Storytelling Formula: The Four Stories That Matter The Most

1. Introduction and Class Project: Everybody tells a story on a regular basis, but you might question your ability to write one. Storytelling is one of the best tools you can use to connect with your fans and supporters. This course will share a system with you that can help you nail your story every single time. The good news, is that there are only four stories that matter, and they are called head, heart, wallet, and transformation. In other words, the stories that matter the most will make you think, feel, think about or worry about your money, or tell a full transformation story from once upon a time to they lived happily ever after. Use these stories in your YouTube videos, blog posts, or even in your emails, and you'll connect with people in meaningful ways. So, do yourself a huge favor and use these four stories to your advantage. Now how do I know this? My name is Tim Tamashiro. I never really considered myself much of a writer or storyteller, but that all changed when I was approached to host and national radio show with CBC, think Canada's NPR. I was quick to learn that my job on the radio was to research, write, and voice 70 stories per week. As a radio host, my intention was to use the spaces between the songs as the essential way to connect deeply with the audience. In order to write 70 stories per week, it was absolutely necessary for me to rely on a system. That's where my coaches and producers introduced me to this concept I'm choosing from four story types, and that transformed my storytelling into a powerful tool that I still use every single day. I'm using it right now. Your assignment in this class is to research and write just 35 stories. Research and write just one story using one of the four stories that matter the most. Find a story about your life, your art, or your creative journey, figure out what type of story you want to write, and then write it out and submit it for myself and the other class members to enjoy. If your intention is successful, then we'll just be able to immediately understand the type of story that you're sharing with us. For our bonus points, you can even take a great big leap and write one of every type of story. Welcome to the four stories that matter the most. Let's lean into why these stories matter so much to people. [MUSIC] 2. Why Do These Four Stories Matter?: Why are head, heart, wallet, and transformation stories the ones that matter the most to people? Well, the human brain is literally wired to connect with other people through storytelling. It's an important part of our survival and our ability to build social connections. We crave connection to others, and we do it through storytelling. It's the storytellers in life who we tend to circle around to. I think Oprah, Steve Jobs, Gary Vaynerchuk, or the incredible Betty White, for example. When we find a storyteller who really connects with us in meaningful ways, we are hooked and we invite others to come and join in on their light. One of the greatest storytellers in history proves this in powerful ways. The person that I'm talking about is indisputable. Even though names like Shakespeare or Toni Morrison or even Margaret Atwood might come to mind for most people, this storyteller uses her tales as a tool on a whole different level to build community around her. She does it in meaningful ways like nobody else does. Now, I'm, of course, speaking of Dolly Parton. Dolly Parton might seem to you like an unobvious choice as being one of the greatest storytellers of all time. But consider these points. Dolly Parton has written 5,000 songs and each one of those songs tells a different story. For example, Coat of Many Colors. This song tells a beautiful little story about a little girl whose mother sows her a coat out of rags. This little girl felt like a queen wearing this lovely coat. Now, even though they weren't financially rich, they were rich in love. This song is a heart story that's weaved together with a wallet story. Another song of hers was Two Doors Down. Now, this is a story about a young woman who has just broken up with her boyfriend. Instead of wallowing in her misery, she hears a rock and party two apartments down the hall. She decides she's just going to go to the party. There, she meets a lovely new boy and they fall in love. This is a heart story mixed up with a transformation story. Now Dolly has written 5,000 stories in song. Few authors or scholars or even bloggers have written 5,000 stories. In addition to Dolly's incredible songwriting skills, she's also a gifted storyteller in interviews and I suppose in real life as well. She is the person who uses stories effortlessly when she's speaking to another person or a crowd of thousands. That reminds me of a time when Dolly was being presented with an honorary degree at the University of Tennessee. That day she was on stage and she just broke into tears. She wept openly in front of thousands of people because she felt genuinely overwhelmed with this idea that a university would grant her such an honor. She never really saw herself going to university. That was a dream that was just too far for her. Then she stood there on the podium to deliver her commencement speech. She told the story of when she was just a little girl in the hills of Tennessee. She would play make-believe by taking an old tin can and then nailing it to