The Hartsock Agency

Here are some tips on telling a good story:

1. Find the theme of your story and stick with it. Don’t change your story – be dug in. Be so in love with your story that everyone else wants to hear it and play a part in it too.

2. Build and expand your plot. Raise the stakes for the customer who doesn’t buy your product, or for the journalist who might not yet want to cover your story. (Don’t do this by stalking them.:>) Do it by helping them understand why you’re important to what they want to accomplish. Make them feel as though they can’t live without you.

3. Always be concerned with the listener or reader. If you’re becoming bored of the story what do you think they’re feeling? Be innovative, adventurous, creative and fearless!

4. Tell the truth. Tell the real story. What’s the point in making things up? We’re all so darn connected on the Web – we’re smart enough to ferret out exaggeration or plain old lies.

A real story is timeless and can become legendary. We stitch our lives together with all the threads of story – imagine the wonderful and historical fabric you’ll have at the end if you just keep focused.

Mark Twain:

“I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English – it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them – then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.”