On March 26, 2024, in the US, Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed due to a cargo ship. Lives were lost, the supply chain was disrupted, and lawsuits are expected to follow. High stakes are involved.
Despite being in Vietnam, 23 hours away, I heard about it from a colleague. Why the global buzz about this collapse? One key reason: it's a story packed with survival information.
The CBS News headline (Video here), "What happened before, during and after," mirrors classic storytelling structure:
People crave this narrative because it answers the crucial question: "What happened?" We seek such stories, pondering scenarios to enhance our survival instincts:
How would I handle being the boat captain?
What fate awaits the captain now?
Who perished?
Was the bridge secured?
How can I prevent such a catastrophe in my life?
We want to know about it because it's serious and has high stakes. People are killed, supply chain stucks, money is involved, and there might be legal trouble.
We seek stories like this to survive. Stories help us survive, so we share them with others.
After watching The Magnificent Seven (1960), I decided to watch Seven Samurai (1954) by Akira Kurosawa because the 1960's movie is based on the 1954 version. Even though both movies are really great, the 1954 one is better because it is more clean storywise:
Clear visuals, additional survival information, a stronger feeling of emotional connection to the character
Following a comparison between both movies.
Seven Samurai (1954)
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
includes strategic elements
have quotes of wisdom
almost no dialogue for the bandits
Remarkable midpoint showing the
movie's amature:
"By protecting others you protect yourself."
has no strategic elements
have no quotes of wisdom
The bandits have a lot of dialog
midpoint is almost invisible (which is not bad)
Introduces Kikuchiyo's farming background in Act 2
I do feel the danger of war
The baby is a clone of Kikuchiyo
Deeper exploration of love scenes compared to 1960s version
Introduces Chico’s farming background late in Act3.
When I was in middle school, my friends used to call me "dumb". Did that mean I was really dumb? No, but their words made me think I was.
Now that I live in Vietnam, people often call me "handsome". Do I believe them? Yes, I do.
Here's something important to remember: what people say about you can affect how you feel about yourself. If someone calls you "handsome", let it be. It's nice. But if they call you "dumb" or say something mean, don't just ignore it. Speak up and make them stop.
Respecting yourself means knowing your worth and not letting others bring you down
Today, I want to share a special poem with you that resonates with me:
Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky.
Isn't this poem great! It is so great because it has a point, something to say. I've written a blog post on this topic. You can read it here: Stories Must Have a Point.
I found this poem in a book while I was researching for my story. My friend Alex suggested it to me.
Sincerely yours,
André S.
Appendix
Poem Title: The Creation of Éa Book: Earthsea Cycle #1, A Wizard of Earthsea Author: Ursula K. Le Guin.
When you write a story, make sure you have a clear idea to talk about. This idea is like the big message or the main point of your story. It helps your story make sense.
The main idea is pretty straightforward: Make sure you have something important to say, a central focus.
For example:
To conquer your fear, you need to face your fear.
You are who you choose to be.
Words can make you or break you.
All of the above sentences could be used as the point of your story.
Just remember, it's best to stick to one big idea for each story you write. This way, your story will be easy to understand and fun to read!
The main idea of this blog post is simple: Always make sure your story has a clear point.
Sincerely yours,
André S.
***
PS. Definition of "Story" by Brian McDonald:
"A story is the telling, or retelling, of a series of events leading to a conclusion."
When writing a story, it doesn't just happen over night. You have to rewrite it many times to make it better. But don't worry, if you keep trying, everything will make sense in the end, hopefully. It takes a lot of bravery, persistence, and endurence.
When I write my stories, I often feel like I need to remember every little thing I research. So, I save stuff from LinkedIn, write notes, and make new computer files in Excel or Word. But, having so much stuff can make me feel lost and waste time. And now that I've realized this, I've started doing things differently. And it's so much more relaxing!
Now, when I'm writing on my story, I don't write down every little fact I find, I just read and watch, without taking too many notes.
My brain will remember if it's important!
Then, when I start writing, my brain remembers the facts I've learned, and it helps me to come up with new ideas. It's like my brain is connecting the dots all by itself!
This way of working feels more fun and saves time!
I've learned that I don't have to write down everything I learn because my brain can remember a lot on its own. It's better to explore and let my imagination put all the information together.
Writing is like making up stories with all the cool things I've learned.
a while back, I got an email from a cool guy named Seth Godin. He talked about something called "Decoding 'Story'." It's really important to know how powerful storytelling can be. If you learn to tell great stories, you can actually change people's perspectives!
“Marketers like to talk about the story we tell. And non-marketers imagine that we’re referring to Goldilocks and other ‘once upon a time’ moments. Because stories are the basic building block of culture, it’s difficult to see the nuance in this simple word."