a broomstick. Then she would wedge that stick into a crack on the porch, so it would stand up like a microphone stand. Up there on her imaginary stage, she would sing into the tin can and sing to the chickens in the yard. To her, she was singing to a concert hall full of people. It was her dream to just sing and not to go to university. There wasn't a single person in the audience that day at graduation that didn't give 100 percent of their attention to Dolly as she told the story. She resonated with them through a simple story that captured their heads and their hearts. She helped them appreciate their good fortune of being able to attend university to earn degrees, but she encouraged them to dream even bigger. Stories are how we picture our world, you see. They help us make sense of it. They help us navigate through life's ups and downs. Great stories transport us from the past to the present and they help us imagine ourselves in that story while it's being told. Stories also give us order and we love order and certainty as human beings. A good story has structure that is familiar, it's also predictable and comforting. The four stories that matter the most provide us with exactly what I've just shared with you. When you tell a head, heart, wallet, or transformation story, you go directly to the part of humankind that shares connection and meaning. Now, how do you tell the four stories that matter the most? Well, let's start with the head. 3. How To Tell A Head Story: Here we go, how to tell a head story. Now a head story is simply a story that makes you think. It gives you pause and curiosity. Head stories draw you into tales that hold meaning to you, specifically. Now the interesting thing about a head story is that they aren't necessarily always universal. A head story captures segments of imaginations that are based on whatever topic they're talking about. Stories that make you ask, why, or stories that help you learn something, or make you wonder or stoke some curiosity. Stories that maybe are about investigation, crime stories, those types of stories. If you ever listen to say, a crime or a science podcast, there's a good chance it revolves around head stories. Here's a personal example of a head story. I love having soup for lunch. The other day though I was craving ramen noodle soup. I didn't want just any old ramen. I wanted Cadillac ramen. I wanted chewy noodles with a rich, velvety, spicy broth. What had triggered my craving was a story that I had recently seen about a hack I could do with a $0.99 package of ramen that would give me exactly what I was craving. In other words, I could turn a Prius into a Cadillac. I went out to Walmart, and I picked up all the ingredients. I picked out Shin Ramyun. It's this spicy Korean noodle soup that is considered one of the top cheap noodles available, but I also bought a bottle of Kewpie Mayonnaise. Kewpie mayo is unique. It's Japanese mayo that has a real pleasant egg taste to it. I grabbed my ingredients, then made my way home to make Cadillac ramen. What you do is you crack one egg into a bowl, add in a tablespoon of Kewpie mayo and maybe a little bit of garlic. Then that soup powder that comes with the noodles. Mix sauce together thoroughly as your noodles are cooking. For an extra special touch though, I also stirred in about a teaspoon of peanut butter. I also added in a few drops of sesame oil. When your noodles are done, all you do is you pour in about a half of the noodle water into your egg mixture and you temper it. Give it a good stir, and then add the remainder of the water and the noodles. Holy cow. The result was chewy, beautiful, rich, velvety, spicy ramen that was definitely as luxurious as a Cadillac, but at a Prius price. Now I can have Cadillac ramen for lunch anytime. You're dying to have Cadillac ramen right now. A few moments later. Like all stories, my head story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning starts with an inciting incident. The inciting incident for my story was that I read about good ramen that I just had to try, and that incident is the event that set the whole story in motion. My ramen craving was a clear and immediate problem that I wanted to solve. This problem in any story can be physical, emotional, intellectual, or noodle-based. But whatever the problem is, it has to be central to the story, but also be introduced in a compelling way. That's why I called it Cadillac ramen. Now although this class isn't really about story structure, I do have to mention a killer recommendation for you. It's something that is called the Pixar story spine. Pixar, the award winning movie maker knows a thing or two about storytelling. In fact, they rely on a storytelling formula. The Pixar story spine is an eight-part process for telling any story. It all starts off with, "Once upon a time, there was a person." Everyday, the person did this, but one day, something happened. That's the inciting incident. Because of that, something else happened. Because of that, something else happened, and because of that, something else happened. Until finally, a solution. Ever since then, they lived happily ever after. In my ramen story, the inciting incident occurred when I craved Cadillac ramen. That started my journey of going to buy it, preparing it, and digging into it, thus, satisfying my desires. Now I can have Cadillac ramen anytime I want. Other examples of inciting