5 Ways to Spice Up Your Stories

5 ways to spice, to spice up your stories

When my first book, Last Seen in Lhasa,was published I had a publicity schedule as long as my arm. The first 60-min interview was with the ABC radio host, gravelly-voiced Richard Fidler. The first thing Richard advised: “use word pictures”.

It’s advice I’ve never forgotten… Nor should you. And nor, it seems, has Steven Lewis from Taleist the Australian copywriting agency. Steven just sent me a re-mastered interview I did for his podcast sharing my top novelist’s tips to make business storytelling memorable. 

[bctt tweet=”[bctt tweet=”‘Good stories surprise us. They make us think and feel.’ -Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow” via=”no”]

5 top storytelling tips to keep listeners awake:

  1. Bring your stories to lifewith the 5 senses.
  2. Make your characters realby including their names and titles. 
  3. Use ‘word pictures’– so your listener can see, feel and imagine what you’re describing. 
  4. Use genuine dialogue because real people speak in real sentences. 
  5. Surprise! Add something unexpected to your story. 

And, I got a surprise myself when I re-listened to the interview. A former journalist, Steven knows how to capture attention with a strong hook.

That’s exactly what he does with this interview about storytelling with… erm… me talking about bosoms. Enjoy! 

Click here to listen to the podcast 

Click here for a copy of my book ‘Last Seen in Lhasa’