Film Courage: In your new book [Immersive Storytelling For Real And Imagined Worlds:
A Writer’s Guide] you talk about the story method: Share, Theme,
One of a Kind, Reflect and Yearn. The acronym is S.T.O.R.Y. What is this and why is it important?
Margaret Kerrison, Immersive Storyteller, Narrative Director and Writer: I was trying
to find a way to make it easy for storytellers to remember the five important things
to consider when they’re creating their story and the first one is S for story, why share this story
with the world? Why is extremely important in trying to understand why tell the story,
why do people need to know it and hear it and from your perspective as a storyteller
you have to understand that and know the answer to why you’re sharing the story with the world.
T is theme and for any good story there should be a theme. This is what your story is about.
When you think about children’s books and fables and fairy tales (some of
your favorite ones) you might not know it but there is a recurring theme that occurs
throughout the story. Sometimes it’s a lesson, a cautionary tale, it could be something that
puts a perspective on your life or someone else’s life but something that you can reflect upon your
own life but what is the story about? It’s not just about the plot of this happens to
this character and this and this happens in the end. Theme is what is this story about,
not in the sense of the plot, but in terms of the real meaning behind it.
The O one of a kind is if you are going to share the story with the world. How is it unique? Can
you place a twist upon it? Can you set it in a different environment? Can you have different
characters? Can you tell that story in a different culture, in a different world in a different time
period so that it feels fresh again because when you think about some of the popular stories,
Shakespearean, Romeo and Juliet there's all these different versions and ways that you
can tell that story so how can you make it feel fresh and relevant and unique and one of a kind
that's something that not only just in terms of like putting a your own perspective or a twist on
it but perhaps the medium that you tell that story in can you make it into an opera or a children's
book or changing the tone can you make it into a mystery rather than a drama all of the all of
these things to make it feel one of a kind in the story method is reflect and that's questioning why
you are the best person to tell that story and it might not just be you as an individual if it is
your own personal project yes that is the question that you should ask but if you're in a team or
you're working for a company or a client why are they why are the company the client whoever you're
working with why are they the best people to tell that story and so that reflection is holding a
mirror up on yourself the storyteller the creator the one who's going to share this story with the
world you have to understand why you should be the voice for it and to and if you are the voice what
is this perspective the unique perspective that you're sharing with the world because once you
understand that then it will feel one of a kind it will feel authentic it will feel like it's coming
from a genuine place rather than one that is contrived or something that feels like it's been
done before or something that doesn't feel like it's anything new or interesting so what is that
different perspective that you can bring in as a storyteller and a creator to make it feel like
there was no one else in the world who can tell that story better than you why in the story
method is yearn and that's about the audience wish fulfillment and this is something that I always
go back to again and again is that each one of us in our lives has a deep desire and a fantasy that
we want to fulfill and for one person it might be to fulfill the desire of being in a world
of vampires and feeling like you are a creature of the night another person might be having this wish
fulfillment of like what does it feel like to be a world famous musician what kind of a lifestyle can
I live by going into that world some people want to step into a fantastical world like Star Wars
or Harry Potter fictional worlds that are very expansive and large and know what is that wish
fulfillment for your particular audience member it's all about understanding and respecting who
your audience is and what you can not only about meeting their expectations but about meeting that
the exceeding those expectations and fulfilling on that guest promise so when you think about
creating an experience and what to think about what your audience member what your
visitor should would want to do in this place you always think back to well what is their
wish fulfillment what is the thing that they aspire to do what is it that they dream of doing
when they think about this world and this place and that's a great place to start we talked
about earlier how you love to see the element of surprise on the children's faces I'm sure adult
children as well and it must be very exciting to see the parents that it might be there for
equal reasons because they want to attend yeah and their element of surprise yeah because all of us
have that inner child within us and I think that when we create these immersive stories
for children of all ages to experience including adults and the adults that never grew up you
have that when you create that space to give them permission to be children again to let loose and
play and engage and laugh and dance and do all the things that you can't do in your normal life adult
life I think that we need more of that we need more opportunities for people to play again and to
fulfill their childlike curiosity and to have that feeling of being adventurous again and
to expose yourselves to Worlds and to people that are unfamiliar to you I think that when
we start living a life where we're more closed in and rather than expanding our mindset and
exploring the world and meeting different people and experiencing what their lives can
be like that's something that I hope to do in a lot of the stories that I create and whenever
I experience someone else's story I feel like I want to know more about the people and the world
that I that are that surround me I feel like that's a way for us to better understand each
other to put ourselves in other people's shoes to think about the world through their eyes and
through their perspectives because only then can we have compassion for each other and empathy and
only then can we have meaningful dialogue and conversation so storytelling is a great way for
people to connect with each other even people that you've never met before from the other side of the
world right so it's a way it's a bridge it's a bridge from one person to another it's a it's
a way for you to be able to share something that you hit that doesn't cost anything when
you tell a story to someone else right it's a way that you can reveal a bit of yourself
and for them to understand who you are and where you come from and what your story is about all of
these things I think it's just a great way for us to connect more as as a society as a world.