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Your story matters. But does the audience know that?

Framing is about connecting the very specific ideas and events in a story to something larger. Use the Story Matrix to create a frame that will connect your story to something universal.

“This happened, then this happened, then…” Create suspense in your storytelling

Whenever there’s a sequence of events—this happened, then that happened, then this happened—we inevitably want to find out what happened next.

Also—and this is key—this banal sequence has raised a question, namely, What’s the guy saying? And you’ll probably stick around ‘til you find out.

Grab your audience’s attention with the XY Story Formula

What will make your audience unable to resist diving into your story?

The Focus Sentence: Find the Shape of Your Story

When I learned the Focus Sentence in Rob Rosenthal’s Transom Story Workshop, I felt like I’d discovered a magic wand that let me get straight to the heart of my stories.

Where do you get your ideas from? Pay attention to what you pay attention to.

The best stories come from people following their taste, diving into something that inspires them. Your taste matters.
And how do you know what your taste actually is? You have to listen to yourself, pay attention to what excites you, what you talk about.
Which idea is keeping you up at night thinking about it?
Which idea are you telling your friends about?
And then invest in it: invest your time and your attention.
Pay attention to what you pay attention to.

Sound and Vision: Increase your reach with storytelling across multiple platforms

Boston, April 1-3. Some of the best minds in narrative journalism will gather at the Power of Narrative conference to, as their tagline puts it, stay “Savvy, Skilled, and Solvent in Journalism’s Wired Era.” I’m proud to be a speaker and panelist at the conference, and look forward to meeting you there. The media landscape grows ever more fractured, and it’s tough to gain access a broad audience in the way we might once have through a single medium. My talk will address the fact that more and more, journalists and writers need to utilize multiple media to get their work in front of more people, as well as to make better use of the work they’ve created. But how do you maintain the integrity…