The text has a value. How to tell fascinating stories?

If you're still missing out on slogans about how important it is to tell stories and sell stories today, it tells you that you're in a good place. In the next article, I will try to explain how this mechanism works, as well as give you some tips that will help you create memorable and fascinating stories. Come in!

This is 2009. Two journalists from the world-famous New York Times – Joshua Glenn and Rob Walter - came up with the idea to find out if storytelling plays a big role in people's buying decisions. They buy a set of random knickknacks on eBay, paying approx. $ 129 for 100 artifacts. In collaboration with professional writers and copywriters, they add stories to insignificant items and then reinsert them on the sales portal. This way, unnecessary things get their own history, for example. a globe-shaped paperweight becomes an unwelcome souvenir of a certain woman after a stormy affair with a married man. As a result, the total sale price of the trinkets is ... 3612 dollars and 15 cents!

The brain loves stories

The fact that our brain loves fairy tales, humanity found out by accident. In the 1990s, Italian neuroscientist Giacomo Risolatti and his team studied the brains of macaques. By conducting experiments on the center responsible for coordination of movements, they tested how the monkeys ' brains process visual information so that these animals can perform a specific movement. To do this, they placed electrodes on the monkeys ' heads, which recorded the activity of individual brain regions when grabbing a banana or apple. Scientists accidentally noticed that the neurons activated during these movements lit up in macaques at other times – during the second breakfast, when the monkeys saw the researchers grabbing food. This was the first step towards discovering the existence of the so-called mirror neurons.

You're probably thinking to yourself right now: okay, but what does this have to do with storytelling? I'm already in a hurry to answer. Mirror neurons are located in the center of Broca's, which is responsible for speech and its understanding. This is why we "empathize" with the hero's situation while watching a movie, reading a book, listening to a story (who among us didn't shed even two tears watching the Lion King and the famous scene of Mufasa's murder by his brother?).

This doesn't mean that we empathize with every story and they all work for us. In order for storytelling to have the desired effect, it is important who leads it and how. The hint, however, is one: the better the story is told, the greater the storyteller's control over the audience's mind..

Memorable story-what is it?

Do you remember what you did 3 years ago, on September 16? Do you remember what you did on April 10, 2010, until 9: 00 am? Then the world spread information that a military plane crashed in Smolensk, and on board it was m.in. the then Polish president together with his wife.

The factor that helps us remember situations and events is the emotions that accompany us. This is what you should call out to the recipient to get their attention. This can be curiosity, and you can use the information gap (the"lack" of information; the difference between what we know and what we don't yet) to awaken it. Example: If you use these spices, each of your dishes will meet Michelin stars!.

You can also surprise your audience, because we remember unexpected messages more often. In addition, surprise attracts attention and makes us want to know the answer at all costs. Remember the end of the movie Isle of Secrets with Leonardo DiCaprio (if you haven't seen him, consider it a must-see the next night!).

Stories can also trigger memories. The bakery that sells wheat bread sells only bread, but the bakery that sells warm, flavorful bread with a crisp crust sells us not only bread, but also some impressions, evoking memories of how we rested with our grandmother in the village, when for breakfast we ate slices of warm bread with fresh butter.

A memorable story doesn't just have to evoke emotions. Concreteness is also key. Abstract concepts make it difficult for us to understand a message, let alone remember it. So instead of writing: In our restaurant, you will eat a product made from wheat flour, heat-treated in boiling water, served with a vegetable product and a plant of the celery family, write: In our restaurant you will eat pasta with olive oil and parsley.

Concretization not only helps in understanding the story, but also in recognizing it as true. He is responsible for this m.in a fluency heuristic that says that we believe in the truth of statements that we understand. In other words: if we understand something, it's real to us. The most famous example of the use of this cognitive error is the speech of defense attorney O. J. Simpson, who, thanks to it, was found not guilty by a jury of committing a double murder (here you will read more about it).

How do others do it?

What else should I keep in mind?

Through our emotions, we pay attention to the story and remember it. They are also crucial in decision-making-without them, this is impossible. The specifics given in the story make it clear to us; we are also more likely to assume it is true.

Finally, I'll give you a third piece of advice. When creating stories, keep the gist in mind. If you don't want your audience to feel like you're reading Over the Neman River Eliza Oreshkova-then you can skip this tip. The bottom line doesn't mean that you should merge the message or use only simple words. This also doesn't mean that you can't afford longer forms. The idea is that you always have the essence of your story on the horizon and don't lose it along the way.