Event vs. Story | Best Worst Idea Podcast | Story Yoga

How can you tell the difference between an event and a story?  This brief lesson will explain it to you in simple, easy to understand terms.  If you're looking to market your misery, this information is key. 

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Episode Transcript

Frank Hannah (00:00):
The Best Worst idea is a weekly podcast
exploring how our worst ideasoften give way to our best
ideas. What's your best worstidea? Want to find out? Let's go

(00:23):
You're so ugly you can be amodern art masterpiece. You look
like a blueberry. Who's gonnatake his place? See is Jesus?
Yes.

Unknown (00:36):
This is my

Frank Hannah (00:42):
people sometimes asked me to tell the difference
between a story and an event.
Aren't they the same thing?
Can't an event contain abeginning, middle and an end?
Just like stories do? The shortanswer is yes. But this can
depend on a number of factors.
If you just outline things thathappened during the event, that

(01:03):
still might not be a story. Sohow can you tell? For me, I look
for a human face to the story.
Even if it's about a stuffedteddy bear, you can be pretty
sure it's going to exhibitbasic, primal, relatable and
human qualities. He overheats.
He's prone to Rages, he's lonelybecause no one can stand to be

(01:27):
around him for too long.
Basically, Teddy has problems.
Therefore, if you can't find anyof those qualities in the so
called event you're describing,very sorry to say you do not
have a story. Not in the classicsense. Nothing I'm going to tell

(01:47):
you here is going to be new.
It's not a secret formula thatwas divinely inspired or
communicated by an otherworldlyentity. Now, truth is, I have
nothing new in terms ofknowledge. What I'm trying to do

(02:08):
is package the information in away that can be more easily
understood. If you've ever takena yoga class, you'll find that
all of the teachers are morethan capable of teaching the
class the different poses andmovements. But maybe only one of
them can explain them to you ina way you inherently understand.

(02:30):
When one teacher tries to tellyou how to move deeper into a
pose, it may sound like aforeign language. But others can
say very few words, and you knowexactly what they're talking
about. That's what I'm strivingfor here. When I say that
stories have a human face, thebest way to explain that is to
point to the news magazine 60minutes. It's pretty much the

(02:53):
gold standard for tellingcompelling concise news stories
that are both impactful andemotionally powerful. So how do
they do it? I imagine you turnon 60 minutes and their top
story is about a coal companydumping coal ash to a local
river. It's a horrible, toxicbyproduct of burning coal. But

(03:16):
as horrible as it is. That's nota story isn't news? Yes. Is it a
story, though? Not so much. Ifyou walked into the editor of 60
minutes and said the ABC Dcompany is dumping coal ash into
the river? What do you think?
Well, you'd be sent out of theoffice. Why? To do what? To find

(03:36):
the story. It's not enough thata big coal burning company dumps
coal ash into the river. It'sonly a story when they traveled
to a small town downstream thathas a large spike in cancer
cases. That's the human face. Isthat the only angle for this

(03:59):
story? Probably not. You mightfind out that the company is
dumping toxic waste, but it onlybecomes a story when a
whistleblower from inside thecompany decides to sit down and
talk about the human toll thecompany's behavior is taking
What is crucial is the humanelement, the reaction, the cost,
the consequences of the event.

(04:24):
It's why you often hear thequestion, or whose story is it?
Who am I rooting for? And what'sat stake? These questions are
the currency storytellerstraded. If we can't answer these
questions, we have no story. Sothe events of a plot are simply
the delivery system for thestory. Here's a few examples of

(04:46):
events that have no story. Agreat white shark attacks
tourists. A terrorist grouphijacks an entire building. A
man runs a nightclub in a wartorn country. A homicide
detective discovers anotherbrutal murder scene. An alien

(05:06):
baby crash lands on earth. Allof these examples describe an
event in some of the mostsuccessful stories of all time.
But in and of themselves, theyare not stories. So what's
missing? You guessed the humanface. A great white shark
attacks tourists and a newlyappointed Sheriff Who's afraid

(05:28):
of the water must shut down thebeaches on the Fourth of July,
the biggest weekend of the year,and get on a boat to find and
kill the beast before it killsanyone else. Jaws
a terrorist group hijacks anentire building on the same day
a new york city cop arrives atthe building to try and work
things out with his estrangedwife. To win her back he must

(05:51):
save her and thwart theterrorist diehard. A man runs a
nightclub in a war torn countrywhen the long lost love of his
life walks in seeking his helpto get her husband out of the
country before the Nazis findhim. So he must look past his
own heartbreak to do the rightthing. Casa Blanca, a grizzled

(06:13):
homicide detective who wasburned out and ready to retire
discovers a brutal murder scenethat is actually connected to a
string of serial slangs. So hemust put off his retirement in
hopes he can save his youngreplacement. The same burned out
fazes him. Seven an alien babycrash lands on Earth in the

(06:35):
American heartland, and is foundby a childless couple who
decided to raise him as theirown, despite the fact that he is
not like other children, and hasstrengthened powers well beyond
that of everyday humans.
Superman, each and every one ofthose examples and 1000 more
besides our stories, because theevents act upon the main

(06:57):
character in such a way that itreveals their human failings and
point to something that theymust overcome. So if you're
thinking about creating a story,or you wondering if you actually
have a story, look for the humanface. Find out who your story is
about what their problem is, andwhat's at stake for them. These

(07:22):
are all of the things writers dowhen they begin to form a story
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(07:43):
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