Matthew Dicks, storytelling extraordinaire, shares his views on good stories and good storytelling.
I rarely use the number 7 in rating things. It’s a very noncommittal number, but I feel like that’s what this book should get.
Dicks shares excellent exercises and tips throughout the book, but there’s more fluff than is necessary.
Many of the chapters could have been combined to greater effect.
The book is still good. It just could have been better.
My favorite notes from Storyworthy:
- Develop a daily “storyworthy” practice. Collect storyworthy moments from your life with short, tag-like notes. Keep them in a databse.
- The beginning of your story should be in a state of opposition to your major storyworthy moment. Contrast and change are necessary for an effective story.
- Use humor to provide contrast in your story. Unless you’re a stand-up comedian, humor shouldn’t be the PURPOSE of your story.
- Don’t set expectations or provide a “thesis statement” at the beginning of your story. Or ever. It defeats the purpose of telling a story.
I would recommend this book to storytellers, public speakers, copywriters and anyone who might want to develop better storytelling chops for whatever reason. It’s not necessary reading for most people, though.