I get asked so many time what make a great story.
This is a huge question but I have found that most stories will really engage a listener is they have four basic ingredients:
1. A single protagonist: This is a single hero or heroin that the audience can relate to. It really needs to be someone that has relevance to the audience. It could be yourself as the storyteller, it could be a client or anyone else as long as the person is real and the audience can relate top the person in some way.
2. A point of conflict: Describe a single point in time to represents a state conflict that our protagonist is facing. it could be a personal, business, emotional or spiritual dilemma. Again, depending on the purpose of the story,the conflict should be something that the audience can relate to.
3. A point of decision: Somewhere in the protagonist’s journey he or she will need to make a decision that will change the course of the journey This is especially important iof there is a lesson involved in the story
4. A point of discovery: At some point in the journey there hero should have an “aha” moment, or an experience where they come to a realization that they have learned something significant. This is where the lesson of the story is shared with the audience.
Include these four ingredients in your stories, and your impact as a story teller will be significantly enhanced.