Episode 7: The Story Transformation Arc

Hello everyone, welcome back to the storytellers mind movie™ makers And we are here to study the science to the art form of storytelling so today we're going to talk about a Framework that will help you create stories that have a nice flow to them.

So you can see here I have a map up. Okay, and this is the story Transformation map and it is the hero's journey.

Look, I always said hey if it's good enough for Pixar and Disney because the framework or Star Wars, it works for me too. Now there's other frameworks that you can do. I know a famous one from Toastmasters is more of an outline framework where you say, I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna tell you, then I'm gonna tell you, and then I'm gonna tell you how I told you or what I told you. That can work depending on the talk and who you're talking to.

But when we're really crafting one of your moments in your life, I really love this framework, okay?

And it really incorporates crow, characters, relationships, objective and where, which is in every story that you have, okay? If you miss any of those, your clients or your listeners are gonna be like, huh? And they're gonna wander away because they don't know the relationship or they're unclear where you are, et cetera. So that's your job as the storyteller.

And that means we need to be really good at the setup, okay?

So as you see this, this is the hero's journey. And you can see right here, whatever your story might be, you are going to explain where you are in life. So there's the W, the where. Where are you in life?

Last episode, I talked about a story called See and Be Seen, where I am coming home from improv, and then as I'm at a stoplight, I notice that there is a gentleman who's in a wheelchair in the dark, in the middle of the lane, going up a hill, and he's inching his way up the hill backwards, and he has only one leg.

Okay, he is clearly a homeless man. He was probably a veteran and the stakes get really high really fast in that story. All right?

But what we want to do is so he would be the inciting event. Okay, so what we want to do is This is where he shows up. So he's the character that shows up.

So What's going on at the beginning and in the story? I say, you know, it was it was a Wednesday night and I'm coming back from improv and I'm feeling really good I have just done a great scene with someone I've never worked with before and we had a blast.

We got to play animals on stage and it was just silly fun and that's why I love improv.

When I'm sitting at the light and I notice that there's someone pushing themselves up a hill in a wheelchair. Ugh, and he has one leg?

Now see, all of that is describing. I'm trying to get you to be in the car with me while I'm describing that. So that's what happens.

And then the next scene of that is that I'm watching people see the same thing I'm seeing.

I see a couple of girls in their 20s and they're just staring at him as they cross the street.

A Gen X man who is staring at him next to the girls as he crosses the street.

And then a 25 year old guy who looked young and spry sees him and turns the corner.

Okay. That's the because of that.

Because I see this man and we're all seeing him, that's the because of that.

And then the next scene is I cross the street when the light says green. I park my car, I roll down the window, I jump out, I turn to the girls and I say, can you watch my car?

And I turn to him, the man, and I say, are you okay?

That's the next scene because of that.

Because I see him, because I stopped the car, I'm now in the next scene where I am talking to him.

And here's relationship. We're strangers.

But that's a stupid question coming from this girl over here. Do you need help?

Of course he needs help.

And he lets me know that. He says it with only one to three teeth in this gentleman's mouth.

Okay, he has clearly been failed by our health care system and our entire social society.

And I said, do you need help? And he's like, yeah, of course I need help.

But he doesn't quite say it that eloquently. And I'm trying to understand him.

But then you see the Gen X man realize She's helping him, I'm gonna help him.

So now we're moving towards helping this gentleman and we get him onto the sidewalk, okay?

Then the gentleman said, I go, think he needs food.

And he's like, well, I'll push him up to the top of the hill.

Now I'm looking back at my car and the girls are still staring at the whole situation and they say, I didn't know if he needed help.

Really? We all knew we needed help.

Okay, so there's the aha right here.

The aha is we all saw pretty much the same thing.

We saw a homeless person with one leg in a wheelchair going up a hill in the middle of the night in the middle of the lane.

He could get hit and we questioned ourselves if we should step in or how far we would step in.

That aha moment of acting quickly and not allowing the chatterbox to go, which I did act well there, but I didn't carry it through.

And so because I gave it to the Gen X man, now I'm looking at my car and I guess I could say, oh, I had an excuse.

I had to get back in my car.

But maybe I could have just parked it, right?

I could have I could have parked it and stayed on course with the whole situation.

But then.

I know that that gentleman, the Gen X guy and the homeless man, were going to go on their adventure.

And as a storyteller, I could see that too.

So once I came back to my car and the girls were like, I didn't know if he needed help.

The aha was we all know we needed help.

And from that, I had not stopped thinking about that event.

So I have changed from that.

So I'm over here now.

I'm not the same person who got into my car, who left improv to go home.

because of that gentleman and because of our collective confusion fear Paralysation if you will of of taking action and

It's not a story of shame.

It's a story of study of awareness and so from that I am now a different person and I'm sure the girls are too and I know that Gen X man I'm probably sure also, but I hope that we gave hope to that gentleman that was in the wheelchair.

I hope.

But that is the layout that you can tell the story. Okay?

So you're plugging along, you're having your day, you are where you are in life.

Let us know a little bit about yourself.

And then something happens and new characters come in.

And because that happens, there's inner thoughts that are happening too.

There's like, my gosh, or like, what?

Like there's all these different things that are going on that you as the storyteller need to be very clear to the audience what's going on.

What are you emotionally feeling?

What are you smelling?

You know, what are you seeing?

What are you feeling, tasting, touching?

What is it that's going on specifically?

Because that's what's going to light up to the audience their mind movies even clearer.

Now notice that when I was setting it up, I very carefully described him because I was looking at it like an onion.

and then I see a man.

Okay, you see the man.

And he's in the middle of the road.

Okay.

in a wheelchair backwards, pushing himself inch by inch with one leg.

All of that, by the way I list it, is creating and molding the Mind movie.

I didn't just dump it all at once.

I gave every little detail to get the Mind movie for you to see what I was seeing.

All right?

That's where the details really create the audience's delight, if you will.

Now this isn't a happy story, but they are seeing something with you.

Okay?

So...

Take a picture of this or you know, the hero's journey was created by Joseph Campbell and it's something that I really treasure and I hope that it's helpful for you.

So every story that you're thinking about crafting, this is my recommendation to follow.

Okay?

All right, this is a quick episode.

So remember, we are building this up.

We have lots of guests that are gonna be booking with us.

Please like, comment, share, reach out if you're thinking, God, I want to do this too.

You know, we've got lots of resources that you can do for free.

We've got Missy AI that you could go to storyfruition.com and log on to Missy and she's trained in my book and she's trained in my voice and she speaks 10 languages.

So if you are someone who wants to like maybe you speak his, you know, Spanish, you could talk to Missy in Espanol.

OK, or French, France.

She does it all.

OK, and she can help you.

craft these stories and when you're working with her, she'll play it back to you in first person and present tense, which is really a game changer.

And we'll talk about that a little bit too.

But again, thanks for showing up.

Thanks for hearing us.

Like, comment, share, and I'll see you at the next episode.