Do you suck at creating stories like me?

13 years ago

Its more of an internal thing, however I usually derive from something in reality then let my imagination run wild with it. Its not that hard when you take it one sentence at a time.

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LeadBoltBrian

13 years ago

Always start with the formula of presenting a problem and a solution. It's a classic tale of the "happy-ending".

As a marketer, of course, YOU are the one that provides the solution to a common problem. But keep your text vivid with some tasty adjectives and a couple puns here and there (not too cheesy).

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BenoitT

13 years ago

Originally Posted by LeadBoltBrian

Always start with the formula of presenting a problem and a solution. It's a classic tale of the "happy-ending".

As a marketer, of course, YOU are the one that provides the solution to a common problem. But keep your text vivid with some tasty adjectives and a couple puns here and there (not too cheesy).

Little bit hard to have a good vocabulary when english isn't your native language. Maybe I should write them in french before :p.

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Benoit Tremblay

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donhx

13 years ago

Originally Posted by BenoitT

Little bit hard to have a good vocabulary when english isn't your native language. Maybe I should write them in french before :p.

Yes, definitely write the stories in your native language first, then translate. The real issues is idiomatic English and there is no easy solution to that except to have a native English speaker read if for you and point out any anomalies.

Personally, I think the French idioms are often similar to English ones, but if in doubt say something like, "as the French say..." -- that actually adds some class to your story. Il fera de votre histoire plus distinctif.

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BenoitT

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Richard Odell

Create a structure... then fill in the gaps.

If you have trouble filling the gaps... read one of your favourite novels or watch a good play on TV and copy the style... be inspired by it.

The upshot is you'll create something that folks are familiar with by default.

Familiarity comforts people.

Folks love they're comfort zones...

All you really have to do is take a flight of fantasy to create it!

Reading best seller novel is definitivly a good idea. Maybe you watched the same video than me yesterday where Frank Kern explains how they are good at copywriting without even knowing it.

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Benoit Tremblay

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rhythm9 13 years ago

Actually Frank Kern had mentioned that reading those raunchy Romance Novels helped him with this copywriting skills and story telling abilities.

I read Stephen Kings short stories. They are some of the best written short stories I have read. I think they have helped me in my writing.
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Alex Sol 13 years ago

Originally Posted by BenoitT

Little bit hard to have a good vocabulary when english isn't your native language. Maybe I should write them in french before :p.

English isn't my native language either, in fact it's one of the 5 languages I speak and I just started learning German, just au cas où

At first (back in 2007) I couldn't even come up with a 300 word article, let alone a compelling story but it never stopped me. I kept writing and I kept on reading... practice, mon ami.

Best of luck,

Alex
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BloggingPro

13 years ago

Originally Posted by BenoitT

Telling stories is probably one of the best marketing way to keep your audience entertained. My question for you is: how do you guys create and tell stories?

Draw from your own experience. Know your audience and find ways to relate your story to them. Think about what you want to accomplish from your story.

What kind of feeling do you want the reader to have once they are finished?

Since this is a marketing forum I would assume that the feeling you are going after is getting the reader to value your product/service enough to purchase it.

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rhythm9 13 years ago

Agreed,
I find it easier to write about something that I feel strongly about, something I am passionate and interested in.

Apply to your own life experiences and re create it in your own words and your passion and sincerity will show through.

I was writing articles about my experiences in niches I was passionate about and the words just flowed out and before I knew it I had a 700 word article in 5 minutes, well written and full of passion.

Of course it will take practice. I used to use an Ezine article account to practice all my writing and I still get hits from those articles.

I know of some people that read popular short stories to help them with their story telling and copywriting.
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travlinguy

13 years ago

Try this:
Before you even start decide exactly what you want to accomplish and write it down. It might be, I want to persuade someone to buy my stuff using a story. Then figure out the points you'd like to make about the product in reaching your written objective and write those down too. Now your mind knows what you want and will strive to deliver it to you.

Here's the good part. Write your piece as though you were excited about your product and you are now explaining that product to a close friend using a story. See yourself getting even more excited as you make certain points that are, hopefully, really exciting.

Imagine how your friend might respond to what you are saying and address those responses - make them part of the tale. Use humor that would appeal to your friend. Then make sure that you've touched all the points you wrote out at first.

While you're doing this don't stop to check grammar, spelling, punctuation or style. Just get it all down on paper or your computer or whatever. You can fix the rest later.

If you aren’t sure you can do this with the product you’re trying to promote. Find something that you can truly get stoked about and use that. The more genuine enthusiasm you can muster, the easier this is. Once you’ve gotten something decent, switch over to writing about the thing you originally wanted to promote and repeat the process.

Oh, and for the purpose of this exercise the story does not have to be true. You are simply learning how to arrive at your objective. When you've gotten the hang of this you'll discover ways to make your own experiences and those of others come alive without having to resort to lies.

If you practice this a bit you are going to be absolutely amazed at the results. Try it and see!

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Jason Moffatt 13 years ago

If you suck at telling stories you may want to go out into the real world and live a bit more. Shack up with a few dozen women, get arrested a few times, ingest a bunch of crazy substances that get you out of your normal state, sneak into Mexico (Yeah, I know most people sneak the other way into the US, but hell, that would be a great story to sneak into Mex), and crazy stuff like that.

Go out and live some silly adventures and you'll likely be able to craft stories a bit easier because you'll be writing from experience, not some fictional place that you have no understanding of.
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OnlineMasterMind

13 years ago

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Tyson Faulkner 13 years ago

I'd consider myself to be more calculator-minded (whichever side that is) and am not creative hardly at all. So I've always had trouble making up stories to tell.

But the good news is you can tell YOUR OWN story easily, and more people are probably interested in it than you think. Most people discount their own stories and lives because it's so familiar it seems "normal."

