Read the following two articles, choose three elements, and write a five-paragraph essay titled The Three
Core Elements of Storytelling. You will use any short story from the internet or the library to refer to in your
essay other than the ones in class. Copy and paste the short story into your submission at the end of your
essay.
This will be the order of your essay:
1. Introduction with a thesis at the end containing the three elements of storytelling.
2. Body Paragraph One—First Element of Storytelling using the story you have chosen as an example and
to develop this point.
3. Body Paragraph Two—Second Element of Storytelling using the story you have chosen as an example
and to develop this point.
4. Body Paragraph Three—Third Element of Storytelling using the story you have chosen as an example
and to develop this point.
5. Conclusion summarizing your thoughts on storytelling and what you learned about storytelling.
Here is a model example of an introductory paragraph followed by the first body paragraph addressing the
first element of storytelling.
Storytelling is a craft. It has been around for hundreds of years and continues to affect our lives every day;
even if we don’t notice it. However, it’s not as easy as just putting words down on paper. There are
elements involved in storytelling that can either make or break a story. In order for a story to attract an
audience, it needs to have three core elements; unity, verisimilitude, and orchestration. Unity is used instorytelling to give the story an actual purpose or overall meaning. Verisimilitude is used in storytelling
when the actions and situations the characters are put into are things that the audience can relate to at
some level. Orchestration is used in storytelling to make sure that the entire story flows together in a way
that makes sense. Using “The Three Little Pigs” we can see the use of unity, verisimilitude, and
orchestration that makes this short story such a memorable one.
Unity is a very important aspect of storytelling. Every story must have a purpose or overall message. Each
section in the story must adhere to that purpose or message. In the story, “The Three Little Pigs” the overall
message was about how hard work pays off. We see this throughout the story with each of the three little
pigs. The story starts off with a mother pig sending her three little pigs off into the world. Each of them has
to build a house in order to survive. The story starts off with the first little pig. The first little pig was lazy so
when he decided to build his house out of straw. Since the first little pig didn’t want to put much time into
building his house, he chose something that would be fast and easy. After doing so, a wolf approaches his
house asking to come in. The first little pig denies entry. The wolf noticed his house was made of straw and
blew his house down; resulting in the wolf eating the first little pig. Then the story moves onto the second
little pig who was also lazy, but not as lazy as the first pig. So, the second little pig decides to build his
house out of sticks. Even though the second little pig wasn’t as lazy as the first pig, he still didn’t put much
effort into building his house. Once the wolf approached his house and asked to come in the second little
pigs refused. Again, the wolf noticed that the house was made of sticks and blew his house down. This
resulted in the second little pig being eaten as well. Now, the third little pig was a hard worker and he spent
the entire day building his house out of bricks. The wolf then comes to the third little pig’s house of bricks.
The wolf asks to come in and the third little pig denies entry; just as the first and second little pig had. The
wolf gets upset and attempts to blow his house down and fails due to the hard work the third little pig put
into building his brick house. The wolf attempts to climb into the house through the chimney but the third
little piggy starts a fire with a pot of water. The wolf then falls through the chimney and lands in the now
boiling water. This resulted in the third little pig having him for supper. These sequences of events are what
bring us to the moral or purpose of the story; that hard work pays off. Since the first and second little pigs
wanted to be lazy, they built houses out of straws and sticks. This then caused their houses to be blown
down and were eaten by the wolf. However, the third little pig put in the time and effort to build a stable
house full of bricks. It took the third little pig much longer to finish his house, but in the end, he was
protected from the wolf blowing his house down. If the third little pig wouldn’t have put in the time to build a
stable house, then he would have also been supper for the wolf. By using the different situations each of
the pigs faced, proved the moral of the story that hard work pays off.
Now read the following essays carefully for an explanation of core elements of storytelling.
Three Core Elements of Storytelling (And Why You Need To Write Stories Right Away)
By Sean D’Souza (Links to an external site.)
Think of a story.
Any story.
Maybe just Cinderella, for instance.
What does it bring up right away to your mind?
1) Sequence
2) Suspense and
3) The roller coaster
Stories are like magic lamps. They have a sequence, there’s suspense and sure to be a roller coaster.
So if we examine Cinderella’s story we see:1) There’s the sequence of the daughter who is mistreated and made to work in the kitchen.
The other daughters romp about doing what spoiled daughters do. And they fancy their chances with the
prince. But things don’t go their way, and in turn, Cindy manages to get a fairy godmother. And blah, blah,
blah.
And there’s a sequence of events each building into each other. But a good story must have some drama,
some suspense.
