Audio is all around us; a voice, room tone, a question, etc, and now you can imagine a story in our heads. Ira Glass explains why that works and how to build it on purpose. I watched his three short videos from the classic “On Storytelling” series, gaining a lot of valuable insight.
Glass says structure is simple but strict. You should build a chain of actions and keep a clear question pulling the listener forward. Anything that doesn’t raise or advance that question should not be used. He’s blunt that the hardest part of the job is finding a story with actual momentum, and not just polishing one that doesn’t have it. Delivery should also be conversational, and you should expect a gap between your early work and expectations; the only bridge is making lots of finished pieces.
Utilizing Glass’s “anecdote + question” test gives me a pretty good filter I can use immediately whenever I plan or edit. For example, if a beat doesn’t push the question, I should simply not use it. I should also continuing to sound like myself, however keeping the scripts tighter and my reads less stiff. I suppose the biggest mind shift is the gap; instead of judging my first tries, I’ll ship more and faster with a focus on momentum and layering.
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