As far as for marketing purposes go, I try and be as honest as I can. I'm not comfortable making up "experiential" stories that will convince others to buy products, so if I can't relate my own experience to a product (for a review site for example) I won't write about it.

Makes it much easier too since I'd never be able to come up with anything
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Jason Perez O'Connor

13 years ago

Are you near paris?

Climb the bercy stadium and sit there for some inspiration.

Unfortunately, I'm talking from dumb personal experience.

Me and my brother decided that on the way back to the hotel we would climb the stadium to the top whilst so drunk we could barely walk.

We made it, but we were soo drunk and the drop was so steep that when we wanted to head down, as soon as we got on the steep grass we started sliding down and couldn't stop until we hit the bottom at alarming speeds. Fortunately, we had friends at the bottom calling us dumbasses.

Literally, the way down was like 80-90 percent vertical :Z What were we thinking!

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BenoitT

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Perez O'Connor

Are you near paris?

Climb the bercy stadium and sit there for some inspiration.

Unfortunately, I'm talking from dumb personal experience.

Me and my brother decided that on the way back to the hotel we would climb the stadium to the top whilst so drunk we could barely walk.

We made it, but we were soo drunk and the drop was so steep that when we wanted to head down, as soon as we got on the steep grass we started sliding down and couldn't stop until we hit the bottom at alarming speeds. Fortunately, we had friends at the bottom calling us dumbasses.

Literally, the way down was like 80-90 percent vertical :Z What were we thinking!

Actually I am french canadian and I live at Quebec city. Maybe I should climb the Quebec's bridge

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Benoit Tremblay

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Jason Perez O'Connor

13 years ago

Originally Posted by BenoitT

Actually I am french canadian and I live at Quebec city. Maybe I should climb the Quebec's bridge

Ah, did not realise that, you should most definitely do that

You aren't scared of heights are ya? meh what the heck, do it anyway!

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BenoitT

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Perez O'Connor

Ah, did not realise that, you should most definitely do that

You aren't scared of heights are ya? meh what the heck, do it anyway!

I am so scared of heights I have balance problems (little bit embarassing for a karate teacher) when I don't have a stupid-proof guard.

Once I went to Florida to visit my grand-parents and we went to a lighthouse. After climbing all the lighthouse, I couldn't walk on the footbridge. I was just too afraid to fall. I had to go inside the staircase to calm myself even if a big roasting was preventing me to fall. Pretty stupid uh? Luckily, I know some technics to calm myself (thank you EFT tapping) and I was able to take some pictures with my girlfriend after that.

Maybe I should fix that problem, but I have to take care of other problems like walking, talking or yelling while sleeping. That's an other long story I'll not begin today

.

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Benoit Tremblay

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humbledmarket

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by BenoitT

I am so scared of heights I have balance problems (little bit embarassing for a karate teacher) when I don't have a stupid-proof guard.

Once I went to Florida to visit my grand-parents and we went to a lighthouse. After climbing all the lighthouse, I couldn't walk on the footbridge. I was just too afraid to fall. I had to go inside the staircase to calm myself even if a big roasting was preventing me to fall. Pretty stupid uh? Luckily, I know some technics to calm myself (thank you EFT tapping) and I was able to take some pictures with my girlfriend after that.

Maybe I should fix that problem, but I have to take care of other problems like walking, talking or yelling while sleeping. That's an other long story I'll not begin today

.

Haha looks like you got a story there. You see you can write stories just write it out with a purpose and base on personal experience and it can come naturally

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jimmymc

13 years ago

You probably just need to practice your lying...make up a good lie and be sure to cover all the whatifs, buts and other loose ends with another lie. Once you get good at it you can spin a yarn in a moments notice.

Practice on your girlfriend -women love to be lied to and they help you get better with constructive criticism.

I excel at story telling.

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BenoitT

13 years ago

Originally Posted by jimmymc

You probably just need to practice your lying...make up a good lie and be sure to cover all the whatifs, buts and other loose ends with another lie. Once you get good at it you can spin a yarn in a moments notice.

Practice on your girlfriend -women love to be lied to and they help you get better with constructive criticism.

I excel at story telling.

Ahah, practice to lie to my girlfriend? Best tip ever

I've also seen a correlation between stories and lies. If you know how to construct a good lie, you know how to construct a story

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Benoit Tremblay

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Thaddaeus T. Hogg 13 years ago

Practice on your girlfriend

SIR, this here is a family folk forum. You need to be washin yore mouth out with some a Thad's prime shine! It's guar-on-teed to make you quit talkin for an hour or more!
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Chris W. Sutton

13 years ago

I find myself able to come up with stories that I can put down on paper very easily! I think it might have something to do with the drug flashbacks caused by the, ummm, indiscretions I participated in when I was younger!

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Michelle Strait

13 years ago

I'm good with creating stories because I write short stories. The problem for me is figuring out how to mix stories with marketing in order to sell a product.

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BenoitT

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Michelle Strait

I'm good with creating stories because I write short stories. The problem for me is figuring out how to mix stories with marketing in order to sell a product.

If you can connect a problem you solved with what you sell, you don't even need to "sell" it

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Benoit Tremblay

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TracyNeedham

13 years ago

I actually keep a box of index cards where I jot down the outlines of a story from my life (or sometimes someone else's) on one side, and the possible uses for that story on the other.

By uses, I mean the point(s) I could reinforce with the story. I started it by just sitting down one night and jotting down all the stories I could think of from my life, working with clients, past jobs, etc that could ever possibly be useful. Now I just add to it when it occurs to me.

That way I don't have to (hopefully) think of one when I need it, I can just flip through the cards.

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Do you suck at creating stories like me?

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