Transcripts
1. Introduction: Story writing can become a very complex topic very quickly. And that's not our goal. Our goal is to make it
as simple as possible. And the way that we're
going to do that is by reverse engineering, the story writing process. My name is Armand military, the founder of our money talks, a media company which helps engineers and
entrepreneurs improve their communication skills
so they can articulate their ideas with
clarity and confidence. One of the ways that
I've been able to grow the Armani talks
brand is through the use of short stories. Not only short stories though, I've also written books. So it goes from short, too big. But it doesn't matter. It's the same exact
fundamentals, no matter how you look at it. And in this beginner's class, you're going to understand
what is a story, how to reverse engineer it. You're going to get a few storytelling tricks
to help you turn your thoughts into reality along the final
project at the end, that will allow you to practice your story
writing skills. Does that sound interesting? If so, I look forward
to seeing you inside.
2. What is a Story?: Before thinking
about characters, conflicts, lessons, all of that. Keep it simple. A story
is a connection of ideas. That's the most fundamental way that you should view a story. And the emergent property
from the connections of ideas often leads
to a character, a conflict, a
lesson, a much more. But for the time being,
focus on the basics. I learned simple division before he tried
learning long division. Story is a connection of ideas.
3. Reverse Engineering: Wherever you see truth, typically you're going
to see simplicity. Have you ever heard
of the concept of reverse engineering before? Isn't it a cool concept? Rather than figuring things out the messy way all the time, you can see what is already
working and then find a way to reverse engineer
it into your reality. And that's what we're going
to do with storytelling. In the next two videos, I'm going to share a trick
that Walt Disney used, a trick that Spike Lee used. A two very famous
storytellers throughout history and in our
modern era that you can use for inspiration
in order to reverse engineer a
story into existence.
4. Walt Disney Method: The biggest tree code that
Walt Disney knew that a lot of other storytellers
didn't know during his time was to start off by knowing how his
characters talked. By knowing how his
characters talked. He was capable of knowing this
character on a deep level. And by knowing this character
on a very deep level, he was able to tell
what sort of, uh, conflicts this character
would get into. And I'm going to talk
more about this, but let me just tell you a
funny little story real quick. There was one time when a Walt Disney was
sitting in a meeting where he was going to approve or deny this upcoming cartoon
that was being made. It was about Mickey Mouse. As he was watching the cartoon
with hordes of people. Walt was strangely quiet. And after being
silent for some time, He's like stop this
film real quick. The hordes of
people look at him. And that's when Walter was like, Mickey wouldn't say
something like that. And one of the people
from the group was like, wall mic is not even real. Mickey is just a cartoon.
But what was like? No, Mickey wouldn't say
something like that. Here's what Mickey
would've said. That's when he gets up, he changes his
entire personality. And those people who are in that room during
that time were like, We no longer saw
Walt Disney anymore. We saw Mickey Mouse simply by knowing how
your characters talk. You are cheap coding a big part of the
storytelling process. Because think about it. Why does anyone talk
the way that they do? The reason that they
talk the way they do is because their vocal patterns, It's simply a representation
of who they are. And the more that you
think about, okay, how does this person talk
or they overly formal? Why are they overly formal? Await. This is the same person who as a youngster, I, his teacher, used to insult him
because he spoke too much slang because he didn't grow up in a great community. And when that person of higher
authority insulted him, when he was a child, he made a vow to
himself that he was never going to speak in
an improper way again. And that's why he speaks
so proper immediately. You know, this
character so well. And you can I already tell
you it could be like, yes, at this character
would definitely find himself in this conflict, but not that conflict. And slowly by knowing how
this character talks, the story begins
to present itself. So think about it real quick. I think about why you
talk the way that you do. I think about why
your close friends or family members talk
the way that they do. And the more that you
try to meditate on this question of why do they
talk the way that they do? It surely feels like you're starting to get to
know them much better.
