Story telling is a very rich topic. The art of telling stories is the secret to success in life, law and business. Storytelling is the most effective means of changing minds and lives. Anyone interested in the art of storytelling should also study the basic structure and elements that apply to stories, how they work and why, as well as the principles that have guided great storytellers Jordon Bower The following books, articles and tools will transform your storytelling and story making.
- The Storytelling Animal (book)
If you want to go further on the topic of Storytelling we recommend you read “The Storytelling Animal“.
In this book by Jonathan Gottschall, you will have an overview of the most well-known theories about storytelling. Each theory is explained with a little story. It’s a playful learning experience far away from the boring style of the classical educational books. This book will not tell you how to build stories, but rather it will explain to you why stories matter for human beings. In a way, this book can give you all the arguments to push story telling work shop in your next project.
- Putting Stories To Work (Book)
This book by storytelling expert, Shawn Callahan explains how to bring back storytelling in the work and business setting. It’s more of a practical guide for the modern business storyteller. This book will help you use stories for your business to better engage your audience and make the ideas stick in their minds.
Shawn Callahan proposes an actionable framework which helps you:
- Find or identify stories
- Capture and remember stories
- Tell the stories at the right time for the right audience and the right effect
- Refresh stories when they need to be refreshed
- Remove stories when they are outdated
- The Science Of Storytelling (Article)
This article by Leo Widrich compiles and resumes various research papers about storytelling. Published in the Scientific American Mind Journal, it is an interesting long read that explores the scientific side of storytelling. It shows why people love stories, why they are attracted to them and all of this based on scientific studies.
- Storyhow (Card Deck)
Storyhow is a card deck that helps people transform messages, ideas and presentations into business stories. This tool was developed by storytelling expert Ron Ploof.
This card deck is a good starting point for anyone who wants to brainstorm different ways to tell the same story. It gives advices and structures that you can follow to improve your storytelling skills.
- Expert Blogs
There are many books, presentations and tools. If you want to stay up to date, we recommend to rather follow new ideas by the experts in the field. We especially like the work of Andy Raskin and we highly recommend you follow his publications on Medium.