Are you planning on writing your book and then slide it into
a drawer where it can collect dust? Of course not! Researching, outlining,
writing and editing a book is an enormous task with a huge investment of time,
energy, brain-power and emotion attached. A writer can help write your book and
make it into a perfect presentation, but a storyteller can take it to another
level.
1. Storytellers Tell Your Story
If the world could only see what you can see and know what
you know, they would snatch it up in a minute, right? Of course they would! You
just have to find a way to make them see what you see and know what you know.
When you sit down to research, outline and write a book, you
do it because you have a story to tell. Regardless of which field you’re in or
what subject your book covers, there is a story behind it and a motivation
behind why you want to take on such a monumental task. A storyteller will dig
into that story in order to reach your readers on that deeper level and tell
your story.
2. Storytellers Stir Up An Emotional Response.
Hunter S. Thompson said, “Anything that gets your blood
racing is probably worth doing?” It is even truer with writing. If you want
someone to react a certain way to what you are sharing with the world in your
book, you have to get their blood racing.
Connected to the motivation and the story behind the story
is the ability of a storyteller to stir up an emotional response to your story.
It’s obvious that you want to draw an emotional response from a reader when
writing fiction, but why should that type of response be limited to novels? Storytellers
are familiar with and expert at utilizing various literary devices to elicit an
emotional response.
3. Storytellers Know How To Keep Your Audience Interested
Have you ever read a novel that keeps you up all night
turning from one page to the next simply because you have to know what happens
next? Have you had the same experience with a book on planning for your
retirement? Probably not.
By stirring up an emotional response, storytellers hook your
audience (readers) interested in your topic. Within the storyteller’s toolbox
are a number of ways to avoid the dullness that your readers typically
experience when reading non-fiction books. Keeping your readers engaged from
beginning to end is something that you definitely want to accomplish.
4. Storytellers Write With A Deeper Purpose In Mind
We’ve all read or heard of the stories of Aesop, Hans
Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm. They were consummate storytellers
that have survived down through the centuries. Why? Because the stories they
told had a deeper purpose behind them.
A storyteller can help draw out the deeper purpose in your
story so that it leaves a lasting impression. Besides stirring up your readers’
passion and keeping them engaged in your story, a storyteller works at drawing
your readers to a specific goal or purpose.
5. All Storytellers Are Writers, but Not All Writers Are Storytellers
When you watch fireworks on Independence Day, New Years Eve
or during some other celebration where they are used, which ones leave the
lasting impression? They’re all fireworks, right? Yet, not all of them leave a
lasting impression when you walk away.
Just so, writers do an adequate job of communicating the
content of a book or article to their readers. There command of the written
word and its use is what sets them apart from those who are not quite as adept
at writing. Storytellers are artists who paint with words and create mental
pictures in the minds of your readers. By crafting your story in a unique way
that envelops all of your passion, you will leave a lasting impression upon
those who have read it.