5. Spike Lee Method: In the last video, I pretty much talked about one character. Figure out how this
one character talks, and then the story begins
to present itself. In this video, I'm going to
talk about two characters. And this is where Spike
Lee comes into the mix. If you've never
heard of Spike Lee, He's a world renowned
filmmaker who is particularly known for
his breathtaking dramas. And here's this formula
for creating these dramas. He believes that you should have a two different characters who both disagree
with one another. But don't stop there. These characters, they both have a reason to disagree
with one another. But don't even stop there. If you zone in on each person, they both have a logical
reason for their case. And the more logic
that each side has and the more firm that they're
on their opinions at, the more that a drama
intention begins to present itself. Now
here's the thing. It's our little secret, okay? This dynamic. It happens all the time. I think about the
last time you got an a very heated argument, didn't you think
that you're right? I mean, you're so logical. How could this other person
not understand your logic? How could they be so
illogical, so emotional? Guess what? That person is thinking the
same exact thing about you. There was this one time, a couple of years back, where myself and my
girlfriend at the time, we were having this
heated debate. She was talking about how
accountability is an illusion, especially when you
are living in society. Because there's so
many different factors that are playing a
role on this human. Where the whole idea of a pick yourself up
by your own bootstraps. It's not realistic. While me, on the other hand, I had the exact
opposite viewpoint. I was like, Yes, we do live in a society, but that should not undermine how important accountability is. And both of us were over here using our own frames of logic. We were just arguing for
very, very long time. The reason that
this dynamic is so important is because
you as a storyteller, you can create a lot of stories and a lot of
dialogue out of this. Because the dialogue is
being presented itself. But not only that, great
stories, I teach lessons. It teaches you about life. So if you're the storyteller and you're making a
case for both sides. You are having your story and creating messages
that the reader can now evaluate for themselves. The reader can be
like, oh yeah, I mean, I've always been a big
fan of accountability, but never for a second. And I think about a
different viewpoint, right? And you, as a storyteller, you're giving them that
evolved viewpoint. So for this time, I want you to think
about the last time you had a very, very
heated argument. I'm talking extremely
heated zone in on that moment and
make it come alive. What were you guys
debating about? Can you now see
their side just a little bit more since that
moment was in the past. I get as clarified as you possibly can
in regards to this, and suddenly you'll start
to feel much more creative.
6. Go For a Lesson: All stories do not
need a happy ending, but also is do need a lesson. So whether you're choosing the Walt Disney method
or the Spike Lee method, gear your mind towards that. Why exactly are you
creating the story? Is because you are
trying to create some sort of lesson out
of this entire moment. Once again, let me repeat. Not all stories need
a happy ending. If you remember, in the Walt Disney example
where I was talking about that one gentleman who speaks a little too
proper right now. And the main reason for
that was because as a kid, someone of higher authority
insulted this person. But guess what? You
zone in on the story. You're like, okay, well, where can I take the story? So it's gearing towards a less than this person who speaks. So proper nowadays. Guess what? His own friends circle is like? Why do you talk like that? It sounds like you're
reading off a dictionary. This isn't good. So guess what? There's a conflict right there. So this person who was getting
reprimanded by his teacher as a kid is now getting
insulted by his own friends, his own family
members. What then? Well, if I'm the type of person that's trying to create
some lesson out of this. The main thing that I can
be writing my story for is it doesn't
matter who you are. If you're indistinct
called a life. And if you're dealing
with other people, you can't ever impress everyone. If you don't speak proper
enough, then guess what? Your teacher is going
to make fun of you. And if you speak to
proper, then guess what? Your friends are going
to make fun of you. So what I'm starting
to drive home is that it doesn't
matter who you are. You need to become
comfortable in your own skin. Because if you hang your self-worth in the
opinions of others, then each time you're
going to be disappointed. Do you see I'm getting my story and I'm trying
to bring home a lesson. Now some storytellers are very direct with the lessons that
they're trying to convey. Others are very subliminal. And this is something
that I want you to figure out for yourself. Because if I tell you
exactly what to do, if I tell you, you have
to tell them the lesson, or you could allow
the reader to ponder on your story and decipher
the lesson themselves. If I tell you too
much what to do, then the creativity
starts to melt away. But what you want to get out
of this particular video is that just like a
basketball player knows that they're not
just dribbling the ball. A Muslim, their targeting it eventually for the ball
to go into the hoop. Likewise, you're
not just creating these dialogues, these
tensions aimlessly. Eventually, you need it
to go towards a lesson.