incidents could include from Saving Private Ryan. Captain John Miller is the commander of Company C during D-Day. Meanwhile, a supervisor at the War Department, thousands of miles away, realizes that three death notices with the last name, Ryan, are scheduled to be delivered to the same address that day. The mother was scheduled to receive the news of all three of her sons, but there was a fourth brother, and he's part of the D-Day invasion too. The colonel-in-charge takes these three letters to the general. The general decides that this remaining brother, the son, would be found and sent home. Captain Miller and his men are assigned to find Private Ryan, and that is the inciting incident that begins the story, Saving Private Ryan. Another example of an inciting incident comes from Harry Potter, when Hagrid comes to visit Harry on the abandoned island called Hut-on-the-Rock. Harry's awful aunt and uncle took him there so he wouldn't receive any enrollment letters from Hogwarts, remember? But Hagrid tracks down Harry in the hut, sits him down and tells him, "You're a wizard, Harry." Those four words start off the incredible adventure that would follow as Harry goes with Hagrid to begin his life as the legendary wizard that he was intended to be. To wrap up this chapter on heads stories, just remember this. A head story makes you think. It's one of the four stories that matter the most because it inspires the reader or the audience to scratch their itch about some curiosity. Follow that Pixar story spine, and you can't lose. Now when it comes to the second story that matters the most, you have a nice tree coming up. Because a heart story is a special type of story that gets your audience to feel any emotion you can muster in them. A heart story comes with all the feels. 4. How To Tell A Heart Story: How to tell a heart story. One day during the pandemic, I was really, really bored. You see, in the months previous, it felt like I'd watched all of Netflix and I was sick of TikTok and Instagram and I was very tired of reading the news. I decided that I wanted to just learn something brand new. I put on my thinking cap, and I decided, I know what I'll do. I'll learn how to do a Morgan Freeman impression. Stick around for a bit and I'll do it for you. No one tells a heart story like Morgan Freeman. A heart story is one that makes you feel. It draws out emotions but in safe ways so that you can experience a heightened feeling of humanity. What kind of emotions? Well, name one, sadness, empathy, happiness, encouragement, fear, or even pure enjoyment. A heart story focuses on expressing an emotion that is universal in understanding. We all know what these emotions feel like so when we are reminded of them through a story. It's as if we are experiencing that emotion firsthand. To tell a heart story is really simple. We've all done it before. When you tell a heart story, you connect the emotion to what is intended. If it's a sad story, you connect sadness to it. If it's an empathy story, you connect empathy to it. Honestly, it's not even fair to overthink it beyond that. Heart stories are very powerful because they convene all the elements of a good story. Think, Pixar story spine, but they also bring the feels. Why do you think romance novels or sitcoms or Forrest Gump are so powerful? It's because they are heart stories. Let me demonstrate with two heart stories for you right now. One of them will be a personal story and the other will be a heart story about someone else. When I was around seven years old, I remember arriving home from school one day. I saw a catalog laying on the front steps of my front door. I picked it up, and excitements are pumping through my veins like I'd found a golden nugget or something. I was so excited that day to find it was The Sears Christmas Wish Book that had landed on my doorstep. Imagine what amazing toys this year's wish book would have in it, I thought. I took it inside through my winter coat on the floor and headed straight for the kitchen table to checkout this catalog. Now, I admit, I did have a little peek at the bra section, but then I flipped pages forward to the toy section and I started checking out every toy available that year. I saw Easy-Bake Ovens and Barbies and Slinkies and games like KerPlunk. I saw train sets and inflatable boxing gloves, Evel Knievel motorcycle toys and even wood-burning sets. Remember those wood-burning sets, the worst toy to ever play with on a carpet. [NOISE] Now, I believed, in my heart, that Christmas was all about those toys that I wouldn't find in The Sears Christmas Wish Book. Six weeks later though, on Christmas morning, I received a few of those lovely toys that I'd circled in the catalog, but I was so surprised to learn that the present that I loved the most didn't come from the catalog at all. In fact, it came in a used black magic chocolate box. Inside this box was a hand cut puzzle that my mom had made. My brother and I poured out the contents of this chocolate box onto a large footstool and we started putting it together. Now a few minutes later, my eyes began to swell up with big fat juicy tears of joy. The puzzle you see, had a handwritten message on it, and it read, you are going to Hawaii. Now, that year, I learned that the greatest gift of all wouldn't come in a catalog and it wouldn't be a toy, it was just time together as a family. It was as rare as finding a gold