I just finished watching the Season 1 finale of Lovecraft Country, HBO’s new horror/adventure series featuring Black protagonists battling monsters – real and fantastical – against the backdrop of 1950s Jim Crow America. While each episode could be dissected as a masterful, entertaining and often satisfying piece of storytelling, I’m going to focus only on one particular element from the plot: the recipe for successful storytelling.
SPOILER ALERT (if you’ve never even seen a trailer for the show): The story of Lovecraft Country involves (among many other things) magic, as in people chanting and casting spells in an ancient language. We learn and see throughout the series that casting a spell can either work, or go very, very badly. We also learn that there are three critical elements – beyond the right incantation – for a spell to be successful: energy, intention and a body.
And here’s where I’ll step away from divulging any more details of Lovecraft Country, because what I really want to focus on are spells. And by spells, I really mean stories, right? Because what are spells, if not stories. They are the incantation of something we wish to happen, wish to become, or wish to affect on someone else.
Are not the stories we tell a kind of spell designed to enchant, engage, or inspire action in our audience? The words we use to tell our stories are the incantation – and it’s important to get those words right. But to successfully tell those stories with the desired effects, we need those three crucial ingredients: energy, intention and a body.
Energy
Energy is all around us and moving through us at all times. But how do you harness that energy to tell stories that connect? That energy comes from within you, the storyteller. If you want your audience to connect with your message, first you will need to feel that connection to your message. I know that when I tell a story about something that happened to me, I get excited, my voice modulates more, I get louder and I get animated. That’s the energy of the story. I can feel it through my body. When you connect with a story that truly means something to you – whether it’s about your business or your personal life – you will feel that energy power your story and the way you tell it.
Intention
When we tell stories, we are sharing a little piece of ourselves, or our lives, or our business with others. Why? We want our audience to have a response – to feel something, to change, to take action. Stories can have many objectives, but do you know why you’re telling the stories that you do? When you are crystal clear on your intention – how you want your audience to respond and what you want them to take away – then you can start to tell stories that will make the impact you desire.
A Body
Ok, so I’m not suggesting you murder someone or hijack a corpse from the morgue. We’ll leave that to the professional mystery and horror writers. But in the world of Lovecraft Country, a successful spell needs a body, some physical connection that creates a bond between the spell caster and their end goal. As a storyteller, the audience is the body, whether it’s one person, or a roomful, or a Zoomful. An audience is a necessary ingredient for any story to be successful. Without it, we’re just talking – or writing – to ourselves.
When you tell a story filled with energy, focused with intention, to be seen, heard, or read by others, then you have all the necessary ingredients to create magical results for yourself and your business.
If you’re ready to start casting spells with your stories and making your words work magic for you, drop me a line or book your free consultation now.
