It is all too easy to start writing, come up with a first sentence…
…and then the rest of the sentences.

But something doesn’t feel quite right.

That is typically because you’re not dead sure about what you’re writing about.

For this reason, we greatly encourage our clients to drill down to the One Central Truth (O.C.T) of what they’re trying to say.

Ironically, unearthing this O.C.T can take longer than actually writing about your offer. You may have many variations and iterations before you hone in on what it should be.

Discovering it however means you have the guts of your message under control.

Other language – a metaphor or two for example – may describe your O.C.T in picturable imagery.

You may give an example or two of a client using your product or service – aligned to your O.C.T.

But first you must know, deeply, the core of what you’re offering.

Without it, you’re floundering in the dark, swinging wildly at the ball with your eyes closed.

Without understanding your One Central Truth, you’re like, kinda making an offer that you’re not too sure about, but that you hope that by boring people to death they’ll read to the end of your copy and more out of sympathy than belief, kinda know what you’re talking about…perhaps; or not.

There’s many ways to tell a story,share a narrative.

But all good stories share characteristics.

• We identify with human characters
• Any ‘journey’ isn’t interesting unless there are obstacles
• If the situation is the same at the end as the beginning, the effort of reading, watching or listening to the story feels futile

As Carl Alviani writes in a Medium article ‘The Science behind Storytelling’, our brains are hardwired for narrative.

If the story doesn’t have the above three elements, we’re simply not that interested.

The same story itch has to be scratched when it comes to digital experiences.

Our interaction with a website, app, device or service also needs to follow our hardwired story arc requirement.

Alviani’s diagram of this arc is:

Old normal > clear goal > obstacles > external allies > struggle > new normal

From our brain’s point of view, if a digital experience doesn’t follow this pattern, we find it a huge struggle to make it fit a narrative structure. The story simply doesn’t make sense.

But, there’s a story for every user experience.

As Alviani writes:

“What’s imperative upon us as designers is to recognise these elements, and accept the challenge of fitting them to a narrative, so the user doesn’t have to. [my emphasis]. That’s our struggle, and we have an incredible array of allies on hand to help us. All that’s missing, really, is the motive.”

Are you struggling to create a narrative around your product or service? Need a hand? Give Punchline a call…it’s not necessarily easy, but it is doable.

Why should we regard our instinct for story as a survival skill?

It’s because our information exchange, along with our ability to solve problems as a group is how humans have got to the top of the ‘smarts’ pyramid (as far as we’re aware). Don’t forget, virtually all of human communication through the ages has been the spoken word.

The move to agriculture, then cities, the Industrial Age and Information Age came about through cooperation at large scale – common goals shared by large numbers of people.

To achieve this (and much of our other advancements) we had to share an idea.

The only way for an idea to persist and spread is being being durable in our minds.

A story creates durability. As story has a sequence of events, and invites the listener to put themselves in the role of the protagonist.

A story links to our ego, hitching a lift on our self.

As outlined in this Medium story by Carl Alviani (and backed by research over the past decade), we most respond to stories that follow a particular general structure.

1. A character, that we have been made interested in, has a goal, which is backed by a clear, understandable motive.
2. But the character has not yet reached the goal, and is blocked by obstacles that engender risk and consequences of failure.
3. The character must struggle to meet the goal. Allied characters and resources are encountered, which aid in overcoming the obstacles.
4. Once the obstacles are overcome and the goal is reached (or not, if the story is tragic) a new normal is established, which remains in stasis until a new incident prompts a new goal.

Inherently hardwired

We also inherently know the difference between a satisfying and unsatisfying story – our understanding of narrative is hardwired.

This narrative structure is hugely flexible, as seen in the multitude of stories that exist.

But what is means when we attempt to sell, encourage or convince in the modern world, is a similar narrative structure must be experienced.

No matter what it is we’re pitching, if we fail to follow this proven formula, we inevitably fail to engage with our audience.

In other words, if we don’t adhere to the rules embedded in our brains we might as well shout at the wind.