A story can always be conveyed in different ways without compromising the punch line. For example, one starts with a middle piece, which becomes dichotomous later in the story. Thus, there are several creative ways of telling stories that are worth examining.
8 Creative Ways Of Storytelling:
If you are your own writer or storyteller, you are in charge of what your audience will think and visualize. This is an outstanding opportunity to build more tension or depth through different tactics:
1. Non-linear narration
Non-chronologically and unexpected twists and turns.
With this technique, the audience receives bits of information at different times. This causes the listener or reader to think for themselves about pairings and a possible denouement. A suspense arc is often viewed as a linear line working toward a plot. Yet it works great because you’re drawing out certain situations and not dwelling on them.
Stories with non-linary narration: Pulp Fiction (1994), The Prestige (2006), and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (2013). (LINK)
2. Multiple perspective
A story is usually told only from the perspective of the main character. This makes a situation or conflict more interesting because there is not just ONE truth. To handle this well, it is important that the listener knows the characters well and that the situation is very clear. With this technique, you not only create tension but also depth in the storyline and the characters.
Stories with multiple perspectives: The Help, Katheryn Stockett (2009); Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (2012); and As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner (1930).
This plural perspecitive is widely used in thrillers and crime fiction because a case or mystery takes center stage and is not necessarily the main character.
3. Interactive storytelling
Involving the audience in a story and its formation gives the viewer influence over the formation of the story. Not every person likes this form, as they like to be taken in by a set fact rather than having influence over what happens. This technique works very well with children, as well as in theater form and video games.
Stories with an interactive narrative: Black Mirror, Bandersnatch (2018), Undone, Amazon Prime (2019), and Choose Your Own Adventure books.
- Writer’s block? How Bestsellers Found Their Flow
4. Epistolary format
This narrative structure, derived from the Latin word “epistola,” means that the story is told through letters, book excerpts, or emails. The addition of written elements gives the reader a different perspective than if a message were simply told. Some stories have an entire epistolary format, but it can also be an aspect of a story.
Stories with an epistolary format: The Color Purple, Alice Walker (1982), Dracula, Bram Stoker (1897), Perks of Being a Wall Flower, Stephen Chbosky (1999).
5. In-Media Res: Start with Action
Why not start a story with the plot and clarify it later through the entire storyline? This form gives tremendous clarity to the plot but cries out for an explanation of what the story should deliver. The beauty is that an in-media res is separate from the rest of the story. The karkater development and entire storyline can begin after an acrid start, just as they would with a normal story.
Stories with In-Media References: The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan (2008); The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (1951).
6. Flash fiction intervals.
Flash means that a story is of enormously short duration, between 100 and 1,000 words. This sounds odd, because then you wouldn’t be able to create depth. Still, sometimes it is nice to be able to read an idea very concisely and clearly, after which you can read another one. It is often humorous and absurdist stories that handle this flash fiction.
Stories with Flash Fiction Intervals: Coffee and Cigarettes, Jim Jarmusch (2003), Microcosmic Tales, Isaac Isamov.
7. Muscial and poetic elements.
Poetry is itself a story form, but it can also be used as an element to make your audience think differently. Symbolism, such as a person representing death, can work very well to create a deeper layer.
Narratives with poetic elements: The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006); Birdman, Alejandro González (2014); and The Great Gasby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. Storytelling through Dialogue
A real connection to the story is created when things are not only told but also discussed. After all, you can express everything in a dialogue: the situation, feelings, conflicts, and thoughts. Telling a story occasionally in dialogue form places the reader in the third person, which gives a completely different perspective.
It is not the action or setting, but the conversations that carry a story.
Dialogue can also work as a turning point in a story. By allowing a conversation to end in an argument or the making of a choice, characters will gain more value and be more empathetic to the reader.
Examples of storytelling through dialogue: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1960); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Edward Albee (1962).
Combining story forms
If a story is flat, a reader is also more likely to drop out. The listener must remain stimulated and able to attach to certain characters. Applying multiple ways of storytelling can make that depth much stronger.
Knowing a good ratio of dialogue. Action and suspense are the best formula for a story.
