How Great and Creative Storytelling Turns Anything into a Masterpiece
The secret is in the approach.
I almost cried watching a 7-minute short film about a small train.
It was 11pm and I was on my YouTube feed looking for something to pique my interest. After some scrolling and building my queue, I saw this video “The Brave Locomotive.”
I scrolled past it initially but soon came back to it. After some hesitation, I added it to the queue.
Let’s just say I was glad I did it.
If you asked me, would a short film about a small train push someone to write an article in the middle of the night on a Saturday?
I’d more than likely say,
“No, probably not.”
But this is how powerful great and creative storytelling is.
The subject of the short film was nothing spectacular. It was not grandiose. But the story and the way it was executed, turned this normal object into a heartwarming film.
It did its job so well that I was not the same after the watch.
So, how does great storytelling turn such subjects into masterpieces?
Let’s first dive into what makes a story.
Storytelling & Good Storytelling
In the standard framework, there are five key elements to every story: setting, characters, point of view, conflict, and plot.
These key elements play a vital role in building and making a story.
The setting is where & when the story takes place. The characters affect the story with their actions. The point of view determines who tells the story. Conflict is the drive of the story and often the reason for that story. And the plot is how the story goes.
We’ve used them throughout history and will continue to do so.
3 of the five, the plot, characters, and conflict, are the crucial elements that make or break a story.
They are what makes stories intriguing. But they are also what makes stories boring. The power lies in how they’re used.
And the one element that has to be used delicately, the one that moves people, is the characters.
Often, we prioritize the other four key elements and need to remember what connects them all.
We spend more time figuring out which point of view to use, crafting the best setting, trying to have a good plot, and finding an enormous conflict, that we don’t give enough care to the characters.
The result of this is pretty obvious. The audience will have nothing to stay with.
What separates casual storytelling from good storytelling is how the story shows who the characters are, what they do, and how they develop. Good storytelling demonstrates all of these pieces and conveys the emotions behind them all. It does not need to tell it.
When a story tells it, it loses its story feel and becomes more of an explanation. Showing lets the viewer have a sense of playing a part in that story. And that part is understanding the characters.
By understanding the characters, the audience can connect with the story.
Great Storytelling
That connection, between character and audience, is essential to go from good storytelling to great storytelling.
Great storytelling uses connection to grab its audience’s hearts.
It connects the story to a shared human experience. It makes people feel some of the strongest emotions, positive or negative.
It allows the viewer to see themselves or others in the story. It incites the audience to see their life in the story. Or it encourages the audience to join and follow along the journey of a person they’ve learned to love or hate.
The audience no longer sees the characters but sees themselves in them. They feel their pain or joy, want them to change or stay the same, and root for them or want them to lose.
To achieve that, great storytelling does what most do not. It properly pays attention to details, but not any details—just the crucial ones.
When one mentions paying attention to details, many people confuse it with adding as many details as possible.
For example, I have to write a story about a young child overcoming his fear of the dark by grabbing a cookie from the kitchen in the middle of the night.
However, I have this part in my story: “It was a dark gloomy night and the owls were singing in a B sharp note. The moon was round but mysterious. The wolves were so hungry that they couldn’t do their ‘Ahoooooo.’ The chickens in the farm hid in one corner as their fellow habitants of the farm, cows, turned to carnivores because of famine.”
These are not crucial details. They are not the details that would form the strong connection a story is to have with its audience. But don’t get me wrong, what the crucial details are depends on the story.
For some stories mentioning that the protagonist lived in a pineapple under the sea and wears square pants is crucial. That detail is important for the story. It’s important enough, that you could recognize the story when this detail was mentioned.
Yet, adding such detail in another story would not work as effectively.
And that’s where great storytelling thrives.
It knows what details to have and how to have them in the story. It understands which details are crucial for the story to move forward and be impactful. These details are mainly made in the characters.
Now back to the story of the small train.
Why was it great storytelling?
It was so as it filled all the criteria we mentioned above. By doing so, it accomplished another thing.
It made me care for something I wouldn’t normally care for.
I’m not a big fan of trains. Even as a child, I preferred cars. And as I mentioned already, I wasn’t eager to watch the video.
But the story was so good I cared for the small train. With that care, storytelling turns a simple object into something the audience gives its attention to.
The audience no longer sees the small train but sees a brave fellow.
Great storytelling does it well by shedding light on undervalued and overlooked aspects of an object or subject. It makes it easier for the audience to be like “Oh I never thought of that,” or “Dang that’s true” or “I’ve never noticed that.”
It subtly expresses little things we didn’t have in mind, leaving us different.
In the Brave Locomotive story, the small train was doing its job well. Everything was fine and everyone was happy. Until the baron came to propose what he called, “the future.”
The little locomotive was then replaced by Samson, a stronger and faster train. We often overlook how technology changes things when it doesn’t affect us or impact us negatively. But those who were in the position of the little locomotive can connect to his situation.
Many were doing a good job but as technology advances, standards change, and they are left behind, just like the little locomotive.
For me, someone who’s never experienced that, I felt sorry for the train. To a young athlete who’s been doing his best but was replaced by a more talented and genetically gifted athlete, or portrait artists who were replaced by cameras, or any worker who was replaced by something faster, stronger, and more efficient, to them the story was a reflection of themselves.
This is the key to great storytelling.
A story cannot connect and push its audience to care without defining characters. The story of Kung Fu Panda is an amazing example.
Po is a normal panda with an average lifestyle. By accident, he meets the Furious Five. He has always respected and looked up to them. Yet when Po was declared as the Dragon Warrior, he had to face harsh judgment from the people he admired. Po struggled with his appearance and what he was to become. He was judged and thought incapable of filling the role of the dragon warrior. But he worked, trained, and eventually gained respect from himself and others.
This story works so well because of who Po was. The character of Po is original. It’s specific enough that it asks for the audience’s attention and is relatable enough that it connects with the audience. The plot, setting, and conflict would have not been as poignant if the character of Po was different.
The structure of storytelling is important. The plot and conflict are crucial for a good story. However, the ones that make them worthwhile are the characters. The main elements of storytelling create a foundation and opening that the characters will use to forge a path, walk on it, and call the audience to follow along. The opening is nothing without a path and someone to discover and walk through it.
We are connected not to the story, but to the one(s) living the story.
Conclusion
It’s nothing about having a splendid setting, perfect plot, or complex conflict. And that’s beautiful to know.
You can have creative storytelling without glamor and complexity. You can tell the story of a simple object or subject and gain the connection and attention of the audience.
A short film about a small train can make you cry.
A painting on the fall of your child’s ice cream can ignite the desire in someone to start painting.
A song about a cold pillow can remind you of the loved one you lost.
And the 6-word sentence “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” can make you think of so many events and questions.
The wonderful thing is we can use such storytelling for a greater cause.
Imagine how big the impact of a piece, with great and creative storytelling, that inspires people to do positive tasks.
Better. Imagine a piece of work that encourages and propels at least one person to engage in life-changing tasks and activities.
Let’s take it a step further.
Imagine a piece that motivates people to work on history-altering actions, actions to make the world a better place.
How fantastic would that be?
All of this can be achieved. It’s a wonderful thought and reality to have in mind.
To know that the influence of great storytelling can be a force for positivity and progress, even at the smallest scale.
As Andrew Chesworth’s film “The Brave Locomotive” encouraged me to think, research, and write about storytelling, I hope you’ll tell a story that will inspire a fellow human being to do something great.
In case you want to watch “The Brave Locomotive,” here is the link. It’s worth the watch!
