What Makes a Great Story?

If you want to see the video version of this article, check it out here.

I've got a question for you. What makes a great story? In today's world, the term "storyteller" is ubiquitous. It may be even a little overused, but it makes total sense because we as human beings absorb way more information when it's given in the form of a story than if it's just raw information by itself.

But what makes a great story? I get so many different answers on this, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about it myself. I've developed a framework for how we put together stories at Tree City Creative, whether that's for a video campaign or producing a live event.

This is how we think through things. A great story begins with a problem. There's no story until there's a problem. We human beings are problem-solving machines, and we don't pay attention and don't kick off a story loop in our heads until there's a problem that needs to be solved.

Then we're paying attention. Think about the greatest film franchises of all time. One of the biggest ones, James Bond movies, always has some huge problem that James has to solve. Someone's trying to blow up the world or steal all the money in the world - it's a well-defined problem.

Sometimes it's complex and multi-layered, and one problem leads to another like a nesting doll of problems, but there's always a big problem he needs to solve. When you define a problem well, it begins to narrow the range of solutions you can have. That's how I think it ties into great marketing - when we define a problem well, it helps us write the form of the solution we're presenting to our customers or clients.

Let me give you another example from Donald Miller's fantastic book "How to Grow Your Small Business." In it, he gives an example of meeting two different people who do the same jobs at a party.

You go up to the first person and ask, "What do you do for a living?" They say, "Well, I'm an at-home chef. I come to your house and cook and clean up so that you don't have to." As a nice and curious person, you'd have an informative conversation with this chef and learn about what they do, but you probably wouldn't consider hiring them.

Now think about the next person. Same question, but this person says, "Do you know how many Americans don't have time to sit around the dinner table anymore and have dinner together and connect? Well, I'm an at-home chef. I come to people's houses and cook and clean up so they have more time to spend with their family."

If you have this problem, which many do, you'll automatically begin to see this person as a potential solution because they've defined the problem so well. This person hasn't mentioned anything about quality, ingredients, or cooking style, but you're already thinking this could help your life.

That's the power of defining a problem well. The problem must be defined in terms of something people really want. Many people want to connect better with their family - it's aspirational. If you tie your problem-solving to that, it will make a big difference in your marketing.

It reminds me of James Joyce's quote: "In the particulars lie the universal." He was talking about writing "Dubliners," meaning if he could define the problems of Dublin's people well enough, it would translate globally because we're all human beings with similar problems.

If you spend more time thinking about the problems, you can spend less time thinking about solutions and being creative on that side. That's why we like to start there - if you start with the problem, the solution will often be partly written for you.

I've got so much more to share about this, and I can't wait to tell you more, but I hope you enjoyed this and I hope it helps you make better content this year.