In fact, it’s probably best to go into interviews assuming they know nothing about you, just to make sure you share all the important information. But that doesn’t mean they already know the depths of your story or what makes you interesting. Tactics: If you’re having a high-visibility moment-let’s say you created an art installation for a well-known institution or are starring in a play-journalists might approach you organically. Goal: Use milestone achievements to build your audience. Just remember that the more you cater to pundits, the more you’ll alienate general-audience readers.
![the story of your life album the story of your life album](https://covers.audiobooks.com/images/covers/full/9781441791184.jpg)
The value proposition for this type of audience is that they’ll learn from your story too, so you can get into the weeds with technical details. Tactics: Pitch an academic journal or niche publication a first-person narrative about what you’ve learned as you created something. Goal: Build credibility in a specific industry. Before you dive in, just take a moment to plan out a consistent through-line and voice that helps explain your work-then challenge yourself to add to it consistently, thinking of each post or email as one piece to the larger story you’re telling. Tactics: Maybe all you need is a steady stream of quick social posts or an occasional thoughtful newsletter giving some insight into your process, reading list, recent discoveries, recipe tests, etc. Goal: Keep fans engaged while working up to a bigger project launch. Here are some examples of storytelling goals and tactics: If you want to get music readers to listen to your new album, don’t tell a business-oriented story if you want to show that your invention is unique, don’t speak in generic marketese that glosses over the technical details. Of course, you can’t think only about what will get your readers excited-you must also make sure your storytelling efforts align with your goals. As a creative person, you can (and must) learn to do this kind of editing for yourself. In each of them, there’s an exciting, interesting core idea that’s easy to summarize-and a lot of story threads left on the cutting room floor in order to truly focus the piece. In all these stories linked above, someone is doing the critical thinking to tease out the most relatable bits to craft a story around. What specific examples or familiar comparisons can make my point clearer?Įmpathetic and strategic storytelling is what makes new musical acts worthy of a New Yorker profile it’s how Glitch conveys the breadth of possibilities on its creative coding platform it’s how little-known inventors like Edwin Van Ruymbeke and well-known creators like Rihanna build and maintain relevance.Which elements might spark curiosity? What’s surprising or exciting?.How does my story connect to wider cultural conversations people care about?.Why would someone want to know about what I’m doing/making?.To do this for yourself, ask questions like: They lead with a value proposition- why should the reader care?-and then gracefully guide them through a coherent story. They put themselves in their readers’ shoes and think through what type of stories will catch their attention. Good journalists think in terms of empathetic information design. Writer and digital strategist Katheryn Thayer
![the story of your life album the story of your life album](http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/2013/10/1d.png)
In this (unfortunately long) guide, I hope to help you see yourself the way a journalist might, and, if you so choose, write about yourself in an objectively entertaining way. So whether you’re writing an article, answering interview questions, or planning the “About” page of your website, you need to communicate using clear, catchy ideas that come together to form a concise, compelling story. Especially in our sped-up, dumbed-down, high-volume “disrupted” digital media landscape, attention is in short supply. When you say too much, you max out limited attention spans. When you don’t provide enough information (vague artist statements, anemic interview responses) people don’t have enough of a hook to get interested.
#The story of your life album how to
It all comes down to knowing how to harness attention. It can change the course of creative careers, from winning audiences to opening opportunities. Throughout my work, I’ve seen how building a good story is powerful.
![the story of your life album the story of your life album](https://www.bsnpubs.com/warner/time-life/28instrumentalfavorites/r986-02.jpg)
I’ve spent most of my career writing profiles of creative people, previously at Forbes and now on Kickstarter Magazine, Artsy, and Core77. How to tell the story of your creative work