Typically, when we tell a story we are trying to make a point, communicate a specific insight or understanding about an issue, or address the reason for a story.
“Most human stories follow the pattern of describing a desire, taking us through the action that desire led us to perform, and what realization came about as a result of our experiencing the events of our actions in relationship to our original desire.”
To hold our audience’s attention, a story needs tension. “What is the meaning of friendship? “Will the girl get the guy?” Start your narrative with a statement of the question and answer the question in your closing. To entertain the reader or catch them off guard, you might consider manipulating the reader and change the expected outcome.
Example: http://www.storycenter.org/memvoice/pages/tutorial_tanya.html
To catch the reader’s attention you have to be honest and truthful with your emotional material.
“A story that deals directly with the fundamental emotional paradigms–of death and our sense of loss, of love and loneliness, of confidence and vulnerability, of acceptance and rejection–will stake a claim on our hearts. Beginning with content that addresses or couches itself in one or another of those contexts will improve the likelihood that you are going to hold an audience’s attention.”
As the narrator of your story, you will need to practice reading a few times before your read and record. Keep your writing concise. Be sure to speak slowly yet conversationally. You could also construct the story by digitally recording an interview. Example: http://www4.nau.edu/ifwfd/ts_lessons/code/codetalk/home.htm Translations > Digging Deeper > Did You Know?
“Truly, our voice is a great gift. Those of us fortunate enough to be able to talk out loud should love our voices, because they tell everyone so much about who we are, both how strong we can be and how fragile.”
“It is as if by listening to or imagining a specific slice of music, we are putting ourselves into our own movie, a movie that puts our life into a clearer perspective, or at least entertains us.”
To avoid having music lyrics conflicting with our narrative, select an instrumental to accentuate the style and meaning we are trying to convey in our writing. You can add sound effects to add surprise or complexity to your story. Yet it takes some talent to accurately place a sound effect in the right position and often a poorly placed sound effect can distract your listener.
Economy refers to using just the right amount of language for any given picture. You can write first and then collect your images or you can bring your images in, line them up, and write based on what you have to say about the pictures. Either way you do not want to have gaps between your language or your images.
The pace of your story can determine its success. Changing pace, by altering the music tempo or slowly panning an image or just pausing, keeps our audience’s interest.
A fast-paced movie with many quick edits and upbeat music can suggest urgency, action, nervousness, exasperation, and excitement. Conversely, a slow pace will suggest contemplation, romanticism, relaxation, or simple pleasures.