How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

when faced with the daunting task of making conversation with someone new, try to think of a question that might bring about a story from them. The tried-and-true “How do you know our host?” is an easy place to start. Compliments are always nice and can often break the ice.

Think about a time when you… Felt an emotion: doubled over with laughter, burst into tears, or lost your cool. Did something you never thought you’d do. Tried to be something or someone you aren’t. Discovered something about yourself, your environment, your family, or the world. Changed your relationship with someone—for better or worse, a little o

In your head, a story idea is just a theory. Test it by saying it out loud. Often when you say something out loud, it changes shape. When spoken, a story can feel less silly or scary. Remember, there is a good chance that someone hearing your experience will say, “Hey, me too.”

Think about sitting down with an old photo album or scrapbook. (If you don’t have one, you can create one in your mind. What pictures do you dearly wish you had?) The photos and artifacts in your album, real or imagined, will conjure memories of people and places and situations.

You are looking for the moments where perhaps something happened that showed you glimpses of who you truly are. Moments that altered your life’s course or led you to discover something new.

love. JENIFER ON STORYSLAMS: These weren’t people we’d worked with prior to the show. It was an uncontrolled environment. What happened was a roller coaster: some thrilling parts, some super-harrowing turns, bumps, a few sleepy sections, and of course, some stunning highs and some spectacular fails. But each story, limited to just five minutes, was

Then we work on structure. Is there a smaller story within the larger experience that might make the story more interesting or relatable? For instance, in Amy Biancolli’s story about the death of her husband, we encouraged her to push into the detail of her wedding ring and use it to tell the story of their life together, bringing us to the moment

it. We identify scenes and details that can bring the story to life. We ask you, “If this were a movie, what scenes would keep us glued to our seats?” Retrace every step, describe it in Technicolor. We often ask that you “blow it up big” and look at every detail you could play with, and then pick the very best and shiniest.

Once we start to focus on a story, we ask the teller to consider a few bigger, often harder-to-answer questions. What is this story ultimately about for you? Why is this story important for you to tell? How would you describe yourself at the beginning of the story, and who had you become by the end?