How to Craft the Perfect Story
Why reading Matthew Dicks Storyworthy might just make you the best storyteller you know
Humans and stories. It’s been a symbiotic relationship since we were first able to communicate and share. There are still caves dotted around the world with stories drawn on them of mythical creatures, battles & love stories. Everybody wants to be better at them, let alone good, but so few people are genuinely great storytellers.
Matthew Dicks, at the time of the publication of his book ‘Storyworthy’, was a 36-time Moth StorySlam champion & 5-time GrandSlam champion. For those of you who don’t know what that is, which I didn’t either, it’s a pretty big deal in the storytelling community. In fact, it pretty much makes him the best storyteller in the world.
In his book Storyworthy, Matthew Dicks shares his best insights, cultivated from his reign as champion and from others he’s watched take the stage. If you think that telling stories is hard you’d be wrong. If you think that telling great stories is hard? Read this first. It might just change your mind.
What do we all have but don’t use as much as we should?
This isn’t the start of a rude joke, it’s an introduction to what Dicks says is the most important aspect of a story. Something that if taken away leaves you without a story. It’s your 5-second moment. According to Dicks, your 5-second moment is a very short period in your life where something happens. Something big and profound. Something transformative. The good news is, that this quest to find these life-altering moments is easier to find than you might think.
Homework for life:
In the book, Dicks has a brilliant and rather simplistic approach to finding these 5-second moments. He first introduces ‘homework for life’ in chapter 3 and it’s so easy that anybody can do it. Open up a new spreadsheet or for the more analogue type, a notepad. Every day we are presented with potential 5-second moments but often they get missed because we can’t see the wood from the trees. All you have to do for homework for life is write down in a couple of sentences or words the most memorable part of your day. Here’s mine from yesterday:
14.1.24: Finally painted the loft. Looks better than I thought. Can’t wait to start work now.
A very average and seemingly innocuous Sunday afternoon. We’ll come back to this later on as the search for a 5-second moment continues.
Another idea to generate potential stories is First Last Best Worst.
The idea is simple and rather fun to play. Imagine a table with 5 columns. From left to right the columns are: Prompt, First Last, Best, Worst. The prompt column can be filled with random words such as car, kiss, pet, fight, travel, gift, telling off, injury, lie, smell etc. You now simply fill in the blanks. So injury could be this; thumb, knee, toe, thumb. Each one of these will bring back memories where there are potential stories. For example, when I was about 10 years old, me and my brother put on South Park slippers for gloves and had a boxing match. I went to punch him but he ducked. I didn’t realise the door was open and directly behind him so when he ducked the side of my thumb cracked against the door resulting in me crying and a cast on my arm for 6 weeks.
See, a fun game to help you remember things you wish you wouldn’t!
It may take some time to build your ‘library of memories’ but it might just be worth your effort. A lot of our life is now online and on social media but, as I’m sure I don’t need to preach to the choir, a lot of the time it’s fabricated. I couldn’t imagine putting a post up on social media crying in the hospital with South Park slippers on my hands. I was 10 btw. Then again as an adult, I can see the humour in it. The point is I think you’ll be more honest with yourself and the world if you keep it all in your spreadsheet.
Armed with your newfound stories it’s time again before we start to craft the story, to find that 5-second moment. That diamond.
My entry: ‘14.1.24: Finally painted the loft yesterday. Looks better than I thought. Can’t wait to start work now’, seems a bit mundane. Nothing is exciting for potential story listeners about the colour of the paint in my loft. So where’s my 5-second moment?
The sun was beaming through the 2 Velux windows as me and my wife are listening to Chris Stapleton painting away. We’ve been in our house for nearly 5 years and this is the first time we’re getting around to painting our converted loft. We use the loft all the time for work and pleasure so it feels particularly good to be finally doing it. Sat on our sofa bed is Roo, our pet dog. Being our child couldn’t make us love him anymore. He’s a Cavapoo with the heart of a hopeless romantic. We call him a house dog as he prefers to lie on my wife or myself in front of the fire instead of going in the park and meeting other dogs and running around.
But Roo has just turned 7 and he’s aged every single one of those years all at once. For the first time in his life, I can see him slowing down and I wonder if by the time I get around to painting my loft again…
You get the point.
I instantly go over and cuddle him for a few minutes. My wife, seemingly jealous or through intuition does the same. This Sunday entry wasn’t about me painting the loft. It’s about being reminded of the love a human can have for something that he’ll never fully understand. Something that will never utter a single word to him. Something that will love him, and I will love unconditionally until the day he dies. That was my 5-second moment.
