What’s in a Good (Oral) Story?

A good story can change you.

“At the beginning of the Indian epic, Mahabharata, Vyasa says, ‘If you listen carefully, at the end, you’ll be someone else.’” — Study.com

Oral storytelling spans back generations and centuries. It was the one of the earliest forms of storytelling and still exists today.

Think of the Griots or Jelis in West African cultures, the Rakugo in Japan and Indigenous storytelling to name a few.

What about gossiping with the girls, camp fire stories, wedding speeches and even religious sermons?

Although oral storytelling is done by being in the same room as the audience, podcasters now have to build the same effect while being in people’s ears — not in front their faces.

What are some storytelling techniques for podcasts?

Since my journey into podcasting began, I’ve thought a lot about traditional news journalism and storytelling (mostly the ethical considerations).

But there’s lots of podcasts that can add storytelling techniques without question (think fiction, educational and comedy).

Suspense, Tension and the Stakes

One of the most important storytelling techniques is to “have some stakes”.

Why is the story important? Why should your audience listen and what can they lose or gain from listening to your story?

A good story builds suspense and tension, through a sequence of events/facts. These sequence of events move a story forward. But ultimately lead to something…the point. The goal. The bigger picture.

You may be thinking, how can I do this with a podcast about…education or even finance.

Let’s say you’re doing a podcast about how to better manage your money (I find the topic pretty fun, but some people don’t).

What can the audience gain from listening to this? Better skills to manage money. Suspense and tension? Maybe a rags to riches story (we all love that).

Narration and Character

Narration can move the story along quicker. But characters bring colour.

I love hearing direct quotes from people other than the podcaster. It really brings a second layer/element to the story.

Think of the finance podcast example, a quote from someone who went from living on the streets to driving a Mercedes would add an interesting element to the story. Rather than the narrator simply telling you.

Music and Noise

There are other factors that adds life to your podcasts. Think about music and background noises that give the audience setting.

Now back to my example with the finance podcast. In terms of music, the ka-ching of a cash register could do wonders. Maybe even a infamous line from a movie (consider copyright).

Here’s a great, quick interview with @iraglass (HT from Paul Bradshaw). Glass talks about some of the best ways to tell an oral narrative.

Paul Bradshaw has a great guide on the Online Journalism Blog about good storytelling, narratives and how to keep a story moving.

Other storytelling techniques podcasters can use

Although @Dedaleira discusses storytelling for presentations and public speaking, the tips can still be applied to podcasting.

Loops and Action

Take tip #3 and #5.

Three is what Lindsay calls “nested loops” where a number of narratives/stories are woven together to get to the heart of a story or message.

That’s a great idea for podcasts: using multiple stories and narratives to get to the heart of a story. A great example of this is this Freakonomics episode.

Five discusses starting your story in the heat of the action. Starting a podcast with a dramatic hook can bring a listener in, this Freakonomics episode jumps right into the issue of gender pay gap.

Emotions and Silence

Sue Tannehill, professor and storyteller recommends to focus on an emotion or image that is dominate to the story.

Emotions help the audience to latch on and imagine themselves in the story.

Another tip is to focus on the silences. Silences allow the audience to absorb all the information given to them. It’s also very dramatic.

You can read her article on storytelling here.

Killing, Order and Rants

Here’s a great listicle about storytelling in general. Tip #4 and #12 is what Glass was talking about in his interview.

#20 also pertains quite a bit to podcasting. Especially the order in which information is given to the audience to create tension and suspense.

It goes without saying… angry ranting is not a good idea — unless of course, you can turn it into a story with a resolution. Read more storytelling tips from The Moth.

The last tip is to save the best for last. Wait until you’ve got the audience unable to leave because they have to know what happens in the end.