nugget. I will cherish that Christmas and that trip with my family for the rest of my life. You see, heart story is the same as any other story, but it comes with an emotional cherry on top. You can cover the whole range of emotions in a heart story. Name an emotion. Here's a heart story about empathy. If you've ever had that experience of immediately connecting with someone's energy, you're going to love this story. When you sign up for a whale watching tour, you never really know if you're going to see a whale at all. But in the islands of Tonga, the whales seem to know that people are coming to visit them. It's almost guaranteed to see a whale. It's one of those rare places where people can swim with humpback whales. This young woman and her friends were on their whale watching tour in Tonga. They jumped into the water wearing their wetsuits and snorkels and thins. Almost immediately she could see this massive ghostly figure swimming up towards her from way deep down. From the size of whatever she was seeing, everybody could tell that it was indeed a humpback whale. As the whale got closer, it's spotted this young woman and just connected with her somehow. Now, there are many reported incidents where humpback whales seem to know that they are huge and people are small in comparison, so the whales tend to accommodate for this. They're gentle around people and intentionally show off their soft sides. This whale did exactly that. It gingerly swam up to this young woman and rolled its belly towards her like a puppy dog asking for a scratch. Then for the next 18 minutes, the whale and this young woman gently swam around in the ocean together. They just enjoyed each other's company. When the whale finally waived its tail goodbye, the young woman just cried out of glee. She was just so overwhelmed. Her gentleness invited the same from the whale. It was like an interspecies exchange of empathy. If you want to connect with your reader or listener or viewer or fan, with an impactful story, a heart story will deliver every single time. Use them for mutual benefit. Now, at the beginning of this module, I promised that I will do the Morgan Freeman impression for you. This impression also contains a heart story. Here you go. For the second time in my life, I'm guilty of committing a crime. Parole violation. [MUSIC] Of course, I doubt that they'll put up any roadblocks for that. No, not for an old crook like me. I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold the thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can fear. A free man, at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope that the Pacific, is as blue as it's been in my dreams. I hope. I'm just going to do the rest of the course like Morgan Freeman. [LAUGHTER] Now, if you think head and heart stories are powerful, just wait until you learn what a wallet story can do. Are you ready to lose some money? Well, then again, maybe you'll get really rich instead. 5. How To Tell A Wallet Story: How to tell a wallet story, no, I am not going to do the rest of the class is Morgan Freeman, I promise. But here's a question for you though. What would you do with $8 billion? That is a question that a man named Chuck Feeney faced in his lifetime. The good news is though, that he figured out what to do. Chuck Feeney made his fortune from building the duty-free shops that you find at airport. But he grew uncomfortable about the vast wealth that would come his way. As he sat at his lawyer's desk with his wife, Helga, in September 2020, he scribbled out a signature at the bottom of a document that concluded his dream of what he wanted to do with his $8 billion. You see, after decades of work, he had accomplished his goal. He had given away all of his money to charities, hospitals, universities, and other causes that needed support. Now, and he inspired others like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to follow his example with his giving while living philosophy. Chuck and Helga don't own a house. They rent an apartment in San Francisco. They don't own a car. Chuck doesn't even own a briefcase. In fact, instead, he just carries his papers around in a sturdy bag. No building bears his name. He gave away his whole fortune anonymously. He had set aside just enough money for him and Helga to modestly live on for the remainder of their days. You know what, he couldn't be happier. Now that is a wallet story. When you tell a wallet story, your mission is to get people to think about or even worry about money. It doesn't even have to be their money. But a wallet story has a unique ability to grab imaginations and hold them in a headlock almost. The reason why is simple. Wallet stories put you in the story, you identify with this idea of having more money or losing it. You identify, in fact with a fantasy or nightmare of money. It's as simple as that. To effectively tell a wallet story though, make use of the components that you find in any other story. Remember the good old Pixar story spine. The deciding factor is that a wallet story is going to be all about money. Some stories might include financial freedom from being an artist, budgeting success, how to get out of credit card debt, how to save six figures, passive income stories from Skillshare, or maybe even saving money at the gas pump or multiple streams of income. Wallet stories you see make up a huge percentage of what you'll find in the news and movies and in books. They provide a perfect scenario to draw an audience in because they can feel themselves or empathize with the story of money. These movies would be wallet stories, Slumdog Millionaire, Wolf of Wall Street, Trading Places with Eddie Murphy. To wrap up, remember that a wallet story simply makes someone think about or worry about their money. Coming up next, the granddaddy of all stories. It's the transformation story. Everybody loves a good transformation. 