Now, I don’t need to sell you on the idea that stories are important. We are all word nerds here. We already know that stories are important; it’s our job to write them, after all. The thing I want to address today is why stories resonate so deeply. What is it about storytelling that makes it so compelling, so powerful? Here are a few reasons why this might be the case:

1) Storytelling is associated with higher levels of empathy.

There’s a whole area of psychological research that looks at the connection between reading and empathy. In particular, this research shows that people who read fiction have higher levels of empathy than those who read nonfiction. The idea here is that fiction creates something akin to a “life simulator,” allowing readers to engage in experiences that might otherwise be out of their reach.

Reading fiction allows us to step into a character’s shoes and see the world through their eyes. This experience stretches our worldview and increases our ability to empathize with others. When marketers use storytelling in their promotions, they tap into the consumer’s empathy and create an emotional connection between the product and the audience.

2) Story tropes make a narrative feel familiar.

Tropes in storytelling serve as mental shortcuts, allowing us to understand quickly what the story is about. Think of the “Get a Mac” campaign from the early 2000s. In these commercials we have a buttoned-up guy in a suit and glasses as the PC and a relaxed, hipster dude playing the part of the Mac. These commercials tell micro-stories where the rivalry between the two characters plays out. The PC is supposed to be the big, powerful character, and the soft-spoken, chilled-out Mac is positioned as the underdog. People like rooting for the underdog, so it’s easy for the audience to align themselves with the Mac character. The Mac also comes across as more empathetic, where in some commercials he even wants to set their competition aside, but PC continues to show his competitive streak.

This campaign uses an “us vs. them” trope and creates a David and Goliath type of dynamic. We’ve seen this story trope time and again. A seemingly all-powerful villain is thwarted by a humble hobbit and his companions in The Lord of the Rings. A small country school basketball team faces off against a big city school in Hoosiers. And just about every Rocky movie ever made. This trope feels familiar, so when we see a commercial from this “Get a Mac” campaign, we recognize it right away. Immediately we understand what the story is about, with little explanation necessary.

3) Story makes it feel less sales-y.

This past holiday season, I went with my kiddos to Rockefeller Center and to see the windows at Saks. Now, if you’ve ever been to NYC during the holidays, you know that the best windows are always at Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s down on 34th street. The thing that makes these windows so great is that they often tell a story. One year, one store showed scenes from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Another time, one of these stores did an homage to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. For most of the year, these windows are designed to show off the store’s wares, but during the holidays, they take a break from pure promotion and tell a story instead.

That is, until this year. While it pains me to say so, the Saks windows left much to be desired, because they didn’t tell a story. Instead, they had these abstract displays showing products from the store, but there was no narrative, no sense of fun. Sure, there was a fancy intricate lightshow, where at times the whole front of the building was lit up, but that felt empty to me. It was all glitz and glitter without any substance.

You see, without the charming characters and the whimsical story, these windows felt like any other set of store windows on Fifth Avenue. Sure, they promoted the products inside, but the thing that usually made those windows feel special was missing. Not only that, you could tell that the windows didn’t resonate because even the week between Christmas and New Years—one of the busiest tourism weeks of the year—there was no line of people waiting to see the windows. Usually, the lines for these store windows stretch around the block, but this time there was nothing because the windows fell flat, all because there was no story.

When we tell stories, it takes the edge off of the marketing and makes it feel a little bit less salesy. Now don’t get me wrong, our readers aren’t ding-dongs; they still know there’s a promotional angle embedded in the story, but for some reason that angle doesn’t feel quite so sharp. Stories are entertaining, they pique our curiosity and make us want to learn more. When we weave our promotions into a narrative, our audience is more likely to want to hear what we have to say. They are also more likely to remember something that’s told as a story, rather than pure facts and figures.

Why It Matters

Whether we choose to publish traditionally or we go the indie route, we must all face the fact that we need to market our books. Some time ago, social media lit up with readers complaining that writers self-promoted too much. What these readers didn’t understand is that marketing is part of our job as writers, and if we want our work to reach our audience we have to be ready to do some self-promotion. Like it or not, it’s just part of the job.

This is why story marketing is such a game-changer. Not only does it tap into empathy, use tropes to our advantage, and feel less salesy, but it also plays to our strengths. We are writers. Words and stories are our jam. This type of marketing taps into what we do best. So let’s use our storytelling superpowers not only in our writing projects, but also to get our words out into the world and our books in the hands of our readers.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: Why You Should Use Story Marketing in Your Author Platform appeared first on DIY MFA.

