People ask me how I became a writer and if you know many writers, all that really is, is saying, “Tell me a story.” and we will.
On a hot summer evening, with a window mounted air conditioner pumping out air so cold, you could see your breath if you blew into it, in a small frame house in Beatrice Nebraska, a television died. It was one of those big wooden console units with a tube that you may have only seen on TV shows or in a museum somewhere, with a black and white picture that was a little fuzzy at the edges.
My dad had been watching news about the Panama Canal and right in the middle of a sentence, Walter Cronkite just disappeared as a puff of black smoke rose from the back of the set. I remember my father’s sigh as he got up from his chair, grunting as he turned the big unit around and dragged it onto the porch for the junk man.
“We won’t be getting another one,” he said.
We didn’t, Not until I was in the tenth grade. So, I read, incessantly, everything I could get my hands on, starting with my father’s literature collection from an English minor in college. I read until he took The Grapes of Wrath, suggested maybe seven wasn’t the best age for John Steinbeck, and got me a library card. Over the next ten years, I’ve estimated I read fifteen hundred books of every kind. And that, kids, is how I became a writer.
I became a storyteller,and if you ask anyone who’s spent much time around me, they’ll agree, Mark likes to tell stories. So, what does this have to do with ghostwriting and Linked In, and you? Everything.
You see, stories are the best form of human communication, and if you’re not telling them, you’re likely missing out on some great connections. I’m sure I’m not the first person who’s told you that stories, not sales pitches, are the best type of content to share. It’s true. And if you want the best responses, there are specific kinds of stories you can tell. Here are three.
The underdog
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You’ve probably heard some old timer say, “Everyone likes to root for the underdog.”
I don’t know how true this is in real life, but it’s certainly true in our stories, so true in fact, we’ve created a cliche’ out of one of the most famous underdog stories ever. Next time you hear of some small person in an epic court battle with a mega corporation, listen for it, I’ll give you two to one odds they’ll say “David and Goliath” story.
An underdog is someone facing an impossible opponent. David and Goliath, The Karate Kid and the movie Rudy are notable examples. You can tell an underdog story because the odds are not only overwhelming against the underdog, but they’re ominously threatening. If the hero doesn’t seem about to be crushed, it’s not a very good underdog story.
These stories happen in real life a lot too. You, or someone you know, has likely lived one. You might have been on the small school team that worked hard enough to win their championship, or won a big contract against a competitor several times your size.
When telling underdog stories, here are some things to keep in mind.
The best ones have a good outcome. Whether the underdog wins, or takes home a more valuable lesson, there needs to be a payoff.
They’re best told in third person, if you were the underdog, don’t reveal that until the end. Your audience sees best through the narrator’s eyes.
Tension is the key to keeping an audience glued to an underdog story. Build up the odds, make them uncertain, but make your hero just cocky enough to pull it off.
You can find examples of underdog stories in every walk of life and using them as examples in your marketing can help create a brand image that’s memorable.
Escaping the past
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Whether your story is about someone surviving a harsh childhood, recovering from drugs and alcohol, or overcoming any debilitating condition, an escape from the past story can be truly inspirational. I recently completed a book with a client who suffered unspeakable abuse and trauma as a kid, but now runs a million dollar sales team, and hasn’t even reached her thirtieth birthday yet!
Escape the past stories give us hope. All of us feel that we’re disqualified from life sometimes. Sure, we landed this great job, but without that degree, will we be able to move up? Or, we got the degree, but feel like we cheated. Or, maybe, like my client, we have a past we’d just as soon forget. In any case, escape from the past stories give us courage to face our lives, if they could do it, so can we!
Choose people whose success is relatable for the best stories. The easier it is to see yourself inside their success, the more it will mean.
The darker the past, the more dramatic the escape. If it’s a true story, don’t lie, but paint the picture in dark colors.
Choose heros that remained humble and accessible. Not everyone who succeeds in escaping their past is someone to look up to.
Reaching the Summit
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In a summit story, the hero achieves something that is not merely unthinkable for them, but for mankind. It’s a rare feat. Edmund Hillary summiting Mount Everest in 1953 as the first confirmed climber to reach it, or Neal Armstrong stepping onto the face of the moon in 1969. Both of these men had incredible journeys to arrive at those moments.
There are more “down to earth” examples, of course, Jeff Bezos, starting Amazon and just over a decade later, being declared the richest man in the world comes to mind, but smaller things like achieving a huge fund raising goal, or helping solve a long time social crisis are summit stories as well.
The hero is not just beating an enemy, or escaping something, but shooting for a very specific, narrowly defined goal that presents obstacles to achieving it.
The story is in how they prepare, what they have to overcome, their courage to continue and finally succeed. The summit moment, ironically, becomes almost an anticlimax.
What their achievement inspires in others is also a big part of the story. Literally thousands of climbers have followed Hillary, and following Armstrong’s mission with Buzz Aldrin, ten more US astronauts have landed safely on the moon’s surface.
The potential is limitless
Once you start thinking of stories that inspire, educate and inform you, you’ll find so many to share you won’t run out of ideas. Not only that, but your content will suddenly become sharable, and relatable. That’s not to say you become a master storyteller overnight. I’m still honing my skills and I’ve been an intentional storyteller for most of my life.
The biggest benefit, in my view, is that it keeps you from just adding more noise to the content soup that is the internet. It gives you something to say that’s worth saying, and if you need help telling your stories, there are always guys like me to help you figure it out. Message me for a free consultation.