12: A Story Big Enough to Live In – Part 3

If you’ve been following the past few episodes, you know we just finished week three in leading a four-week series on telling stories. The class is called “A Story Big Enough to Live In” and this is podcast is a condensed summary of our notes. We knew some of the class participants would want to review this material, but we also saw the value to anyone interested in telling their story more effectively.

We started off the class showing a short video. It was a touching story of a woman whose husband died in WW2, but for 67 years she never knew what had happened to him. Through a relative, she learned his memory had been celebrated for decades in a small town in France.

The point was that you can tell a powerful life story that spans decades all in a mere three minutes. There were a whole lot of facts and details left out of this woman’s story and yet it effectively tugged at our hearts and helped us connect. How did the producers boil down all those details?

That’s what we’ve dug into in this episode. Check out the link to the WW2 story video below.

This week we were also privileged to welcome our friend Tamara to provide a short segment on techniques to strengthen your story. Tamara is a gifted writer who publishes a blog called, My Blonde Life in the Hood. You’ll definitely want to check into it. She has a knack for drawing in her readers in with creatively told real-life stories.

One of her recommendations was to use suspense (tension) and humor to draw in your audience. She suggested that even mild uses of suspense can do this. She shared an example of suspense from one of her blog posts>>

We’ve prepped class participants that in our next and final class we’ll be sharing our stories. We’re really looking forward to it. Sharing stories has such a ability to help people get to know one another better. Even if you’re not a part of this class, you’ve got an audience. Maybe it’s your family, co-workers or friends. Try out some of what you’re learning. Leave us a comment and let us know how it goes.

Thanks for listening to another installment of Long Story Short podcast. We appreciate you and your encouragement. And thanks for subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher or Tunein. That’s how you get automatic feeds for each story. And then submit a review to help get the word out. Every review gives the podcast stronger visibility. The point of the podcast is to share God’s stories with more people, so thanks for sharing it with friends on social media. And thanks again to Les Elias for his music contributions.

Blog:

• My Blonde Life in the Hood by Tamara Jorell

Videos:

• CBS News: On the Road with Steve Hartman – WW2 Pilot’s Sacrifice Honored in France
• Getting Lost in Translation from Crossfield News: Training for Churches

Subscribe to Long Story Short Podcast:

• iTunes for iOS and Stitcher or TuneIn for Android or iOS
• RSS from the website or direct

Bumper Music: Sons of Avi

Background sound by: Karma-Ron

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