Every great story shares a not-so-magic formula that deeply connects with its audience. A definitive sense of time and place, character development, and a conflict with resolution are three powerful and critical components of bestselling novels, riveting films, and unforgettable keynote speeches.
Let’s talk about the elements of every great story:
Establishing Time and Place
Setting is the foundation of your story. It immerses readers in your world, providing a backdrop against which your story unfolds. A definitive time and place not only grounds your narrative but also sets the tone and mood.
Consider your experiences: Did you overcome challenges in the corporate world of the 90s, or did you transition to remote coaching because of the COVID pandemic? Perhaps you navigated the shifting terrains of global markets. Your readers need these details for appropriate context about the environment in which you gained your insights to make your own journey that much more relatable.
Character Development
The heart of every story revolves around its characters. For nonfiction authors, the cast of characters includes anyone who participated in or influenced your journey.
In addition to their presence, think about how you represent them. Remember to retain the qualities that make them unique, such as their personal style and their speech patterns. Readers appreciate you staying true to the essence of each character, including yourself.
Dig into your experiences: Who were your mentors, and how did they shape your path? When you provide a genuine portrayal of your journey, with all its ups and downs, you build trust and rapport with your readers.
For consultants and coaches, character development also means highlighting how your expertise has evolved. How you’ve grown and adapted over time further establishes your authority in your field.
Conflict and Resolution
Conflict is the engine that drives a story forward. It’s the challenge(s) you conquered, the question you answered, or the journey you completed. Your story is almost certainly rife with conflicts – times when you faced obstacles that felt insurmountable or you had to pivot your approach.
Conflict alone isn’t enough, though. Of course readers need to know the mistakes you made, but they also need to understand what you learned from them.
Resolution is the payoff, and this is where your experiences as a speaker or trainer shine. By guiding readers through the solutions you found and the strategies you adopted, you provide them value, inspiration, and a way forward.
Final thoughts
As a speaker, coach, consultant, or trainer, you already understand how to take your audience on a journey through your signature speech, webinar, presentation, or training module. You’re really providing an opportunity for transformation, using storytelling and the combination of a firm sense of time and place, well-defined characters, and a conflict with a resolution.