How to tell a captivating story —
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/26/1094947453/how-to-tell-a-good-story
AUDIO INSPIRATION
Personal reflective stories
For personal reflective stories I’d recommend listening to Radio Diaries.
Sofia’s Choice: A Ukrainian Diary
In times of war, one of the most painful decisions people face is whether to leave; to abandon their homes, possessions, memories, sometimes leaving loved ones behind. Today on the podcast, Sofia shares that story.
https://www.radiodiaries.org/sofias-choice-ukrainian-diary/
For personal reflective stories that have a creative flare listen to these for inspiration
The Big Prawn
By some estimates, there are as many as 150 "big things" strewn about Australia – the Big Banana, the Big Merino, the Big Deck Chair, the Big Winch and even the Big Magic Mushroom. But in this story, it’s Ballina’s Big Prawn that looms large in the imagination of a young girl, as she negotiates the adult relationships around her and sets off with her dad, on a road trip in search of mum.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/radiotonic/the-big-prawn/7047514
Borders Between Us
Saidu Tejan-Thomas is a young poet. For a long time, he had a story he needed to tell: an homage and apology to his mother. It's a tragic love story driven by the tangled search for a better life. It's personal for sure, but set against the universal perils of immigration--in Saidu's case, from Sierra Leone in West Africa--but by extension, from anywhere.
https://transom.org/2019/borders-between-us/
AUDIO POSTCARDS
For stories that describe a place or journey listen to these audio podcards for inspiration.
Hot In The City: Manhattan Neighborhood Takes To Streets
As the East Coast sweats its way through another heat wave, not everyone has the luxury of air conditioning. In the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, the mostly Dominican population has moved their lives outside, where the city has kept the parks open and turned on water sprinklers.
Listen to Sarah Gonzalez’s use of description through her words and the intonation of her voice. When describing a place remember to evoke the senses. What does it look like? Feel like? Smell like? Taste like? Give lots of details, and record the sound of the details! https://www.npr.org/2013/07/19/203695643/hot-in-the-city-manhattan-neighborhood-takes-to-streets
The Secret To One Brazilian Street Treat: Make It With Love https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=223472705
Beijing's Subway System Offers History At Each Stop, Both Above And Below Ground
Finding Interesting and Meaningful Stories in Everyday Spaces
A Day at the Bodega
This week, we spend a day in a bodega in Washington Heights, NYC — home to one of the biggest Dominican populations in the U.S. We uncover stories about nutrition, migration and community.
https://www.npr.org/programs/latino-usa/484349746/a-day-at-the-bodega
Supermarket Symphony. A composed feature by Nina Perry exploring the hidden beauty, musicality and personal stories found in supermarkets.
http://www.sohosally.com/Supermarket-Symphony.mp3
Short Fictional stories
Eat Cake
If you've ever been alone on Valentine's Day, this story is for you. It's performed by Eliza Skinner, Birch Harms, and Curtis Gwinn, who improvised all of the dialogue. https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-mitchell-1/eat-cake
Music stories
J Dilla’s Lost Scrolls – Snap Classic
This one has all the great elements of a good story…
Engaging characters, great use of music and sound design, element of surprise, a focused intimate story that tells a larger story, it’s got tension and resolution.
https://snapjudgment.org/episode/j-dillas-lost-scrolls-snap-classic/
Food Stories
How one shop in California puts an Afghan twist on Thanksgiving –PRI’s the World https://theworld.org/stories/2015-11-26/how-one-shop-california-puts-afghan-twist-thanksgiving
At this Brooklyn restaurant, you can get Korean food with a side of Russian history
Episode #7: Cendrillon - Long Distance Radio
Against the backdrop of martial law in the Philippines, activists Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan open a trailblazing Filipino restaurant in New York City — long before Filipino food is #trending.
https://www.longdistanceradio.com/7-cendrillon
Dance Stories
My body remembers what happened - - As a witness to war and brutality in her native Bosnia, and then as a refugee, Mersiha Mesihovic found solace and a means of creative expression in dance. Despite the wounds of separation from home and family, Mersiha had all the skills to be a great dancer. But the way she moved became an obstacle. When she arrived in New York (via Sweden and Los Angeles), Mersiha found a way to harness the emotional power of her memories. Her unique approach to movement has attracted other dancers and led her to form Circuit Debris, a dance company which explores her approach to physical storytelling. Now, Mersiha is confronting the trauma of her past and her struggle for self-liberation in a solo dance piece called BosnianBorn *She is a Refugee Star*.
https://feetintwoworlds.podbean.com/e/fi2w-dream-city-the-stories-told-by-our-bodies/
This Afro-Brazilian Ballerina’s Journey From Rio to Harlem Is the Uplifting Short Film You Need https://remezcla.com/film/you-should-stream-ingrid-silva-short-film-ballerina-brazil/
What Makes a Good Story?
Here’s a recipe for good stories that keeps your listeners engaged until the end. Not all stories have all of these ingredients, but there are some main ones. Here they are in order of importance.
Remember all stories have a narrative arc. They move a character or a situation from one state to another. Starting off relatively calm, introducing tension/challenges, and then some resolution, something forward looking...
Great Characters - This is what really draws us in, keeps us reading, keeps us listening and helps us learn. It allows us to connect to the story on a human level, on an emotional level. It also helps to create a small example of a larger story with broader significance. For example, it’s not just a story about the floods in Queensland, it’s a story about how the floods impacted a family. That family’s story is a reflection of the situation of many people impacted by the floods in that area.
Scenes: Make opportunities for scenes in audio stories!
Relatable - We all connect to human stories more than policy briefs. When you can, include the human perspective to an issue. It’s key to drawing in the listener. Audience consideration is central here, address what your audience’s interests are. We are more likely to connect with the family above than a general policy weather story on the QLD floods.
What makes your story unique? Interesting? Different?
Surprise - If something is unique or surprising you’re more likely to engage your reader. Stories that reach a satisfying (non-obvious) answer to the question posed are especially good!
A small example that tells a larger story
Relevance- Think about your audience of the publication you want to get your story published on. Would they be interested in this story? Why? Ask yourself why do I care? Why should the listener care?
Tension - What’s at stake? What challenges have they experienced? What problem are they trying to address?
Does this story move you on an emotional level? This is what will leave an impression on the listener.
Why are you telling this story? What makes you the best person to tell this story? What about your experience puts you in a good position to tell this story?
Timely - Why are you telling this story now? What’s new about this story? It may not always have to be tied to a new event or new piece of research or a new policy, but it helps to be something new, especially if it’s a news publication. Or there may be something new about an older story. If it’s not a news publication, it being new is less important.
Has the story been done? Do your research. Make sure the story hasn’t already been done. If the story has been done, make sure your pitch moves it forward or brings something new to it.
Juxtaposition - putting together two polar opposite elements is interesting. For example, doing a story on the smallest shop on the longest street.
Or this story. A humble regular dad who is a scientist from Iowa being friends with a hugely famous basketball player: My Dad's Friendship With Charles Barkley https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/12/14/lin-wang-charles-barkley
Add counterpoints - For feature or news stories address counterpoints.