Keep or Kill: Story Structure

This reading explains the art of telling stories on radio, through an animated comic strip. It features examples of good storytellers in the media and goes through each individual process of creating the best story. The comic starts with Cathrine Burns who reveals her strategy for telling stories with anecdotes, then Joe Richmond who uses scene based stories in his radio show, and Rob Rosenthal who talks through the most effective ways to transition scenes. There are also the examples of producer Soren Wheeler who explains the difference between active voice and descriptive voice, and Alex Blumburg who discusses the advantage of conversational storytelling. The comic ends by describing the struggles of the creative process storytellers face, and how to become comfortable going through creative slumps and triumphs.

While I’m not a huge fan of listening to radio shows, I found that most of my favorite people to listen to on podcasts, or Ted talks are really talented story tellers. A good example of a speaker that used storytelling as a way to captivate her audience was Cecelia McGough, in her Ted talk on Schizophrenia. In this Ted talk, McGough discussed in detail her experience of living with the mental illness, and how she dealt with hallucinations as a student. Not only did McGough’s storytelling leave a lasting impact on me, but it made me realize the impact of storytelling. Through good storytelling people can offer a new perspective and relay information that leaves an impact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbagFzcyNiM

Although this Ted talk was very different from a radio show and McGough could use visuals and body language to engage her audience, this speaker used many of the same story telling strategies mentioned in the article. This speaker was able to use language and powerful stories to show the audience what life was like though her eyes. McGough included scene-like imagery, which Joe Richman mentions is, “the essential building blocks of radio stories.” While it can be hard to invest in audience in a mental illness they don’t have, McGough does a good job of presenting just enough information to keep the audience engaged, and letting them create the picture in their heads. This same strategy is discussed by David Kestenbaum who says, “The scenery people create in their heads is much more vivid than anything you could take a photo of.”