Hello and welcome to the final installment in this four-part series where I myth-bust common storytelling misconceptions.
Here’s a rundown of the first three:
Keep it light. (Nope––the heavy stuff is what makes a story, a story!)
Appeal to the everyman. (There is no everyman, and specificity is key to great storytelling.)
Make sure they get it. (Giving your audience just enough will actually make your story much more effective.)
And the final myth we’ll discuss today...
Be original at all costs. (Nah. A story is a formula––and that’s okay!)
This question of originality comes up a lot in both the creative writing world and the communications world.
How do I ensure my story’s not cliché? How do I avoid rehashing something that’s already been told a million times? How do I make my company stand out by doing something TOTALLY original that has never ever been done before in the history of all companies ever?
The answer: you don’t! Not if you’re using storytelling, at least.
In shape, structure, rhythm, and even theme, it’s highly likely that your story will be very similar to most others out there. And that’s totally okay.
This is because if you’re using classical western story structure, where a character overcomes conflict to achieve their goal, you are already following a model that’s been used thousands of times. (Note: I mean western like, the three-part narrative tradition described by Aristotle. Not western like, this town ain’t big enough for the both of us. But the latter fits neatly into the former, so honestly, either works.)
In telling a story, you’re almost certainly traveling a well-worn narrative path. And that’s the whole point. Stories are such a great way to convey information and make people feel emotion precisely because we’ve seen the same structure over and over and over again.
Beginning, middle, end.
Goal, conflict, and nevertheless, victory.
Act I, Act II, Act III.
Since we’ve seen it all before, many times, we know when something’s missing––when a story’s not hitting those beats. A TV episode might feel too slow. A commercial might seem random and pointless. A novel might meander, with no real goal for the character…and thus no audience investment it what happens next.
When they storyteller isn’t taking good advantage of the structure, stories are very frustrating.
And when a story is working well? There’s nothing better.
So as an audience, we crave this formula. But then as storytellers, when we sit down to craft a narrative, we’re suddenly really worried about being different. We’ll ask questions like, but what if I start in the middle? Or what if it’s more “a day in the life” than a story per se?
Or what if I scrap this altogether, because does anyone really care about one more person who prevailed in the face of adversity?
I think these feelings come from a few places. One, we’re taught from a young age that copying is bad. Which, sure. From an ethical and legal perspective, probably not a terrible lesson to learn. Don’t plagiarize, cite direct quotes, acknowledge your source material. Cool.
And two, we all want to feel special, right? So the notion that you might not be saying anything unique, or that whatever you’re making could be derivative or stale, doesn’t feel great.
Every creator wants to be an innovator. Everyone wants to feel like they’re contributing something special to the world.
But using a formula isn’t copying an idea. And far from being the easy way out, executing a formula well is difficult. (Anyone who’s tried their hand at a category romance can tell you this.) It’s actually pretty hard to give the people what they want. Which is why you’ll find so many students in entry-level creative writing classes who focus on subverting the audience’s expectations…without ever having learned how to meet them in the first place.
The good thing, though? With practice, the formula becomes second nature. Beginning, middle, end. Goal, conflict, nevertheless victory. And then you can make sure what’s inside that formula is totally, completely you.
Here’s the thing: you don’t need some highly experimental structure to make your story unique. Your story is already going to be unique because you’re unique. And as Hallmark-y as that sounds, it’s also true. So if you’re speaking authentically and being yourself, that’s all the originality you need.
Happy storytelling,
Erin
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Erin Becker (she/her)
Writer | Communications Consultant | Storytelling Expert
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