A 30-second Masterclass in Storytelling

 

The Hook:

Taylor Swift “…about a time she got her heart broken, although not in the way you might expect.”

The Story: In less than 200 words, writer Sam Lansky gives us a story to set up the Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2023 Taylor Swift cover story:

“She was 17, she says, and she had booked the biggest opportunity of her life so far—a highly coveted slot opening for country superstar Kenny Chesney on tour.

“’This was going to change my career,’ she remembers. ‘I was so excited.’

“But a couple weeks later, Swift arrived home to find her mother Andrea sitting on the front steps of their house.

“’She was weeping,’ Swift says. ‘Her head was in her hands as if there had been a family emergency.’

“Through sobs, Andrea told her daughter that Chesney’s tour had been sponsored by a beer company.

“Taylor was too young to join. ‘I was devastated,’ Swift says.

“But some months later, at Swift’s 18th birthday party, she saw Chesney’s promoter.

“He handed her a card from Chesney that read, as Swift recalls, ‘I’m sorry that you couldn’t come on the tour, so I wanted to make it up to you.’

“With the note was a check. ‘It was for more money than I’d ever seen in my life,’ Swift says. ‘I was able to pay my band bonuses. I was able to pay for my tour buses. I was able to fuel my dreams.’"

Lansky’s next paragraph sums it up masterfully:

“Listening to Swift share this, on a clear fall afternoon in her New York City apartment, I’m struck by how satisfying the story is. There are high stakes at the outset; there are details, vivid and sensory; there’s a twist that flips the action on its head; and there’s a happy ending for its hero. It takes her only about 30 seconds to recount this, but those 30 seconds contain an entire narrative world.”

 

Sure, Taylor Swift will get attention, but you don’t need the Taylor Swift connection to tell a story that is concise and has the characteristics to make it engaging and compelling.

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Read the full article: https://time.com/6342806/person-of-the-year-2023-taylor-swift/