I suggest a method for storytelling by using the 5-whys methodology. I find this method very effective, and so I share it with the readers.
It is important to write cohesive stories that are devoid of side stories with good reasoning for one event leading to another and one conflict intensifying to a more acute conflict. This is the way to keep readers interested.
A good story has good characters. This is the starting point. Start with, say the hero. List his extreme strengths. Remember that extremes are counterproductive. Let me explain by giving an example.
Say you decide your hero is very intelligent with a high IQ. List the pros and cons of being very intelligent.
Use the 5-whys to show how one good trait of intelligence leads to his weak traits.
- Because the hero is very intelligent, he understands issues very fast.
- Because he understands fast, he expects others to understand fast
- Because others do not understand him fast, the hero gets impatient with them.
- Because he gets impatient with others, people desert him.
- Because people deserted the intelligent hero, he feels isolated and lonely.
You see from the above discussion the clear relationship between cause and effect, which means you start with a cohesive structure of the story.
This is only one choice. You can make another 5-whys and so on to decide which one of them to include in your story. Do not select more than one 5-whys scenario so as not to confuse the reader.
Just to give one more scenario of the super intelligent hero, you may pick another trait as follows.
- Because the hero is very intelligent, he becomesa perfectionist.
- Because the hero is a perfectionist, he runs out of time.
- Because he runs out of time, he becomes stressed.
- Because the leader is overly stressed, he procrastinates.
- Because he procrastinates, he gets fired from work.
I covered two possible scenarios above. Which one of the two you decide to consider for your story helps in determining the characters of other actors.
Say you decide to take the first scenario. The hero feels lonely except for the helper. This person is social and has many friends. This brings problems because the hero is not sociable. You start building conflict based on this difference between the two. The conflict intensifies as the gap between the two grows bigger.
I leave it to your imagination what conflicts the two have and the other characters introduced to ignite this conflict.
The whole idea is to keep on using the 5-whys to draw the next conflicts so that the story remains coherent.
Give this method a try. It works for me. I hope it works for you as well.
This article of yours is very educational, especially for me who doesn’t have much following (there are very few who read and comment on me, but I’m truly grateful to them because they are special people who honor me with their attention). Actually, I don’t tell stories, but I generally expose points of view, opinions. However, I believe that your suggestions are still applicable even beyond the stories.
Thank you, Aldo,
Those who miss reading your articles do not realize what they lose.
Thank you for your appreciation but I must say that I strongly advise you to tell stories sometimes. They are attractants to readers.
I hope that the 5- Whys methodology would be of help to you.
I will try to follow your suggestions. Many thanks
Thank you
Intriguing, Brother Ali.
I have used 5 whys for root cause analysis, but never as a way to craft a story. Will have to give it a try.
Alan
Please do Brother Alan and also please share your experience. Thank you
Ali