Thread by @galenbeebe

Next up at #onairfest: Hos to Tell a Story With The Moth

Featuring: Sarah Austin Jenness, @katadudle, @suzannerust, & storyteller Fonzo Lacayo.

(And embedded in this thread is my treatise on the problems with Show Voice.)

1/

(This talk is gonna be interesting for me bc I’m highly sensitive to what I call Show Voice—that thing where everyone who’s on a certain show sounds exactly the same. The Moth is all about that. There is A Way to Do It, a cadence, a rhythm, a pattern of story beats & timing.)
2/

(Show Voice can be so comforting. It’s consistent, familiar, predictable. Podcasts w/ a strong Show Voice make great driving shows because I know what I’m gonna get. The *story* changes, but I can anticipate the shape.)
3/

(I go through phases w/ shows like this: I listen to a lot all at once (marathon listening) & basically immerse myself in that Show Voice. When I take time away and confront it again, that Show Voice can be a total turnoff. I can’t hear *that speaker*—all I hear is the Voice.)
4/

(What really drives me crazy is when a new producer/host starts on a show and when they open their mouth the Show Voice comes out. If I hear a new person, I want to hear them. I don’t just want them to be a vessel for the Show Voice to talk through.)
5/

(The problem is that Show Voice breaks my suspension of disbelief. I can see the set pieces. I know it’s a fiction, like all stories are. But I want to believe in the world of the story, and in the story itself.)
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(As @JadAbumrad said yesterday, all stories are manipulation; storytellers are the magicians and we’re asking them to trick us. But Show Voice breaks the magic. I have abandoned several podcasts bc a new host came in & spoke in the exact same way as the person they replaced.)
7/

(Anyway, The Moth has a voice, a formula. Which isn’t bad! It’s consistent, the stories often manipulate me effectively, and I enjoy listening. And they know how to make a story into A Story.)
8/

So, here’s some storytelling advice from The Moth:
1. Tell your listeners exactly what they need to know about each character efficiently.
2. Set up the stakes fast so that your listeners know why moments matter.
9/

3. Only tell the elements of the scene that matter to this story. Everything should support the arc of the story.
4. There has to be an arc. Moth stories are always about a moment or change, big or small.
10/

For the small story with big change, @suzannerust coined the term The Big Little Story: stories that seem little but have a huge impact.

(I love that. I love stories that are not about much but are About a lot.)
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Be able to say, in one sentence, what your story is about.
12/

Prompts for coming up with a Moth story:
1. In the movie of your life, what’s a scene you’ll never forget?
2. When/how did you have a change of heart?
3. What’s a moment that had a big consequence?

13/13

UGH NO IT’S HOW. HOW TO TELL A STORY.