Where to find your beginning
Here are some tips laid out in the book on finding the beginning of your story.
Should be the opposite of the end (transformation)
Must reflect change E.g I was once hopeful, but now I am not
Start as close to the end as realistically possible
Try to start with forward momentum
Don’t start by setting expectations (this is funny, this is mad etc)
Using my ‘Sunday afternoon paint job’ story as an example we can try to find a start to our story. I’m making this up as I go along but I hope it serves a purpose in helping you understand how to construct a story.
‘Should be the opposite of the end (transformation)’. Let’s work inversely here. The end of my story and the profound moment was the realisation that my best friend Roo won’t be around forever. The opposite of this could be a time when I thought the opposite was true or when he had done something that annoyed me and subsequently got him told off, temporarily making me mad at him.
‘Must reflect change’. Similar to the first bullet point we can find a time or story when he was invincible and full of beans.
‘Start as close to the end as realistically possible’. Ideally, Dicks wants our stories to be as close to each of their parts as possible. For this example, I think telling a story of when Roo was a cute little pup or something that happened a few weeks ago wouldn’t make too much of a difference.
‘Try to start with forward momentum’. What Dicks means by this is ‘movement’. Running in a park, our first car ride, having zoomies in the house etc.
‘Don’t start by setting expectations (this is funny, this is mad etc)’. Admittingly this is super hard not to do, especially when you think you have a great story to tell.
Using the above framework I get the below;
I’ve just walked from downstairs back up to the loft to get some new pillowcases my wife bought for the pillows in the loft. As I start to take the old ones off, Roo’s ears start to flap back making him look like one of the toys, Mogwai from the Gremlin film. Roo only does this for two reasons. 1. To make himself look as cute as he possibly can (which it does) and 2. When he’s had a pee in the house.
This is a start which I could work with. You can imagine me getting angry (which I don’t) at Roo, which is almost the opposite of the overwhelming love I have for him at the end. I use momentum (walking up the stairs to my loft) and I don’t set any expectations either. Moving on.
Now that we have our end of the story (our 5-second moment) and the opposite of that (the beginning) we now need to fill in the body of the story. Everything from this point onwards serves one purpose only. To keep the listener engaged and surprised. Dicks outlines another 5 frameworks to help keep your story compelling.
The Elephant: a clear statement of the need, want, problem, desire etc. It signifies where the story is going. It gives direction. Elephants can change colour E.g start in one direction (happy) and change to another (sad)
Backpacks: plans set out by the storyteller to bring the audience in. Think of heist movies where the elaborate plan is described in great detail. This makes the audience a part of the plan
Breadcrumbs: leaves hints of a future event that the audience can guess at. Creates anticipation
Hourglass: The sentence you or your audience has been waiting to hear. Just like an hourglass, drag this out and slow it right down
Crystal Balls: a false prediction made by the storyteller to cause the audience to wonder if the prediction will be true. Use it to create suspense
The purpose of these frameworks is to create one of the biggest secrets in storytelling. Something we all know happens in movies and something that everybody watching or listening wants to know. What are the stakes?
Stakes are integral to good storytelling. As the audience we don’t want those whom the story is about to get something for nothing. Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t have been a great love story if after finding out they were in love the two families put aside their grudges and toasted to the happy couple. Every great story has stakes and the 5 frameworks above can be interwoven into the story or used in isolation, but they must be used.
Elephants are critical to the success of a story. You (probably) wouldn’t go to the cinema to watch a movie if you didn’t have an idea of what it was about. Either through word of mouth or the trailer. Try to get the ‘elephant’ into your story within the first minute so people have an idea of what it is about. In my case, it’s Roo, my dog.
Backpacks are used to squeeze time into a more manageable timeframe. The heist movie example wouldn’t be a very exciting movie if the film took 6 months to finish the planning. Rarely in real life does somebody go from deciding they want to rob a casino to robbing it in 90 minutes. What the storyteller does is bring you into the plan skipping all the legwork that got them there. This is what’s happening, this is how we’re going to do it, this CAN NOT FAIL. Now they’re stakes. Now you’re interested.
Breadcrumbs are great for building anticipation. Much like leaving clues on a map for a treasure hunt, they help keep engagement and excitement among listeners and watchers.