2) The suspense
Suspense follows us all around the storyline. Cinderella’s mother dies and she’s doomed to sleeping near
the fireplace (which is how she gets the name, Cinderella). But then the godmother appears from the blue
—and suspense builds up—because now Cinderella has a chance like everyone else. Will she make it?
Won’t she? She does. And then just as Cindy’s hitting it off with the Prince, the clock goes nuts and her life
is miserable once more. What on earth is happening? What’s with this girl? Is she just going to be a loser?
Yup, that’s all suspense.
3) Then there’s the roller coaster
Good times, then bad. Then good, then bad. Your story doesn’t have to swing wildly, but it helps to have
contrast, because contrast changes the pace of the story. So just as things are really yucky, along comes
the knight in shining armour. Or just as things are looking great, an avian flu threatens to kill the entire
population. Cinderella’s fortunes seem to bounce up and down, which keeps the interest in the story.
Now let’s head to your story…
Every story you write tends to have sequence, because without sequence a story has no meaning. But
suspense? You have to insert a certain amount of suspense. It’s always there in your story, but when you
insert a ‘what the heck is happening’ factor, you instantly build suspense. And finally the roller coaster. If
your story has been coasting with the fairies for a while, then it’s time to bring out the ogres—and vice
versa.
And there are reasons why this storytelling is important:
1) Most writers are unable to capture the core elements of a story. Even if they do get the sequence right,
they rarely build in suspense or the roller coaster. That’s because they aren’t aware of these elements, or
just don’t know how to go about it. But you, you can practice and get a lot better.
2) Most articles are almost always how-to or reporter-like. This means that your articles automatically stand
out when compared to millions of other articles on the Internet. And because most writers avoid this storytelling, your articles are instantly more appealing—and different.
Does it just have to be a story or can you have a case-study?
Case studies also have the same three elements, but you still have to work in the suspense and the roller
coaster. The key factor is to realise that you’re already off to a brilliant start with a story because you have
the advantage of sequence. And with a bit of practice, suspense and the roller coaster will become part of
your case-study (or story-telling).
Kids sit at rapt attention when listening to the story of CinderellaNo matter how many times you tell the story, they’re keen as mustard to hear it again. Now you know why.
And you can take the same elements and use it in your articles.
And then everyone who reads it will have that same mustardy-feeling too.
Sean D’Souza is a writer, marketing guru and expert on sales psychology. To read more articles by Sean,
and get a very useful free report on “Why Headlines Fail”, go to PsychoTactics.com (Links to an external
site.)
The Three Elements of Storytelling
Erik Hare (Links to an external site.).
The black and white TV images flickered inside the homes of viewers. A woman in a long dress and heels
sashayed to the rhythm of the announcer proclaiming how easy the Robo-matic washer is to use ahead of
the punchline – “Goodbye, Blue Monday!”
The baseball player could not slam the ball through the plastic that acted just like Guardal – “Protects your
teeth!”
Thirty second morality plays flashed a quick and simple kind of storytelling bent to sell products. The
morals were clear: Modern products created a more elegant, clean, and easy life.
The craft of storytelling is important because it gets the message into the guts, not the head, of the reader.
It makes a connection that is deeper, more meaningful, and more permanent. It informs at a level that facts,
figures, and bullet points never dream of reaching.
Storytelling has long been an important marketing tool. “Branding” is humanizing a product – telling a story
that makes it personal. The difference today is the stories are told in little plays as well as in words. Social
media is actually making us more literate.
This progression in storytelling is far from new.
In ancient Athens, learning and culture were moved from word-of-mouth, crystallized into plays and
speeches, to carefully crafted and more verbose written works. One of the great teachers, Aristotle (Links
to an external site.), outlined the craft of storytelling for any medium in his work, “Poetics (Links to an
external site.).” During the course of 2,500 years, his outline has been polished into a process that anyone
can learn.
There are only three critical elements to the craft of storytelling, each described with a rich and flavorful
word. Understanding each concept intuitively along with how they work together is essential to the
storytelling craft.
Unity is a clear moral and purpose – the story must be about something. Real life doesn’t always make
sense, but a story must. Distractions fill the progress of our days, but a story has learned.
More importantly, storytelling is far from new – even in marketing. To proclaim it as the latest “thing” is to
ignore centuries of work that has been put into describing and polishing this craft to the fine sheen
necessary to be a good storyteller. To tell a story is to have first learned a story, and the story of storytelling
itself is one of the great ones.
Selling washing machines or toothpaste in 30 second morality plays may not seem to have much in
common with Aristotle, but they do.
Our new media gives us opportunities to expand our storytelling skills much like they did for those who
created the basis of nearly everything we know. We have a lot to learn from them as we practice the gentle
and seductive craft of telling a story.