7. Practice: The only way that you get
better is to practice. Because in the beginning stages, there's gonna be a lot of
words that are being used. But it's going to feel
difficult for you to understand what you're
exactly writing. But what you just want to
focus on are the basics. You want to first get what
your character sounds like. Or you want to get what your characters sound like and what they're debating about. Then you want the conflict
to present itself. Then you want to gear your
story towards a lesson. Now, that sounds good in theory, but as you're practicing, it's a very messy process. So you just need to keep on practicing and practicing
and practicing. There's different viewpoints
in regards to this. As some people feel as though
they're going from being a bad storyteller to one day
becoming a good storyteller. I like to have a different perspective in regards to this. I'd like to already view myself as a flawless storyteller, but for some reason
I forgot about this. And a one way for
you to picture this is a picture of
very clean plate. You got it from, let's
say, a great store. And you loved this plate. You eat on this plate. You get this plate that you just ate on and you put
it into the sink. Now life happens. So you're not over here are washing the
plate immediately. So what happens next? The plate gets sturdy. It continues to get dirty. And as three months passes on by without you
cleaning this plate, now, the plate is
completely unrecognizable. Is it fair to say that this
plate has always been dirty? That at a fundamental level, the plate is nasty. Now, at a fundamental level, at the plate is clean. All you need to
do is you need to scrub the plate consistently, get the dirt off,
and you will once again see the clean plate. Likewise, when you
view yourself as this amazing
storyteller already, there's this level of
enthusiasm that you have with every piece
that you create. However you want to create it. Maybe it's through a Twitter, maybe it's through blogging, and maybe it's true
Microsoft document, handwriting, writing a book, but viewed like this. Every single time that
you're practicing, every single time
you're scrubbing away and you're getting
back to your natural state. So go on and keep practicing, practicing,
practicing some more. And eventually you'll
notice that you are creating your voice.
I just discovering it. You're creating it. You're seeing what you like. You're saying what
you don't like. And from there, you stories just keep getting more
and more polished. And storytelling. Now a days becomes
second nature.
8. Final Project: For your final project,
your goal is to pick the Walt Disney pad or
the Spike Lee path. If you pick the Walt Disney
path or find a character and get the idea of how
the character speaks. Take some time to
zone in on this. How do they speak? And the more that
you understand this, the more debt you should feel as though you're
knowing that character. Once you know the character, your goal is to create a certain intention that this
person finds themselves. N, it could be an internal
conflict like anxiety. It could be an
external conflict like a friend that's trying to sabotage this
particular individual. And your goal is to get the
story towards a lesson. If you chose the
Spike Lee PAT, your, your assignment is to get two different characters
who are vehemently opposed In terms of philosophy regarding
a particular issue. And you need to make
a logical case for both of these particular
characters or create the dialogue that's your attention and lead the
story towards a lesson. What's the final saying? The just the theme of
what you're going for. Once you are done, be sure
to grab your story posted in a document and then put it in the final project
section right below. I look forward to reading it. If you enjoyed this
beginner's class on story writing and you want more content from the
Armani talks brand. A visual check out my
website or money talks.com, which has a lot of my blogs, my videos, podcasts,
a much more. You'll go ahead and see a lot of my stories on this website
or money talks.com. And thank you very
much for joining this beginner's class,
a story writing.
Arman Chowdhury, Confidence thru Communication
