the whole thing is filled with humour then it won't be a story it will be a stand-up comedy.
Every story ever told should include at least 5sec moments of the human being. These 5 seconds should include the most upside-down moment of our story. The story should not depend on the big events but the small life-changing events which happen throughout the major events. Your story should not have anything which the audience feels wow about but instead, it should have a moment where the audience is left moved from what you shared the main thing is it should have that 5s turning point. The 5s moment should be almost at the end of it should be the end. It is because of this moment you open your mouth. So you should start crafting your story around this moment.
Stories regarding failure, shame, and embarrassment are the best you don't have to find the most spectacular moment. The beginning and the end of your story should be opposites or nearly opposites. It's just like traveling through an airplane you board it at one corner of the world and end up on the opposite one. Most movies are the opposite at the end from where they started. Watch the first 15 mins and just think of the complete opposite and that's the ending. Start your story near to the end to avoid being boring or even directly going on the main theme or what you want to convey.
Don't start your story with expectations. When you see you won't believe it people instantly clicks that they are going to see some surprising moment. Start directly with the story you don't need to give any introduction. Just immerse people into your story as soon as possible.
The first few sentences start really well. The ending of your story and the scenes of your story. Control your emotions while telling stories and maintain eye contact. If there is a lot of people in front of you then look at the people at the right and left of you and the person who admire you in the crowd.
Conclusion So these were some of the main points from the book which I have summarized in a small bite. This book is really amazing and engaging as Matthew talks about his real-life experiences and the book attracts the audience by the point he carves out from his own stories and explains them to us in a practical way. I think it is a must-read even if you don't want to be a good storyteller just give it a read it's wonderful the way how he engages the audience by just telling his stories.
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