Many say a good story can make a strong impact, but what is a good story?
Is it just capturing a snippet of life? Or is it anything told with a good voice, tone, and tempo?
So I did some research. I scrolled through YouTube, ChatGPT, and podcasts. I thought stories were hard and complicated. But it turns out, they’re super simple.
You want to know? The answer is: Dancing.
Dancing is when you have certain moves, following the beat, and repeating. It’s not simply moving—there’s opening and closing, front and back, left and right. Even though it’s the same, we still enjoy it. We stay engaged.
But how do we apply that to storytelling?
Like dancing, a story needs opening and closing. To keep our brain engaged, once you set things up, you introduce the opening: Conflict. Then you close it: Resolution.
The writers of the South Park cartoon once said: if your story is connected with “but” and “therefore,” you’ll have a good story. If your story is connected with “and then…,” your story is doomed.
Think about it. An “and then” story is just a stack of information linked together. But “but” and “therefore” not only connect story points—they give tension and relief.
And isn’t tension and relief exactly what we look for in life? We stand and sit. Wake and sleep. Earn and spend. Work and rest. That cycle is what makes life alive. Compare that tension–relief rhythm to repeating something endlessly without variation—it’s boring.
Try it. See how it changes how engaging your story becomes.
Thank you to cgpt for proof-reading my grammar
