Storytelling literally changed my life. I loved writing cute stories as a kid. And now I’m doing it professionally. Stories are so beautiful, and that’s why I want to show you how to practice storytelling.
I’ve been wanting to do this idea for a while now. Storytelling connects people together, and this is one of the many ways I bond with my dear friends. I love it when they tell me interesting stories about their days or past memories that make us laugh.
When I think of telling a story, it’s almost like giving a speech. In a way. I may not be physically speaking in front of large crowds, but other people would still be reading what I’ve written down on paper. Or listening and watching me speak when I do my Youtube videos.
It takes time to become an amazing storyteller. I know that people reading this blog post right now will either want to do it casually as a hobby, or maybe they want to do it professionally too.
Either way, telling stories is so much fun and I know you’ll gain valuable tips by the end of this post.
Define your target audience
If you want to tell a story for others to read, I would start off by thinking about what kind of people you want to reach out to. In other words, focus on defining your target audience.
This is something I’ve learned more in detail when I was in school. It wasn’t a creative writing class, although I have taken one before. Honestly, one of the most important things I learned is that whatever you’re writing, whatever you’re designing, whatever it is you want to show to others, it’s not going to be for everyone. You can’t be everything to everyone no matter how hard you try.
Learning this is so crucial since it makes it easier for you to determine who to write for. It will save you heartache because you wouldn’t be wasting time writing for people who would never be interested in your stories in the first place.
When you go to stores and check out their book sections, like Target for example, they normally have signs showing the different categories. These can include young adult, children’s, middle school, etc. I recommend going to stores just to check out these niches and see what kind of books are already written and published. This is one way you can do research on your potential target audience.
Even if you want to become a better writer or storyteller on a casual level, just seeing what other people are interested in opens up your mind and forces you to seek out new ways on how to write.
The whole storytelling process becomes a lot easier when you have a clear idea of who you want to show your story to.
Read 5 books your target audience already likes
My second tip to help you how to practice storytelling is to read 5 books that already cater to your target audience. The books you’ve chosen don’t even have to be in the same genre you want to write for.
For me, I love reading romance stories and comics. But I read other genres sometimes because I usually learn something new. For example, I read this fantasy book years back. I don’t normally read fantasy books and medieval types of stuff like some of my friends do. The closest thing I read was about vampires.
I wanted to check out that fantasy book because it had a genie in it, and I wanted to see how it would affect the story. I don’t remember the name because I hate the story. I usually like the books I read, but I hated this one so much that I complained about it to my friends for a few weeks straight.
The thing I do remember is the main character because she was just annoying. The main character was kinda weak and couldn’t stand on her own two feet. She was the type of girl that wanted someone to come and save her. The damsel-in-distress type. The girl constantly complained about how hard her life was. And then the other main character, her love interest, was the genie. He just granted her wishes and her life instantly became better. Afterwards, they fall for each other at the end.
I just thought the story was ridiculous because the main character didn’t change in any way and was practically given the solution. I didn’t really see her struggle or try on her own to create her own happiness. But also, I just didn’t like the main character’s personality. The male character wasn’t much better either.
By the way, that’s my personal opinion. Other people probably love the story and see it differently.
Even though I hated the story, I learned more about the damsel-in-distress archetype and it inspired me to learn how to create strong female characters with more fleshed-out personalities. I also learned more about how to improve male characters as well.
Authors write in so many ways, and it makes each book very unique.
Anyways, the reason why I say 5 books is because I feel like that’s a good number to start off with. You can read more if you’d like, but not everyone is an avid reader and may not always have the time to read everyday.
I am also working on reading at least 5 books for this year. So far, I’ve finished 3. I still want to read more text-based books, but I’ve been obsessed with reading more comics nowadays.
Reading books, when you pay attention to the content, will make you a better storyteller because you would get more familiar with how existing stories are written. You can learn what works and what doesn’t work for you too, like the fantasy book example I shared earlier.
Write one-page short stories
One last thing you can do on how to practice storytelling is to write one-page short stories. They can be about anything. Take the time to think of some ideas, grab some paper, or use a computer if you don’t feel like using paper, and just start writing.
I used to do this a lot as a kid. At first, I was forced to do those short stories because they were school assignments. But I eventually grew to enjoy them and started doing them on my own.
I’ve written this one story back in like 3rd grade. It was about a mouse.
Not Mickey Mouse. Not Minnie Mouse. Not Tom from Tom and Jerry. Not Ratatouille, if he even is considered to be a mouse.
I literally wrote about a regular mouse and how much he liked cheese.
Yeah I know, very original.
Why did I write that? I don’t know. I question the decisions I made when I was younger.
Obviously that’s not the best story I’ve ever written but it gave me a really strong start to writing stories consistently. My friends always tell me that it’s always good to start small and build your way up.
After reviewing this post, I’m proud to say that I inspired myself and will take my own advice.
Anyways, thank you for checking out my post!
I also have a couple of suggestions below if you really want to super-charge your writing skills!
If you’re having trouble writing a story in general:
If you want to clear up more time in your day for writing or you just want more free time in general:
💜 Let me know in the comments below if you have any tips about storytelling, or if you want to share any fun stories!
If you’ve read all of this and are interested in joining the Nikkaflora fam for this journey, get started by subscribing to my email list and social media below. You’ll stay updated and receive additional content. Let’s create, appreciate, and f*** that hate!
💜 Nicole 💜
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