"A new saw might have a story. A home woodworker isn’t cutting wood for a living–it’s a hobby. When a new saw from Festool comes out, the thoughtful design plants a seed for the home woodworker. From that moment on, every cut with the old saw feels like a compromise or even an insult.”
"Bottled water is a story. In countries where the water isn’t regularly safe to drink, there’s the simple, practical story of not getting sick."
To understand this idea better, let's think about what Brian McDonald's says a story is:
"Stories are the telling or retelling of a series of events leading to a conclusion."
Why are stories so important for a culture?
Well, they're like the bricks that build our culture's house. Stories help our culture to keep going strong. They're like lessons we learn from all our adventures and experiences. Stories are conclusions.
Brian McDonald says it perfectly, that stories are about survival information.
***
If we tell stories, then culture survives. But NEVER forget what Uncle Ben told Peter Parker in Spider-Man (2002):
"With great power comes great responsibility."
Or think of it this way:
With great stories comes great responsibility for culture.
recently, a friend told me that she finds it hard to explain her ideas at work so that others understand her. I struggle with this too. There's a quote by Richard Feynman that says, "If you cannot explain something in simple terms, you don't understand it."
Making your idea easy to get means understanding it yourself. The more you explain it to others, the better you understand it yourself. And the better you understand it yourself, the easier you can explain it in simple terms.
Understand it in simple terms.
Let's be Practical Imagine today is Monday, and next Monday you have to explain your idea at work. To make sure you're ready, try explaining it to someone you trust. Let's say you talk to your female co-worker:
Tell her about your idea.
Ask her if there's anything she doesn't understand.
Explain it again if needed.
Keep explaining until she gets it, even if you have to repeat yourself many times.
Remember, don't be hard on your co-worker!
Once she understands, you'll be in a better position than before. At this point, you're ready to present your idea at work. However, if your idea is very important, you might want to explain your idea to more people than just your female co-worker.
So, when you need to explain your idea at work, practice by talking about it with people you trust.
A while back, I stumbled upon an essay by Walt Disney titled "What Mickey Means to Me." In this piece, Disney shares what Mickey Mouse symbolizes to him: independence. Just watch 'Steamboat Willie (1928)' and you can see independence in Mickey Mouse. - I've included the essay at the end of this post, sourced from this website: www.mouseplanet.com
Rod Serling
This essay inspires me, particularly because it reminded me of a piece of advice from Rod Serling, one of the three writers behind the original "Planet of the Apes" (1968). Serling advised that a story's overall theme should lead to its characters, which then guide the plot.
Mickey Mouse: Independency
In Disney's essay, Mickey Mouse serves as a symbol of independence, aligning with Serling's advice. This got me thinking: in "Steamboat Willie," which came first, the character or the plot? - I bet you figure out the answer by yourself.
Character. Character. Character.
Moreover, let's consider successful cartoon characters like Roadrunner, Beauty and the Beast, the Simpsons, SpongeBob, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Hero Turtles, South Park, Doraemon, The Sams, Toy Story, WALL-E, and Clownfish "Nemo", Buzz Lightyear, Shrek, Frankenstein.It's just a thought, but I can't help noticing a common thread among all these success stories: character.
If somebody disagree, please feel welcome to comment.
Best,
Andre
"Mickey Mouse to me is a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end. He popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when the business fortunes of my brother, Roy, and myself were at lowest ebb.
Born of necessity, the little fellow literally freed us of immediate worry, provided the means for expanding our organization to the present dimensions and for extending the medium of cartoon animation toward new entertainment levels.
His first actual screen appearance was in 1928 at the old Colony Theater in New York in Steamboat Willie, with its sound effects and cautious "speech". Since then, he has appeared in more pictures than any flesh-and-blood star. He was the first cartoon character to stress personality and to be consistently kept in character.
I thought of him from the first as a distinct individual, not just a cartoon type or symbol going through comedy routines. I kept him away from stock symbols and situations. We exposed him to close-ups. Instead of speeding the cartoons as was then the fashion, we were not afraid to slow down the tempo and let Mickey emote.
Mickey soon searched the stage where we had to be very careful about what we permitted him to do.
Mickey could never be a rat.
He had become a hero in the eyes of his audiences, especially the youngsters. Mickey could do no wrong. I could never attribute any meanness or callow traits to him. We kept him lovable although ludicrous in the blundering heroics. And that's the way he remained, despite any outside influences.
Naturally, I am pleased with his continued popularity, here and abroad, with the esteem he has won as an entertainment name, among youngsters and grownups. With the honors he has brought our studio. With the high compliment bestowed when his name was the password for the invasion of France, and with his selection for insignia by scores of fighting units during the war years. These are tributes beyond all words of appreciation.
