Storytelling Strategies, Part 4: Surprise!

Our fourth S in the 6S framework for hooking your audience and keeping them with you is surprise. It's the left turn when we're expecting a righthand one that makes us listen. It's the twists and turns of an involved, high-stakes plot that we love, or the ending of the movie or the novel that we didn't predict. As New Hampshire Public Radio Senior Podcast Editor Katie Colaneri says, it's the "holy shit" moment. Part 4 features Katie Colaneri, NHPR reporter Sarah Gibson and her This American Life Story, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Quorum," and Kelly Corrigan of the PBS show Tell Me More and the podcast Kelly Corrigan Wonders.
Apply the six storytelling strategies for creating unforgettable content to your own work!
Sign up for our interactive, virtual Hook Your Audience & Keep Them Coming Back workshop
Thursday, March 14, 2024
By developing skills from story structure to scene-making, suspense to specifics, you'll learn to create or improve the show, story, article or speech that expresses what you want to express, captivates the people you want to reach, and achieves quality and depth you can be proud of. You'll move from likes and follows to building trusted, engaged relationships with your audience.

These practices work separately and together to ratchet up both the substance and the "wow factor" of your content, no matter the platform.

Did you miss Part 1 on Sound Vision? Listen here.

Be sure to follow Sound Judgment so you don't miss the next bite-sized episodes on:
Part 3: Scenes
Part 4: Surprise
Part 5: Suspense
Part 6: Specifics
All of these segments — each around 10 minutes or less — will come together soon for a full episode on How to Hook Your Audience and Keep Them Coming Back.
You won't miss a thing if you sign up for my Sound Judgment newsletter, which includes the popular hands-on segment "Try This in Your Studio," kudos to creators who are lifting up the art and business of audio storytelling, news about the show, and useful resources.
"Six S" Storytelling Resources
Shows and storytellers mentioned in this series:

Bone Valley

Cohosts: Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker

Marketplace
John Barth, Creative Media LLC
The 13th Step, an award-winning documentary series on sexual misconduct in the addiction treatment

Reporter: Lauren Chooljian
Story Editor: Alison Macadam
New Hampshire Public Radio
Daily Creative

Host: Todd Henry
Producer: Joshua Gott

Famous & Gravy
Cohosts: Amit Kapoor & Michael Osborne
The Rich Roll Podcast
Host: Rich Roll
Guest: Charles Duhigg
Book: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

Crime Show
"Paging Dr. Barnes"
Host & Executive Producer: Emma Courtland

Katie Colaneri
Senior Podcast Editor
New Hampshire Public Radio
Kelly Corrigan Wonders
Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan
"Bryan Stevenson"
"Samantha Power"
Host: Kelly Corrigan
This American Life
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Quorum"
Reporter: Sarah Gibson

Ch...