Sharpen Your Story With This 5-Point Checklist

Have you ever felt you had all the makings of a great story but something was missing? And you couldn’t quite put your finger on it?

Try running it through this five-point checklist to bring out your story’s full potential.

1. Relatability

First and foremost, your target audience must be able to see themselves in the story — it has to be relatable. There are at least three ways to accomplish that.

The first and simplest is to use a main character that’s similar in background or circumstance to your target audience, whether it’s customers, lawyers or baseball fans.

Another approach is to portray a universal situation. I often tell a story about a nonprofit director in Mozambique. Few of my audience members have headed up a nonprofit. Even fewer have been to Mozambique. 

But the situation in the story is one we’ve all experienced: an important meeting that goes off the rails.

Finally, emotion is a great way to find common ground. Bruce Springsteen writes about factory workers, streetcar racers and combat veterans. But the stories aren’t really about that — they’re about universal emotions like love, hope, loss and longing.

In fact, emotion is so important it deserves its own category.

2. Emotional Resonance

We humans love to think we’re governed by logic and reason — that we make decisions based on facts and evidence.

But according to the science, that’s not how it works. We’re actually driven by emotion — our gut, instincts, faith, biases and more.

It’s not that we don’t need the facts. It’s just that we use them to justify the decision we’ve likely already made deep down in our heart. Or, as Seth Godin calls it, our “lizard brain.”

So make sure your story carries some emotional resonance. Think about your audience: What are they feeling right now? Frustration? Disappointment? Fear? Apathy? 

What do you want them to feel instead? Peace of mind? Hope? Security? A sense of purpose?

Design a story that hits those emotional beats, and you’re more likely to get them to come around to your point of view.

3. Clear conflict or challenge

Stories of predictable, uninterrupted success are boring. Life is about surprises, struggle, setbacks and comebacks.

The Phoenix rose from the ashes. Rocky came from nowhere to become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Odysseus survived decades of war, being lost at sea and other travails before [spoiler alert!] finally making it home.

There’s a tendency, especially at the corporate level, to sanitize our stories — to buff out mistakes and cover over vulnerabilities. In the process, these stories lose their humanity.

So be sure there’s a moment of doubt, an unexpected roadblock or apparent dead end. Magnify it and make it real to create tension and drama.

4. A satisfactory resolution

Not every story needs a happy ending, but it must resolve in some way. Think more in terms of a blockbuster movie than one of those quiet, “slice-of-life” films where not a lot happens or the ending is ambiguous.

And if it hasn’t reached its true “end,” your story should at least point to a lesson learned, an obstacle removed, or a clearer path to success.

Try bringing it full circle with an ending that mirrors or echoes the beginning. If the opening is set in a laboratory, return to that room. If it’s a moment of failure, show us the happy flipside.

5. Clutter-free

Just as important as what you put in to your story is what you leave out. So avoid the kind of details that slow a story down or distract from its main point.

Round off numbers: Instead of 32.4%, use “a third” or “one out of three.” And scale the big ones — “three football fields long” instead of 927 feet.

For dates, the further back in time you go, the less specific you need to be. Instead of “our company was founded on October 17, 1972,” say “over 50 years ago” or “in the early ‘70s.”

Finally, think of your story as a road. A couple of twists and turns add variety and interest, but an endless series of them can make your passengers carsick! Keep your destination in mind and take the highway instead of the scenic byway.