The hourglass is used when we’re about to come up to our 5-second moment. The idea here is to slow time right down. At this point, we should have the listener in the palm of our hands and you can even fill the space in with meaningless, repeated information for an extra few seconds just so you can drag it out and offer more of a punch.
I use crystal balls when the audience anticipates that Roo has again peed on the pillows.
Spoiler. He didn’t.
But & therefore
Don’t forget these two words. These two words can turn a boring, descriptive monologue into a piece of craftsmanship. Dicks talks about how people who tell holiday (vacation) stories often bore to tears the people they are telling. Think about it, a holiday story is just the person saying I did this and this and that and then this. I loved my holiday to Greece. It was so hot and the beaches were amazing. I just sat around the pool all day and drank Pina Coladas and then went to a local restaurant and had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. I went to a cat sanctuary on the island and because yawn, yawn, yawn!
Even I got bored of writing that.
But and therefore cause causation between scenes. It offers contrast. Holiday stories are seldom interesting to anyone other than the participants because a holiday is seldom exciting full stop. Holidays are supposed to be chill and exciting for the people on them but unless something happens, a but, it’s probably not going to be interesting.
If you described your trip to Bali’s Uluwatu Temple it’s hard for people to enjoy the story unless they’ve been before or know of it. It’s not relatable. But, when you tell the listeners that the monkeys at this temple rob people of personal items, especially expensive wallets or iPhones to trade for food you can guarantee people will want to listen. Seriously, go look it up.
Some more tips
Dicks goes through several chapters, in great detail some more useful tips and tricks to help craft your story. These are:
Every story needs a scene: This helps place images in the listener’s mind to help build a picture of the story. Without them, stories feel like lectures
The secret to a big story is to make it little: Big stories (near death experience) are hard to relate to it’s as simple as that. Smaller moments (feeling lonely), however, we all can relate to
Stories have to have surprises: You thought the story was this but then it was this
Present tense is king: Present tense helps connect you and your audience and it can be good to use past tense to push and pull your audience away
There can only be one end to a story: If you think you have multiple stories then guess what? You have more than one story but remember, to find the beginning of your story you need to find the opposite of the end. Picking one end will help you with this
A note on Humour
When does Dicks advise you to use humour?
At the start of your story (if you can)
Before you make them cry (or something serious)
You want them to take a breath (after a serious moment)
When you want them to feel something else (pain, sorrow, fear etc)
It must be said that Dicks has some interesting views when it comes to humour. He distinguishes between comedians and storytellers. He also states that a story that is just humorous is not a worthy story. I personally disagree and think he needs to lighten up and stop making every moment in life the end of a Hollywood movie. Whatever your views on humour and if they justify as a genuine story it’s true that humour can be used and should be used in your stories. Humour has helped me laugh and cry. It’s helped me get from hell and back. I for one, am one for humour.
More notes
There’s a saying that ‘you should never let a lie get in the way of a good story’. However, don’t tell Dicks this. Hollywood seems to know this as well. The classic ‘based on a true story’ really just means that there is something true in the film and a whole lot of Hollywood wrapped around the rest of it.
The last few chapters go on a bit of a rant about not swearing or being vulgar, using accents is racist and props are always a no-go. For those of us that aren’t Sunday Church goers feel free to do as you please but I would say that offending people is usually a cheap shot. Personally, I like the idea that if you can find a word other than a swear word it should be used but sometimes if someone is acting like a P***k then all you want to call them is a P***k!
Personal thoughts
This is the second time I’ve read this book. I initially picked it up in 2021 a few months before my wedding. I wanted to make sure I gave a good representation of the love for my new wife and close family and friends and was also hoping to add some humour as well. I’ve since spoken in front of a full church at my Grandad and then Grandma’s funerals which filled me with immense pride and honour. Truth be told I’ve never really minded standing up in front of people and talking. I’m naturally quiet as well but in the Marines, I was always the one to stand up in front of the company and give a presentation if we were going to a new country to explain certain things.
Reading the book a second time was purely for writing purposes. I’m 6 months into this newsletter and it’s not lost on me that there is room for improvement in my writing. I’m glad to say that reading the book a second time was just as enjoyable as the first time. I think it’s an excellent book even though I think the last few chapters are just filler to appease the book publishers to get to the correct page amount. If you want to talk in front of people, at a wedding, at a funeral, in a classroom or just tell better stories around the dinner table or at the pub then you’ll get a lot from this book.
In a few book’s time, I plan to move on to ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ which describes storytelling through the ages and their shared commonalities.
P.S I nailed my wedding speech