In his immediate and continuously successful appeal to all kinds of audiences, Mickey first subsidized our Silly Symphony series. From there he sustained other ventures, plugging along as our bread-and-butter hero. He was the studio prodigy and pet. And we treated him accordingly.
Mickey still speaks in my own falsetto-pitched voice, as he has from the first. In the early days, I did the voice of most of the other characters too. It was not financially feasible to hire people for such assignments. In Steamboat Willie, in addition to speaking for Mickey, I also supplied a few sound effects for Minnie, his girl friend, and for the parrot.
For Mickey's first picture, I planned to go all out on sound. And those plans came very near spelling a major disaster for us.
To launch our picture impressively, I had hired a full New York orchestra with a famous director to do the recording. The musicians were to cost $10 an hour. I thought 15 men would be enough. But the director insisted on having 30 pieces. Because I was awed by him, I was finally persuaded to take the 30. The upshot was that I had to borrow on my auto and Roy and I had to mortgage our homes as well to cover the cost of that first synchronization for Steamboat Willie. And when it was finished, the thing wasn't in sync. We had to do it all over again!
What I wanted most of all, I didn't get: a bull-fiddle for the bass. The recording room was so small that the orchestra could hardly be jammed into it. The bull-fiddle blasted so loudly it ruined the other sound and kept blowing out the lamps.
A sad thing, I thought at the time, to launch our Mickey without benefit of a bull-fiddle in so precarious a world of new possibilities and increased competitions.
But he survived and thrived and set the pace in his entertainment field. The cost of his vehicles increased from the bare $1,200 for Steamboat Willie to seven figures for Fun and Fancy Free.
I often find myself surprised at what has been said about our redoubtable little Mickey, who was never really a mouse, not yet wholly a man—although always recognizably human.
Psycho-analysts have probed him. Wise men have pondered him. Columnists have kidded him. Admirers have saluted him. The League of Nations gave him a special medal as a symbol of international good will. Hitler was infuriated by him and thunderingly forbade his people to wear the then popular Mickey Mouse lapel button in place of the Swastika.
But all we ever intended for him was that he should make people everywhere chuckle with him and at him.
And it is certainly gratifying that the public which first welcomed him two decades ago, as well as their children, have not permitted us, even if we had wished so to do, to change him in any manner or degree other than a few minor revisions of his physical appearance.
In a sense, he was never young. In the same sense, he never grows old in our eyes. All we can do is to give him things to overcome in his own rather stubborn way in his cartoon universe.
There is much nostalgia for me in these reflections.
The life and ventures of Mickey Mouse have been closely bound up with my own personal and professional life. It is understandable that I should have sentimental attachment for the little personage who played so big a part in the course of Disney Productions and who has been so happily accepted as an amusing friend wherever films are shown around the world.
***
Thanks for reading. You are know one wisdom richer.
Armature:"You are who you choose to be." Plot:"Boy loves girl. Girl tries to change boy. Boy becomes what girl wants. Girl breaks up. Then, boy chooses not to become so."
This story might be effective, but it's not original. So, I started wondering: "What if I write the same story, but with the structure of an old Mongolian tale?" It works.
Past solutions might work today as well: Read and use old stories.
Things that worked before still work today.
***
Mongolian-Tale: How storytelling began among the Mongolian people.
"It tells the tale of a young boy called Tarvaa. Tarvaa’s spirit thought that his body had died of the plague, and so travelled to the underworld. However, the Great Khan of the underworld knew that Tarvaa was still alive, and so sent his spirit back. Before he left, however, he was allowed to pick out whatever item he wanted from the cornucopia of things kept in the underworld. Tarvaa’s spirit chose to take tales and legends, then travelled back and entered his body. When Tarvaa awoke, he found that crows had picked at the tissue in his eye sockets and blinded him. However, his new knowledge of stories enabled him to become a beloved storyteller."
A story eventually reaches a conclusion — it's a non-negotiable fact. However, modern movies often leave viewers confused rather than providing closure. Avoid watching TV-Series with cliff hanger. Don't watch 'LOST' (2004), nor 'EMILY IN PARIS' (2020). They lead you nowhere.
Here are three definitions of a story. Considering what I mentioned earlier, which one do you think is true?
"Stories are the telling or retelling of a series of events leading to a conclusion."
***
A story leads to a conclusion. If you ever forget this fact in the future, revisit this blog post or recall your friend's stories: They naturally conclude at the end. Just listen and keep it in mind.
Remember, letting your audience conclude the final piece of information can make you a master storyteller. As the saying goes, "If 'a + b = c,' provide 'a' and 'b' to your audience, but not 'c.' By allowing them to connect the dots themselves, you'll engage them more effectively. Just like this LinkedIn post illustrates:
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