Creating a story: where to start? (video)

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This video was originally created in a language other than English. You can watch the video with English subtitles or read the content of the video in this file. 
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So, you’re ready to create your story, but where do you start? After completing this track, you should be able to define the goal of your story, go through the limitations and communication channels you are going to use, and select the language style of your characters.
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The main idea is a thing to find. For that you should answer the question: "What is this story about?". To make the basic idea more acute, try to include the conflict into it. Conflict creates sharpness and gives your story a fighting spirit, that helps to get through to your audience.
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The language of the characters should be relatable and understandable to a person who will read, see or hear our story. Depending on our audience and communication channels, we choose the form of the story (a video, a podcast or a text) and the language we use (informative, simple, official, maybe even slang).
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Be realistic. You probably can't get a million likes on a social network with 200 followers, even if the story is outstanding. Do not try to reach out to a maximum amount of people at once. It is better to catch a specific audience than poorly affect all segments.
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Pay attention to measurability. How will you know that the goal has been achieved? Remember that "for all the good and against all the bad” is a great motivation, but a bad goal. Try to be as specific as possible.
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Keep in mind the closest goal. That one story might not change the world, but if it can help a small group of people to solve their problems – it’s worth it. Write the story's goal on a sticker and hang it above your desktop, where you can refer to it from time to time. During the process of creating a story you might realize that you can't choose a style of narration, that there is too much or not enough information, that the idea is slipping away. Then look at the sticker with the written goal – this will be your reference point. If there are several audiences, think about which one will work better in achieving the goal. It's better to work with one audience, especially if you are a newbie in storytelling. You can create a different story for another audience in the future, or modify the first one for it, going through all these steps from the beginning.
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Expert:
Irina Leu has more than eight years of experience working with stories and text, creating advertising ideas, and slogans. She spent a couple of years developing educational mobile apps and chatbots. Irina regularly works as a trainer for NGOs on how to better present their work, how to say what you really want to say, and finally — how to create empowering stories that captivate and touch.
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I know how to define the goal of a story and its main idea.
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Tasks

Task no.1

Evidence verified by: one activity organiser

Think of any story your organisation/you would like to tell. What is this story for? What is the goal of the story? Try writing it down first as it comes to mind, and then in the format "After this story, the reader should...".
Share the main idea and the goal of your story with us.

Skills

ESCO

#identify goals

Creativity and design

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Time to complete: 5 minutes

Organisers

OEEC

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