Everyone enjoys a good story. Telling a good story, however, isn’t as easy at it seems. It takes dedication to the craft, a willingness to learn and understand the different elements and techniques, and a heck of a lot of practice. Regardless of genre or style, however, all good stories have six common elements. When developing your next narrative work, make sure you’re paying careful attention to all of these.

STORIES ARE ALL AROUND US

Most of us would fondly remember story time as a small child, or perhaps we now share stories with our own children and watch as they take delight in the twists and turns of their favourite picture book. We tell our friends stories at work, over dinner and drinks and, later, maybe we relay those stories again to new audiences. Humans live in stories every day and dream in stories all night long. We are all storytellers and story listeners.

While every story is different, a successful one

captivates its audience and inspires an emotional response. As humans, we love to be entertained, and storytelling is universally accessible. Learning to craft a compelling story by engaging an active audience is the art of storytelling.

