The Nine Steps of Story Structure by Doug Stevenson

As you may or may not know, I dedicated over 20 years of my life to acting. It all started in 1969 in Chicago, after I dropped out of college. My first real play was The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (Bill, to me and his close friends).

Over the next 20 years I acted in all kinds of plays and musicals. I was the first Danny Zuko in the original Chicago production of GREASE, played Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and did some wild and crazy avante-garde theater in Los Angeles.

Some of the plays were well written and some were average. What I learned from my theater experience was how important a good script is. When you spend night after night, performing the same lines over and over and witnessing how the audience responds, you learn something. Either the script works or it doesn’t.

You also learn that a great script is the foundation for a great performance. If the script and construction is well done, it’s easy for the actors to make the play work. Shakespeare is a master at this. With both Merchant and Midsummer, the construction is flawless. His narrative form is built upon storytelling structure that evolved for over a thousand years before he was even born.

 The following Nine-Step Story Structure is a simplification of the same classical story structure that all great stories are built upon. The dramatic movies Shakespeare in Love, Titanic and No Country for Old Men all are built upon the same structure.

The first six steps of the following story structure follow classical form. Steps 7, 8 and 9 are what I call “Sticking the Landing.” Since we are telling our stories in a business context, to make a point, influence a decision or sell a product or service, we need to nail the ending. “Stick the Landing” refers to what gymnasts are hoping to do when they come flying off of the Pommel horse. For you and I, learning how to make one clear and concise point per story is essential.

After you read and study the following Nine Steps, click on this link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3BDkMN1LY and it will direct you to a You Tube video that will show you what the Nine Steps look and sound like when performed. The story in the video is from my keynote titled Emotional Eloquence – The Lost Language of Leadership. (Call Deborah for booking information)

1. Set the Scene -Create the context within which the story takes place. Think what, where and when. This is a “data dump” that helps your audience understand what they need to know about the time, place, atmosphere and circumstances for the story to make sense?

2. * Introduce the characters -Whenever there are other people in the story – the main characters other than you – describe them so that we can see them and relate to them. Use adjectives. Include anything pertinent about your relationship with them. Describe a unique quirk that brings them to life. This is a great place to use the comedy technique called a Triple.

* Introduce characters where they occur naturally in the narrative, not necessarily in the second step of the nine steps.

3. Begin the journey -What is the goal or the task to be accomplished? Are you flying to Dallas for a meeting? Are you going on vacation to Greece? Are you preparing to give a speech? The journey eventually becomes a journey from safety to danger or from the known into the unknown?

Note: The journey of your story doesn’t have to be profound. You don’t need to surmount some life threatening obstacle or face down cancer. Many of life’s lessons are learned from simple but profound events.

4. Encounter the obstacle -What happens that impedes your progress? What goes wrong? Is it an event or does someone get in your way? Is it an internal obstacle like fear or lack of self-confidence or an external obstacle like a flat tire or an obstinate teenager? Make sure the obstacle is clearly defined so that the audience “gets it”. If you don’t have a substantial obstacle, you don’t have a very powerful story. You may just have a vignette. Signature stories need an obstacle.

5. Overcome the obstacle -This is where Story Theater departs from traditional storytelling. We work very hard on HOW you overcame the obstacle. In some cases, we even re-write history a little to make the teaching point more powerful. This is where your script must be brilliant and your performance precise!

Analyze HOW you overcame the obstacle. Analyze your thought process. What did you do? Break it down. Organize the progression of thoughts, decisions, reactions and actions in a linear fashion. This may be revealed in an IN moment. (An IN moment is where you step into a “present-tense acting moment” in the story.)

6. Resolve the story - Let us know how things worked out in the end. Clean up any loose ends.

7. Make the point - This step is about your experience. What is the point or the lesson learned? Be concise - one point for each story. Try to make your point using a Phrase That Pays.

8. Ask the question - Step 8 transfers the lesson or the point of your story to the audience. This step is about them. Even though the story was about your experience, your audience members relate to it as if it happened to them. It is a YOU question.

It may begin with “How about you? or “What about you? or Have you ever…? Other versions are “Where in your life..?” Has there ever been a situation in your life where…?”

The rest of the question refers directly back to your point. For instance, let’s say the point in Step 7 is, “What I learned from that experience was to listen to learn rather than listen to defend.” My Step 8 questions might be, “How about you? When you’re in a challenging conversation, do you listen to learn or listen to defend?”

9.  Repeat the point - Step 9 is also about them. In this step you repeat the point, as verbatim as possible from Step 7, as a challenge or suggestion – a call to action. This is where the repetition of the point serves to brand the point. Whereas in Step 7 I said, “What I learned from that experience was to listen to learn rather than listen to defend.” In Step 9 I will say, “My challenge for you is, the next time you’re in one of those difficult or challenging conversations, listen to learn.”   

Here is a sample script for a Stick the Landing ending to your story:

 “What I learned from that experience was to listen to learn rather than listen to defend. How about you? When you’re in a challenging conversation, do you listen to learn or listen to defend? My challenge for you is, the next time you’re in one of those difficult or challenging conversations, listen to learn.” 

If you like the You Tube video and find it helpful, please:

  • give it a rating,
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  • forward it to your friends and co-workers.

Here’s the link again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3BDkMN1LY

I will be posting more videos in the coming months. This is the year of the video for me! I will be focusing my energy on creating tutorial and motivational videos that will be posted on my website and You Tube, sold as stand alone products, and much more.

In addition, if you would like me to train your leaders, salespeople or trainers in The Story Theater Method, as I’ve done for Microsoft, Oracle, Amgen, Caterpillar, Rockwell Collins, The National Education Association, Bristol Myers-Squibb, The Danish Ministry of Finance and thousands of individuals and executives, give Deborah a call.

Also ask about my new leadership keynote, Emotional Eloquence –The Lost Language of Leadership.