Instead, I’m going to assure you right here, now that we’re deeper into this article, that the tip I’m about to share may propel your writing forward by light years. No, seriously. I discovered this technique a few years ago, and I’m still kind of shocked at how easy it is to use and how it makes my writing so much stronger.

But before we dive in, try to read the following without falling asleep (or scrolling to another DIY MFA article out of sheer boredom):

Sam heard a faint tapping at the window as he was grading essays. He watched the red pen in his hand stop. He couldn’t believe the heavy rain had already started. He realized he had been working for three solid hours. He had watched the morning news earlier in the day that said the storms wouldn’t come in until late afternoon.

With a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose to stop the ache he felt behind his eyes. He decided to get another cup of coffee from the kitchen.

He looked around the small three-foot-by-three-foot space and realized all the coffee cups he owned were in the porcelain kitchen sink. It seemed he’d have to wash one. That was when he noticed the small footprints on the counter where he’d spilled flour the night before.

He wondered if the tiny people were back.

Poor Sam. He lives a lonely life–that’s for sure. Or maybe his partner has been away for a week visiting family and Sam will have to rush to clean up right before they get home, all while fretting about the return of the tiny people. I dunno. Sam would have to tell you that.

But all joking aside, there’s something very off about the way the passage is written. Besides being heavy on telling versus showing, the writing removes the reader from what’s happening on the page. Don’t get me wrong–sometimes it’s good to be stuck in a character’s head, like when you’re diving into deep POV, but not everything should be seen through the eyes of a character.

Now look at the same passage rewritten:

A faint tapping at the window broke Sam’s concentration. He stilled, the red pen in his hand finally coming to rest. Was the heavy rain already starting? Surely it was too early—the morning news had said the thunderstorms wouldn’t sweep over the city until late afternoon.

The time on his watch confirmed he’d been grading essays for three solid hours. With a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose to stop the ache behind his eyes. Another cup of coffee might help.

The cramped three-foot-by-three-foot kitchen was just large enough to make lonely meals for one. Under the harsh glare of a naked lightbulb, flies buzzed around dirty dishes languishing in the chipped porcelain sink. Resigned to washing a mug, Sam began to squeeze dish soap into the sink when he froze. Small footprints dotted the counter where he’d spilled flour the night before. His heart racing, Sam bit his fist to stop the scream lodged in his throat.

The tiny people were back.

Doesn’t this feel more immediate? Each sentence propels you to the next. That certainly doesn’t happen in the first (boring) passage. And what a lack of sentence variation in the first passage; almost every sentence starts with the same structure: Subject + Verb. It’s a total snoozefest.

So, how did I rewrite the passage to make it sparkle? I got rid of the bolded filter words and rewrote those sentences using tighter language. By choosing better verbs and more precise wording, the sentences practically rewrote themselves.

What is a filter word?

Certain words (usually verbs) increase narrative distance and make the reader feel detached from the story. Typically, these words filter the reader’s experience through the characters and can be found near the beginning of sentences.

Here’s a handy list of common filter words:

• Believed
• Can/Could
• Decided
• Experienced
• Felt
• Heard
• Knew
• Looked
• Noticed
• Realized
• Saw
• Seemed
• Sounded
• Thought
• Watched
• Wondered

Too many of these filter words lead to readers yawning and DNFing a book. Though using them isn’t the end of the world (kind of like adverbs), a few filter words go a long way. Save them for when your characters truly watch or hear or [insert filter word] something.

Of course, as you’re writing your first draft, don’t stress too hard about filter words. Just get the story on paper. Much later, once you are at the line-level editing stage, highlight all these nuggets of potential awesomeness to pinpoint where to level up your writing.

How to target filter words in a manuscript

In Word, follow the directions here to find and highlight each filter word. It’s some work but worth the effort, I promise!

Scrivener makes it easy to highlight multiple words at once. Go to Edit > Find > Project Search. In the search bar, paste the following (change to present tense if applicable):

(Believed|Can|Could|Decided|Experienced|Felt|Heard|Knew|Looked|Noticed|Realized|Saw|Seemed|Sounded|Thought|Watched|Wondered)

Then click on the magnifying glass icon in the search bar and choose Search In: All and Operator: RegEx from the drop-down menu. Boom! They’re all highlighted for you.

And there you have it. This one simple trick has the potential to launch your writing forward and to give you some easy wins while editing… more so than, say, wearing your clothes inside out.

Are there other words or expressions you’ve found that increase narrative distance or bog readers down? Sound off in the comments!

JJ Graham writes spooky romance. Strong character representation of everyone, including queer and neurodivergent characters are important to him because everybody deserves to see themselves in romance stories.
You can find him on his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

The post An Easy Technique to Make Your Writing Sparkle appeared first on DIY MFA.