Author:: [[Lawrence Yeo]] Category:: #🐉 URL:: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UtVVmo4VnXUz6QYgieLO4o3FXrHK2UiQ32YJVnk50Zw/edit # Your Storytelling DNA Everyone has a different storytelling personality among six different levers.  *Personally, I feel he's missing a few levers I would add. I would add emotionality, assertiveness, connectivity, and imagery as another lever.* Connectivity describes how much the storyteller tends to connect ideas from many areas of life. Imagery describes how much a storyteller creates an image in the mind of the audience on the five different senses in their writing. On these levers I would say I'm here for each: - Playfulness: 3/4 of the way - Structure: 3/4 of the way - Research intensive: 1/2 of the way - Personal Experience: 4/5 of the way - Simplification: 3/4 of the way - Worldbuilding: 1/4 of the way - Emotionality: 1/2 of the way. - Assertiveness: 1/2 - Connectedness: 4/5 - Imagery: 1/3 I'm most excited to adventure more into being more research intensive, worldbuilding more, incorporating more imagery, and being more emotional. # The Problem Half Solved Advice given without a story is cliche. Your goal is to tell a story so good, people come to the takeaway themselves. Every story you tell has a problem and a takeaway. Describing the problem well is vastly more important to develop then the takeaway because describing it well will lead them to come to the takeaway. People don't change from getting told to do things. They must come to the change themselves. Every problem can be described with Rationality, Empathy, and Depth. Rationality is your use of expertise, studies, and appealing to the readers logic. Empathy is appealing to the readers emotion with personal experience and anecdotes. Depth is an insight regarding the root of the problem.  How much of each you use depends on your storytelling DNA. Depth comes from asking why, three times in three different ways. First asking why YOU experience the problem. Second asking why others like you experience the problem. Third asking, why everyone experiences this problem. This third layer is the hardest to get to but the most powerful. ## My Adapted Video Game Framework Instead of using R.E.D., cause that's Lawrence's thing, I'm using WBD, Wizard, Bard, Druid. Wizards use their magic through the power of study, knowledge, and high intelligence. Bards convey things through emotion. And druids understand the world through their incredible depth with nature and the connectedness of all things. # Simplifying Complexity The best storytellers simplify complexity through using analogies, anecdotes, frameworks, and visuals. ## Graphs One of the most classic visuals you can create is a two axis graph. The secret is in making your Y value the emphasis variable and your X axis the helper variable. The most try and true method for your x axis is Time. ## Spectrums Spectrums come in two forms, horizontal and vertical. Horizontal graphs are used to indicate nuance in an argument. People thought it was black and white but it's really gray. Vertical graphs are used to indicate a journey you are taking a reader on from starting point to ending point. ## Anecdote An anecdote is a story that tangenty relates to your main point but isn't so slap on the problem it's obnoxious. The easiest way to do this is by identifying what emotion your problem instills and writing an anecdote that has that emotion inside. ## Worldbuilding 101 You can build any world with the 3 Ps: 1. Perspective 2. Purpose 3. Props The order matters. First we build perspective. You can do 1st, 2nd, or 3rd which are good for different reasons:  Depending on the perspective you choose your purpose will be different throughout:  When building characters to embody attributes you have two choices. You can build a problem character and a takeaway character with attributes of the problem or takeaway. For example, in Yeo's article on creativity not always being done through creating his problem character Sam believes he must use all his hours to create and his takeaway character Creativity believes a part of creativity is in just doing nothing. The other thing you can do is have your problem character go on a journey to become your takeaway character. The last part of the P's are props which are optional but super powerful when used correctly. Props come in two forms, aids, and metaphors. Aids are simply objects used to aid the story like the train tracks in the trolly problem. Metaphors are deeper objects that symbolize a feeling. The secret in creating metaphors is in thinking about a feeling your story evokes and creating a metaphor that represents that feeling. It's important to think outside of the box for this step. If it's too trite a metaphor it might come off as preachy. Name your metaphors to make them more obvious.  ## Structure Toolbox Most great nonfiction stories use a man in the whole plot. You start by highlighting the problem with emotion and rationality. Then you give people a takeaway with analogies, depth insights, or frameworks. And you drive it home with an example of the takeaway in action.