6. How To Tell A Transformation Story: How to tell a transformation story. Now I have to admit something sneaky. We've been telling transformation stories throughout the class this whole time. A transformation story is the be-all, end-all of telling any great story. It's why novels, movies, YouTube videos, or even courses thrive. Remember, stories are how we picture our world. They help us make sense of it. They navigate us through life's ups and downs. As humans, we love order and certainty and stories give us exactly that. A good story has a structure that is familiar and predictable and it includes a transformation. The Pixar story spine proves it. In order to start a transformation, the hero of the story needs to have normality and consistency in life to begin with. But then one day something happens that sets her off on a brand new journey. Because of that, something challenging happens and because of that, another challenge shows up and because of that, we're seeing the hero morph into something new because of the lessons that they're learning. Until finally, they transform to a new appreciation and outlook on life. To be human is to change and transform. That's the whole reason why we live and why we love to hear stories about it. If you've gotten this far in this class, I hope you appreciate that all storytelling is transformation. You write and share stories because they lead the audience to witness meaningful change. But there is one story, let's call it a bonus story that is even more effective than any other story when it's done right. I'll tell you all about it in this final module. [MUSIC] 7. Bonus: Make Them Laugh: This is the bonus, make them laugh. There is one story that outdoes head, heart, wallet and transformation stories every single time and that is a funny story. Jamie Masada, the founder of the Laugh Factory comedy clubs, says that making someone laugh is the greatest power a human can have. Why? Well, it's because laughter releases dopamine into your brain and it makes everybody feel good. I personally believe that adding a little laughter into everything you write virtually guarantees that your story will resonate with the audience. It also makes you relatable and more likable too. A wee bit of funny will make all the difference in the world, a huge difference, even bigger than the difference between snot and broccoli. You know the difference between snot and broccoli. Most kids won't eat broccoli. There's a reason why I included a few little funny bits into this course so far. It's because a few giggles keeps things interesting. It makes stories more relatable and most importantly, humor also makes the story all that much more memorable. My intention all along in this course has been to connect with you deeper and I hope it made the class even more enjoyable. Nobody likes to be serious all the time. Laughter is the best medicine too according to the Mayo Clinic. Research shows that there are short-term and long-term benefits from laughter and those include stress release and soothing of muscles and organs. Laughter can improve your immunity system and relieve pain and even increase your overall well-being so no wonder people love to laugh so much. It can give us superpowers. If you can include even a little bit of funny into your stories, I urge you, I beg you to include it whenever possible. People need it more now than ever. To conclude this class, let's bring things full circle for you. Since Skillshare is this wonderful community of artists, makers, movers and shakers, I believe you might be able to benefit from this one piece of advice. Storytelling can transform your business as an artist or a creator. You see, I know what it's like to be a creator and to bridge that gap between making and selling your art. It can be really hard, but storytelling can reduce the need to sell your art or services. Instead, what storytelling does is it builds a community of supporters for you. They'll love what you do. Regular storytelling and I'm talking weekly, is the lifeblood of the new creative preneur reality. If you'd like a cheat sheet for head heart, wallet and transformation stories that you can use for your business, I've created a document below that you can use. It has 47 stories that you can start off with. Tell stories about yourself and your art regularly. Connect with people who resonate with your talents. The four stories that matter the most is now your system that you can rely on throughout your career. Have fun with it. Now, write your story and submit it as your assignment. I'm really looking forward to reading what you come up with. I hope you've enjoyed taking this course, the four stories that matter the most. If you're interested, I have another course available here on Skillshare. It's called Do What You Love, an introduction to Ikigai. It's based on my international best-selling book, How to Ikigai. See you again. [MUSIC]