Create Entertaining Stories

In the classic movie Sullivan's Travels, written and directed by Preston Sturges, Joel McCrea plays film director John L. Sullivan, who's made a good living directing light comedies, but now wants to direct a 'significant' picture, a movie called "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" (yes, the Coen brothers knew about Sullivan's Travels when they wrote a movie by the same name.). When Sullivan actually does live on the streets and is sentenced to a chain gang, he learns how much joy his comedies gave ordinary people, and he goes back to making them. People want to be entertained. That's why they spend hundreds of dollars on concert or sports tickets, and share internet videos about kittens. If you want to market your content to a group larger than your friends and family, you must make it entertaining. That doesn't necessarily mean funny. Your goal as a story teller is to involve your audience so they want to know what happens next, and are anxious to find out. The more your content can do that -- whether it's a viral video or a popular novel -- the more people will want to experience it. How do you make something entertaining? If there was a formula that worked every time, every piece of content ever created would be popular. That being said, there are some principals I've learned over the years that I try to apply to my work: -- A satisfying story is both surprising and inevitable. The audience must be unsure of the ending, but when they get there the ending should result from the characters' personalities and interaction. -- Tell a story about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances -- whether they're trying to save the earth or save their Average Joe Gym (yes, that's a Dodgeball Reference. Wonder if they'd still have Lance Armstrong in that movie today). By the way, "people" does not necessarily mean humans -- your characters can be hobbits or Norse gods. -- Dialogue should reveal character and advance the plot. Even the most brilliant verbal repartee from Noel Coward or Oscar Wilde or Judd Apatow does that. -- Any message must grow out of the situation and characters to be effective. Otherwise, write an op ed piece or an essay for the NY Times. Of course, even if you apply these rules and work hard to make your content as strong as possible, it still may not find an audience. Forgive yourself, and move on to the next project. My message: If you liked this post, make a comment. My poetry collection, Two Car Garage, is also available on amazon.com and bn.com.