Seven Dwarf Tips To Writing Sweeter Stories

Here are seven dwarf guideposts to improve the quality of your personal stories, told or written.

1. Get nostalgic.

Revisit your old photos and journals, and other trinkets of memories from a specific event or experience you want to write about. Talk to people who experienced it with you for input and another angle, to try to make sense of the event. This kind of feels like research, or digging carefully into the past like an anthropologist, just so you can present a larger picture for the present. Personally, I have low par short and long term memory; whenever I’m asked to recall a cool story about myself, it’s always difficult to answer right away. What could help, however, is to create an archive of unique stories that define me and are ready to share. People may give pennies for thoughts, but dimes for stories.

2. Pointed specifics.

Find specific details that paint a riveting picture in the readers’ minds. Words are like brushes with different shapes and weight; different synonyms throw on unique hues of color into a paragraph. Specifics can help to give a uniqueness to a situation, a subjective approach, or personality behind the story. Give flair, vibrancy, and a sense of immediateness that engages the audience so they feel taken up by what you present. Take them by the hand and dance with them; show people the intricate steps you take in the path of your life.

3. Don’t inundate with information.

In the first draft, it’s totally fine to get all of your words out onto paper. But from there, find the most poignant pieces and learn to say more with less: be economic. We live in a fast world where time and life is short, and where peoples’ attentions are being vied for incessantly; I’d rather write a story that leaves people wanting more than have them closing their eyes from an information consumption coma. Shred out the less relevant and pull in the audience with the quality of simplicity.

4. Let the stars align.

Connect random dots together, and see the stars align. Bring pieces of information of theory way over there, of a process here, a cool design idea, and weave an intricate lattice of it all together in a creative and tactical way. Because, you can make discoveries by following this format; ideas and concepts that don’t seem connected might actually be tied. Sometimes a story falls together without prior planning and flows naturally like it was meant to be.

5. Sincerely, yours.

I try to be as sincere and truthful as I can. The more real you are, the more connected the audience will feel. It’s okay to be human, because it’s beautiful. This consists of talking about the inner voices and workings, the motivations behind why you do things and act a certain way. A lot of times when it comes to a story personal to us, we have a tendency to embellish certain aspects and diminish other parts without being aware of doing so. We are always monitoring ourselves, and how we wish others to perceive us. Just keep that tendency in mind, and let go.

6. Incorporate the limbic system

Talk about things close to the heart, what moves you, the deeper emotions. When you write about a visceral, vulnerable topic, chances are you’ll reach people at that level as well. Good stories transfer emotions as real as fi they had felt them with you.

7. Good, old experience

Give account of experience you learned from, that others can glean insight from. We gain from both stories of success and failure. Everything we know in the world is from collective exchange of experiences and discoveries. Other people’s mistakes or good strategies can serve as rough guidelines.

Happily Ever After? Happily Ever Present.

The End.