My Favorite Storytelling Formula

With an award-winning example

Hi friend,

How are you? I hope you’re doing well.

I often get asked by clients and students about the best ways to tell their brand stories. That’s where storytelling formulas come in handy.

Why use a formula?

Using a tested formula keeps your story arc engaging with emotional highs, lows, and tons of surprises along the way to keep your audience riveted to see how the story ends.

Yet, like any mouth-watering recipe you come across on TikTok - which is nothing but a set of instructions - you slightly modify based on the ingredients you have in your fridge or those you prefer.

The same is true with storytelling formulas, use them as guardrails to tell your unique story.

Side story, I tried to create this visual using AI and gave up after dozens of “almost there” results, and believe me it wasn’t for lack of prompt clarity. AI content creation tools have their limits. Sometimes it’s best to switch from that “box of chocolates you never know what you’re gonna get” to full control tools ;)

One of my favorite storytelling formulas is the False Start model:

• False direction - Tell a story leading to destination X

• Twist- Unexpected detour to radical destination Y

• Resolution - Finish up with inspiring moral

If you recall, I’ve already touched on it in:

What is A False Cause Fallacy?

How it works

As you can see from the above formula, you tell a story that lets your audience believe the storyline takes them toward a certain outcome, but then introduce a surprising plot twist that reveals the big idea.

Along the way, your audience goes through a mental transformation which makes them absorb much deeper the moral of the story.

This emotional rollercoaster is an effective way to deliver messages because it allows you to capture attention faster, build empathy, and trust.

All these are key ingredients to improve your audience’s response to your call to action.

Award-winning example

To see the False Start model in action watch this video and find out why it works: