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QUICK STORY LESSON

Less is More

By Cheryl Hamilton

Last month, at the end of one of Stellar’s storytelling workshops, a man waved me over to the corner of the room. He wanted to thank me for the session and then dipped his hand into his pants pocket. I assumed it was to give me a business card, a familiar exchange. Instead, he revealed a bright green, shiny circular object. It turned out to be a chip from Alcoholics Anonymous. The man continued,

“I wanted to thank you because I am delivering a speech to celebrate my sobriety journey next month. I wasn’t sure how to tell my story, but now, because of this workshop, I feel more confident.”

I immediately celebrated his accomplishment and thanked him for telling me. At Stellar, we know that storytelling can lead to meaningful change, and it’s good to know that a single workshop can, too.

While our conversation was interrupted, and I couldn’t ask him what he found most helpful, I suspect one lesson from the class resonated with him most — less is more.

Too often, people try to tell big, epic stories that span months or years, even when they only have five or ten minutes. The result is stories that disproportionately focus on chronology and facts at the expense of fully developed scenes, characters, dialogue, and emotion—the elements that make stories unforgettable.

If your story feels too big to share in five or ten minutes, as I suspect the man’s sobriety journey felt to him, make a list of the most meaningful days or moments and tell those stories. I promise they are easier to craft and can be just as compelling, if not more.