Five tips for writing a good narrative for Digital Storytelling
Atlanta Writing Examiner
- Possess tension - the key to any good story is tension. Tension doesn't have to be something negative...think of it like the goal of the story. There has to be a reason for telling the story or it's going to be boring. Think of it as an obstacle the subject of the story must overcome or a goal they must achieve.
- Show don’t tell-Don't tell me that the dog was ugly, paint a picture for me. "The dog's sky-blue eyes were lined in black like mascara on a girl going out to a party."
- Be economical-You have a limited number of words in which to tell your story. Once you've written the script, go back and edit. You should be able to remove at least 10% of the script. A tight script is an effective script.
- Written in first person-When telling your story, it's okay to use "I, me, my." It will help the viewer connect with you.
- Have a hook-Think of this as "hooking" a fish. You want to hook the viewer in the first 30 seconds of the presentation. A good example of a hook is in Stephen King's It - "The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years- if it did ever end- began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."
Atlanta Writing Examiner
Jenny Murr has a passion for writing. With a BS in Communications and Information technology, she writes for a local entertainment newspaper and is...
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