On his blog,
Jason van Orden tells the story of filming a documentary about a local dance
company and the critical mistake that almost ruined it.
He got great
footage and some good sound bites but it was only when he looked at his rough
cut that he realized a problem: “It was clear to me that the film was TELLING
the audience what I wanted them to learn rather than SHOWING.”
He remembered
that in test screenings what everybody loved and remembered was a story that
one of the dancers told about getting pregnant and worrying this would mean she
would get kicked out of the troupe.
He went back and
got lots more stories and integrated them into the film.
His conclusion:
“Stories are the most powerful tool at your disposal for building influence and
teaching principles.”
I agree—that goes for fiction, non-fiction, marketing—anything that involves getting a response of some kind. Of course at the heart of a powerful story is emotion. Being able to evoke a strong emotion—whether laughter, tears, empathy—is at the heart of every successful communication. Even those that are primarily informational work best when the person reading or hearing them can imagine how using the information themselves will affect them—and that usually involves an emotion.
(There are more tips on how to write outstanding fiction and non-fiction, in my book, "Your Writing Coach." You can get it from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)