How to Use Details to Make Your Story Juicier.
In this blog post you’ll learn
How to infuse details in your stories.
See how I use them in one of my stories to make you feel sadness, joy, gratitude, and hope.
Understand the psychology of how our brains stick to details.
Reference examples of items that can be used in stories to conjure emotions
How to Use Details In Your Story to Make It Juicier.
I couldn’t keep it in.
Tears gushed as I walked from room to room.
“What’s going through your head, Grace?”
It’s what my husband asks when he can see I’m feeling something deep, something that’s difficult to put into words.
Looking at him I could see he was feeling something too. And he had that look he makes when he wants to try to fix something for me but he knows he can’t.
We were getting ready to sell our house.
Our first house.
The house we brought the first baby home to.
The house where we endured the pandemic.
The house we saw so much potential in and renovated until it reflected the vision we had for it.
The house we had made ours.
And now, it was the house that we had outgrown.
That day, we were inspecting the work the painters had done to make it move-in ready for its next owners.
It had been empty for a while.
But this emptiness was different.
Because the painters had covered up the flaws, painting over the scuff marks along the baseboards where our baby stroller had bumped into.
They’d made touch ups over the dents made by chairs pushed up against the walls after late night dinner conversations with friends.
They’d patched up the peeled paint from the tape that held party balloons and streamers for every birthday we celebrated.
The house looked brand new.
And it was beautiful.
But it was also devastating.
“I feel like our history has been erased,” I told him.
I knew he knew exactly what I meant.
Because the evidence that we had lived there was gone.
And we were the only ones who knew the stories that were now concealed.
Days later, I was sitting at my desk in our new house.
Without thinking, I moved my chair because I could feel it scuffing up against the wall.
When I turned around to see if I had left any damage, two black lines stood out on the snowy white paint.
And I smiled to myself, grateful for the memories that we had to look forward to in our new home.
👆🏼This is a story about scuff marks and walls.
It happened in seconds.
But it recalls years of experiences and points to multiple stories. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t relate to it because most of us have moved before.
And the parts that churn out juiciest emotions are the details:
👉🏼Scuff marks
👉🏼Strollers
👉🏼Chairs
👉🏼Dinners
👉🏼Tape
👉🏼Parties
👉🏼Balloons
👉🏼Streamers
These are all tangible details that our minds attach to because it connects to experiences we’ve had ourselves.
We can see those details in our minds.
And those experiences recall feelings and experiences that are familiar to us.
When we talk about tangible objects like tape and balloons, they create mental shortcuts for our readers to access those feelings.
I think it’s easy to leave out those details because sometimes we think they make us go on tangents.
(I almost took one with the question Paul asked me at the beginning of this story!)
Details can certainly turn into tangents if we put too much time and focus on them.
But if we use them as tools to point our audience towards the feeling we want them to experience, they make the story even more memorable and call out the emotions we want our listeners to use to make a decision.
The decision to buy.
The decision to click.
The decision to keep reading.
This story and others like it could be used by a real estate company to reinforce the message - “we care about the life that you live in your home”.
It could be featured by a company in the health and wellness industry to illustrate the value of being fit and capable for all of life’s transitions.
And I’m using it now to share storytelling strategies with you. ☺️
So think of details as threads that weave connection and even credibility into your story. Because they are what keep our brains locked in so our hearts can engage.
Here’s your storytelling tactic to put into practice:
The next time you experience an emotion that you want your audience to feel, try to find tangible items in the story to highlight that your audience can envision while you tell the story.
But don’t pick random items.
The best items are the ones that you can connect with emotional experiences.
Here are a few examples to get you thinking of some ideas:
Backpacks - school anxiety
Coffee cup - Sunday scaries
Car crumbs - sloppy snacking on road trips with friends
Pen - chewmarks or clicking while taking notes during college classes
Candle - late night baths where the worries and cares of the day can roll off of you.
These are all everyday items that can be used to illustrate a story - as long as they can help your listener recall a familiar emotion.
Now that you know how to infuse your storytelling with juicy details that conjure powerful emotions, think of how powerful they are in the story gathering process.
Next week, we’ll cover what kinds of questions to ask to get the juicy details from our customers and audience.. Aka sales-driving testimonials.
