Matthew Dicks

I try not to have more than seven scenes in a story. The phone company uses seven digits in our phone numbers because they determined that seven bits of information is the most that the average person can retain at one time. Seven feels right to me. I have some stories that only have three scenes - even better. I have a story composed of just one scene. But seven is my max.

In the story “Bring Me a Shrubbery”: It's a success born from good fortune, but it was just one student. So many others had already passed through my classroom quietly. That is what my story is about. - I maligned myself by admitting I'd thrown a shoe at a student. - I marginalized my accomplishment by pointing out that while I may have saved Lisa, I had failed to save the many who came before her.

Human beings prefer stories of small steps over large leaps. Most accomplishments, both great and small, are not composed of singular moments but are the culmination of many small steps. Overnight success stories are rare. They can also be disheartening to those who dream of similar success. The step-by-step nature of accomplishment is what people understand best. This is how to tell a success story: Rather than telling a story of your full and complete accomplishment, tell the story of a small part of the success. Tell about a small step. Feel free to allude to the better days that may lie ahead, but don't try to tell everything. Small steps only.

There are times when you might want to tell a success story, and when you do, there are two strategies that I suggest you employ. 1. Malign yourself. 2. Marginalize your accomplishment. Example story “ Bring me a shrubbery”: I may save a girl's life, but I also struck a child with flying footwear. I marginalize myself. I cast myself as the underdog by sharing a highly imperfect moment of teaching, so I can tell you about the closer-to-perfect one later.

First, human beings love underdog stories. The love for the underdog is universal. Underdogs are supposed to lose, so when they manage to pull our an unexpected or unbelievable victory, our sense of joy is more intense than if that same underdog suffers a crushing defeat. A crushing defeat is expected. An unbelievable win is a surprise. You already know the importance of surprise in storytelling. If vou cast vourself as the underdog, your audience will enjoy your success. They will root for you. They will expect you to lose and hope for you to win.

Use present tense to draw the audience into the story and perhaps make them see the story as if they live in it. Use past tense for backstories. This makes the current story the audience’s current life with the backstory happening in the past of this moment that all of you currently live.