The stories we remember
We all remember a good story
Read time: 5 mins
Last Friday night I heard the stories behind the lens of photographers from our competition.
It reminded me how important stories are in transferring energy to someone else.
This last month has also been on of preparing client pitches, presentations, and emails to stand out. No matter how much effort I put into perfect slides or polished emails, they don't stick if they don't tell a story.
We’re all competing for attention, whether you’re writing an email internally, posting on social media, or pitching to a client. People scroll, swipe, and forget more than ever before. The messages that stick are the ones wrapped with story.
Most people assume good content speaks for itself. But without storytelling, even the best ideas get lost in the noise. I’ve experienced this firsthand: polished emails that were ignored, presentations that didn’t land. But once I started applying simple storytelling techniques, things began to change. Here’s what I’ve been learning and how you can use these techniques to be remembered.
At a glance:
Rhythm
Setting the stage
Escape the algorithm (new section with relevant links)
Rhythm (Pacing and flow)
What it is: This technique focuses on the flow of sentences and scenes. Good rhythm controls the emotional tempo, giving readers moments to breathe before building tension again.
How it works: Vary sentence length: Short, punchy sentences for action.
Longer, reflective sentences for introspection or exposition.
Scene transitions: Build tension gradually or create abrupt shifts when needed.
Example: Consider a chase scene:
“Her breath was ragged. Footsteps pounded behind her. She didn’t look back. She couldn’t.”
In contrast, use slower pacing for a reflective scene:
“Years later, she’d remember how the rain had felt that morning, cold and heavy like a warning she hadn’t understood.” Impact: Prevents monotony, keeping readers hooked while giving emotional highs and lows throughout the narrative.
Setting the stage: Context and conflict
Think of storytelling like setting up a game: you need to explain who’s playing and what’s at stake before you can dive into the action.
Context tells readers where they are and who they’re following, while conflict introduces the problem or challenge.
Without a problem, there’s no story. Just facts. Example: Instead of writing this: “We launched a new product last month, and here are the results.” Try this: “When we launched our new product, we didn’t expect such a rocky start. But after weeks of low sales, one unexpected tweak changed everything.” Why it works: The first version is flat. There’s no tension or reason to care. The second version creates intrigue by hinting at a struggle (conflict) and a solution.
Between us, the introduction of these emails uses this technique.
Context: My recent experience, to give the reader a sense of where we're starting from. Conflict: Subtly introduced. The lack of impact of polished presentations and emails aren't enough to make ideas stick.
Escape the algorithm
Kaizo trap (8 mins). A video that resurfaced to me recently. A masterclass in visual storytelling. The comments section will reveal the depths to it.
The Knowledge Project with Matthew Dicks (1h58). He's a well known storyteller with books and TED Talks. He spends almost 2 hours talking about his techniqus in this podcast.
How to begin a movie (15 mins). A video I've had in my saved list for years. Any opportunity to include The Dark Knight in a newsletter will be taken. Sorry, not sorry.
Mythology with John Bucher (1h12), professional screenwriter talk about what makes a good story and why we need them.
Storytelling assistang GPT, by me! A little experiment of my own. I've been training a little GPT with a range of storytelling techniques, including the two above. The idea is to give it any text for any purpose, to identify opportunities for storytelling based on the frameworks mentioned above, and more, and suggestions to improve the text.
Still a work in progress, but if you want to help me improve it and have a go, here's the link.
Conclusion:
If you got this far, you're part of 72% of subscribers, so thank you, {{ subscriber.first_name }}. Maybe it’s proof that storytelling works.
I hope one of the techniques or resources sparked an idea for you.
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See you in two weeks.
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