Sticky Storytelling
How to make your Storytelling Sticker than Super Glue
Since I posted an essay about treating Movies as Novels, many people were interested in the idea of giving weight to movies because of the layered storytelling.
But what makes movies so engaging compared to other forms of storytelling that we quote more movies than books at each other?
I call it: Sticky Storytelling.
Sticky storytelling is about using storytelling mechanisms to draw relationships among details. I’m not talking about structure or tone or cadence but meaning. Stories stick not because of what happens but because of the meaning we ascribe to events.
This isn't theoretical. It’s based in neurology.
We retain information better by involving more senses. It is why we quote movies more than books. Throughout university, I’d find ways to understand physics and engineering concepts beyond memorization or doing practice problems. I’d try working out problems on a chalkboard like I was teaching a class or finding YouTube videos to accompany the theory.
Combining different ways of learning helped me understand and remember the topics better.
It’s same for Storytelling but in the shape of a Web:
Written storytelling:
Like books, blogs, novels and manuscripts where you only have words & the reader's imagination to rely upon.
Audio storytelling.
Podcasts, radio broadcasts, soundtracks, comedians, legal arguments, rhetoric. These are written because you need scripts but not always. Tonal dynamics adds a ton of meaning to this especially for comedians. How you say something adds more depth to what you say.
Its why sarcasm is hard to translate over text but easy to do by speaking.
Visual storytelling:
Video, dance, films, stage plays, costume design, set design. Video combines written & verbal and adds "show don't tell". Now we don't need to rely on the audience's imagination to get our point across. We can show them the joy in our character's faces or the serenity of sailors smoking cigarettes by the canal.
Agency-based storytelling:
Very few hit this level but have the strongest form.
This is where the audience decides where the story goes. As of writing this piece, video games fall in this category. Some video games like Red Dead Redemption or Detroit: Become Human allow the players to make their own choices & change the ending. The users get to decide their own story.
Choose-your-own adventure books have a similar impact.
Using Sticky Storytelling:
The more nodes connected, the larger the web to capture your audience’s attention.
Your story isn’t constrained by structure, but by the medium in which you convey it. Some stories are told better through visuals others through verbal.
Here are 5 steps to follow:
What core message do you want to convey?
What’s the story you are trying to tell?
What constraints do you have?
Connect the nodes.
Deliver your story.
Here’s an example: What if we wanted to write about the meaning of life as Alan Watts says it.
His core message is: The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.
Works great written but it’s like any inspirational quote: doesn’t work unless you do the work.
We need to connect to other nodes of verbal, visual, or agency-based storytelling. The easiest ones to do are verbal and visual.
Let’s combine written + visual and you get this:
Better but it’s not capturing attention. It’s still another motivational quote wallpaper.
If we add written + visual + audio, we can get a speech of Alan Watts like this; Alan Watts - The Meaning Of Life (youtube.com)
But what if you go one step further, and craft a story around your core message. Tell a narrative about a personal experience of you rediscovering the meaning of life while using written + visual + verbal storytelling.
Then you have a movie. Like Pixar’s Movie Soul (2022)
In this clip, Joe lands his dream job but he returns unfulfilled. He’s missing something but doesn’t know what.
He remembers his journey of how he got here and discovers the meaning of life is to experience it. You dream but don’t let it be the main goal of life.
"Regular old living" scene - Soul (2020) (youtube.com)
Then you have a story which sticks.
Thanks for tuning in this week,
Mohammad Khan
Shoutout to
for giving feedback on this piece.