AI versus Marshy - Lifting What You're Trying to Say with Story Mechanics

I’ve been talking about AI and storytelling in previous newsletters, but today I want to dive deeper into a specific aspect of storytelling that can help you communicate your ideas more effectively. If you’re new here, don’t worry – this article will still be helpful, but if you’ve been following along, you’ll appreciate the connections I make to our previous conversations. From the book Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo. That’s cool Marshy - but what on EARTH does this have to do with storytelling? I’m glad you asked. Here’s a message from my friend this week: I love hacks. Fun trivia: I used to own hackdigital.net. My answer at the time was practice and I write about things I find interesting and that I think others will find interesting. I also used it as fodder for a post to prove the point. But then I started thinking about this more. Then I watched a workshop from a coach I’ve recently connected with. Mike shared his system and boy, it was a deep rabbit hole. One of the things he shared was keeping a list of his Top 20 story mechanics and combining them with Notion. Another example is: something painful, and then I agitate it to make it sound even worse, and then I present the solution. I love writing. I also love technology. What if I could create a system like my friend asked? So I asked ChatGPT for a list of story mechanics and it delivered some goodies: Quest : The protagonist sets off on a journey or a mission, facing challenges and eventually triumphing. Before, During, After : Show a situation before a change, the process of change, and the results afterwards. Challenge, Action, Result : Identify a challenge, what actions were taken to overcome it, and the result. Hook, Line, and Sinker : Grab attention with a provocative statement or question (Hook), provide insightful information (Line), and end with a strong takeaway or call to action (Sinker). AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action : A classic marketing framework for persuasive writing. The Hero’s Journey : Introduce a hero, present the challenge, and the triumph at the end. Listicle : Provide a list of points, tips, methods, ways, types, etc. How-to / Tutorial : Step-by-step process to achieve a particular outcome. PAS - Pain, Agitation, Solution : Highlight a problem, agitate it by digging into its consequences, then offer a solution. Success, Failure, Lesson : Share a success story, the subsequent failure, and the lesson learned. I’m now going to try and build something with this, Airtable, or Notion myself. Stay tuned on this newsletter and I’ll keep you posted 😉 – That’s a wrap! So - are you enjoying the newsletter? Email me one thing you like and what would make it better and I’ll beam you a smile from the edge of the Yarra Valley ⛰️ We’ve got this 💪 -Marshy ​ Originally appeared in newsletter : AI versus Marshy #6: Story time, getting worse?, and idea validation guide