Leaders Light The Path

PODCAST EPISODE

Leave out the boring parts

A great tip from Elmore Leonard to tell more compelling stories.

Transcript
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Storytelling is rather simple if you follow this advice

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from writer Elmore Leonard.

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He said that a story is real life with the boring parts left out.

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Simple, right?

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Just leave out all the boring parts and voilà, your story is ready.

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But what, if you can’t leave out the boring parts.

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Because, let's say, it's a really dry topic with lots of

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facts or statistics or laws.

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It sounds like bad luck, doesn't it?

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I mean, you can’t just leave the facts out when it's about the facts, do you?

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You're basically doing two big giving a boring talk.

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Well, unless the premise is wrong which I believe it is.

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Facts are facts.

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In and of itself, a fact is neither boring nor exciting, but.

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If the facts relate to our lives, if the facts have an impact on our

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lives, even if it's just an impact on your business's bottom line,

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then we're back in Leonard's domain.

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Leave out the boring parts, i.e.

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those facts that don't relate to the point we're trying to make about our lives.

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Facts make for a boring story, if, and only if you write

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real life out of the story.

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And if you waste your time on the facts without making

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the connection to real life.

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