Ira Glass Advice
One piece of advice from Ira Glass is that the two basic building blocks of storytelling are an anecdote and a moment of reflection. He mentions this at the beginning of part 1. The anecdote is a sequence of actions laid out at the beginning of the conversation in order to engage the listener. Glass explains how the anecdote is like the “bait” that lures the reader into the story and that even the most boring anecdote can be captivating because it is a series of actions that the listener wants to follow. In Glass’ terms the anecdote makes you feel like “you’re on a train that has a destination.” And who wants to be on a train that goes nowhere?
The second building block- the moment of reflection-is the point of the story in general. The moment of reflection shows the reader why he’s listening to this story and what it means in a broader sense. An anecdote that doesn’t tell you something new is of little value to the listener. Your job as a storyteller is not only to entertain the listener with a story or an idea, but also to make sure the listener realizes why the story or idea is important. Think about it. Every time you tell a story, there is a reason why you chose to tell it at a certain time to a certain person. Maybe you wanted to make them laugh, think, cry, sympathize, do something, stop doing something, etc. There is always something motivating us to speak up. When you’re speaking to a friend or a family member you may not have to have an actual “moment of reflection” because people close to you usually understand you well enough to know your intentions. However, when you’re relaying an idea to a broader audience who don’t know you well, you have to at least subtly hint to your point so that they understand why they are listening and why they should care.
I want to try to follow this advice as I work on my Audio Essay. I think it would work well to start with an anecdote of some sort and to end off with a subtle moment of relection.
One response so far
I thought that this was great advice to follow as well. For me what made it best was when Ira Glass showed us how interesting any anecdote could be, just by telling us about a simple, boring man. But the moment of reflection I think is key to bringing any story full circle. It makes a lot of sense to finally reflect on the point you were trying to make, otherwise your story could just be wasting people’s time. I know personally I hate stories without a point and I’m sure many feel the same way.