You may have heard how important storytelling is when it comes to content and writing in general.
No matter what type of writing you do, learning how to use storytelling to your advantage can make your work stand out and attract readers.
Luckily, if you don’t know how to use storytelling in your writing, there are some tips you can use to bring your writing to life, even if you don’t do creative writing.
In this article, we’ll cover the basics of storytelling, why all writers should learn the essentials, and then look at some tactics you can use when writing.
What is storytelling?
Storytelling is the art of using a story to convey a message and to captivate the reader and give them a reason to emotionally engage with the writing.
Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatricality, or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives that are passed on for entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values.
Out of Wikipedia
Once you know that Core elements When it comes to storytelling, you can start applying these tactics to everything you write to make it more engaging and interesting.
Most of us think of fiction when we think of storytelling, but you can use it in almost any type of writing. Even if you don’t write fiction, it may be useful to practice storytelling to bring more attention to your writing and to develop as a writer in general.
Why is storytelling important?
Most of the time, people remember stories and are more attached to them than almost anything else. There’s a reason we love reading books, watching movies, and telling stories at social gatherings. It’s because we love what stories do to us.
For example, we can listen to statistics and data about events in the world, but when it comes to storytelling, we can connect with it and remember things better. For this reason, you can remember and repeat stories you’ve heard better than you can remember facts you learned in school.
When we talk to the people in our lives, we share stories and it is the way we treat each other.
If you want to become a writer, no matter what writing niche you choose, knowing how to use storytelling to your advantage can help advance your career in ways you never planned.
Why storytelling is important in blogging
If you want your blog to stand out and engage readers, you need to use elements of storytelling to grab attention.
This is one of the best ways to build a following and create content that people want to share. Not enough blogs use storytelling in their posts, so it’s a great tool to stand out from so many competitors.
Incorporating a story is also a way for your reader to really understand and visualize what you’re trying to say and understand your message in a way they wouldn’t otherwise understand.
Benefits of storytelling
Storytelling is a great way to grab people’s attention and keep them engaged.
There is something uniquely human about the love of stories and our desire to always keep them in our lives, no matter how difficult it is
You’ll often find that you can also increase engagement when you use Stories. People love to comment and engage with certain stories.
Think about the creator behind it People of New York who simply walked around New York (and eventually to several places around the world) and asked people to tell their stories. It fascinated people around the world and attracted a lot of attention.
Storytelling also gives people a reason to share content as it is more interesting than a blog that only deals with a specific topic.
How to Use Storytelling in Writing
Now that we’ve covered the basics of why storytelling is important and what it is, now it’s time to look at the tactical things you can do to start incorporating more stories into your writing.
Determine your main story
In almost every story there is a beginning, a middle and an end. If you want to tell stories as you write, you need to outline at least the three main points of your story so you know what to include.
This makes it incredibly simplified, but is the best place to start if you’re new to storytelling.
Give people a reason to care
First, you need to think about who you’re telling the story to, what the purpose of the story is in the first place, and how those two fit together.
Sure, you can write a story to share, but often you have a specific reason for sharing a specific story and want to read it to a specific person.
This is especially true if you blog or write for marketing or branding purposes.
It may seem tedious to spend so much time thinking about the reader and figuring out what they want from your writing, but it will be worth it.
Keep some of these storytelling basics in mind
There are some things you want to include in your writing that you don’t want to include.
For example, remove cold, boring expressions. This is especially common in companies that use storytelling, where they rely on tons of jargon and business language and avoid getting caught up in the flow of telling a story.
When writing a story you should also emphasize the sensations and senses because that is what makes it so visual. They want to talk about how things smell, taste, look, feel, sound, etc. It can attract them and help put them in the shoes feel the story.
Write the story as if you were telling it to someone you are dating. This is a great way to write a story naturally.
Keep practicing
One of the most important things to keep in mind if you want to use storytelling in writing is that to be an effective storyteller, you need to practice over and over again.