Writing a powerful story is a good way of impacting the world. These stories are not only entertaining, but they can also inspire the masses or bring change. If you’ve never written such a story and were wondering how to do it, here are some tips that can help.

Choose a clear message

Many people enjoy reading real-life stories, especially if they are interesting. But that does not mean they learn anything from them. This is especially true if the story does not have a clear theme.

A theme is the main idea of a story or what perspective it gives on human nature or life.  If you want the readers to learn something from your story, for example,  the importance of kindness, patience, etc, you need to guide them to that message. You can do this by identifying a theme and building a story toward it. 

Don’t shy away from conflict

Stories without drama are boring! And without conflict, there is no drama. If you want people to pay attention to your writing, you need to embrace conflict.

Conflict is the opposition of a person or forces that give rise to the dramatic action in a story.  There are many ways that you can introduce conflict in your story, from overcoming challenges and obstacles to dealing with people who create tests of will. To be satisfied with the ending, the readers need to see you struggle to achieve your goals. This can only be achieved by introducing conflict.

Your story should have a clear structure

Have you ever read a story and wondered where it was going? Maybe there were too many words in a section, or the writer included everything that they could remember- even unnecessary information. To stop this from happening, write a story with a clear structure.

A story structure is an organizational framework that typically follows a pattern with a beginning, middle, and end. For example, you can start your story with an inciting incident (people gathering for demonstrations), build to the climax ( chaos that forces leaders to address the problems that people are demonstrating about), and an end with a satisfying resolution (Leaders introduce policy changes and life slowly goes back to normal). 

Narrow the scope of your story

When you are telling a real story, it can be hard to decide what information to include. Some people might be tempted to include every single detail, which will end up overwhelming the audience.

To narrow the scope of your story, write a beginning, middle, and end, then arrange key events between them. This will help your audience follow your story without getting overwhelmed because you will include only important details.

Embrace all your experiences

You might read a beautiful story, but not be able to relate to what the writer is talking about. Maybe the people seem too perfect to be real, or the story is about something that you have never heard about. Sometimes this happens when the writer does not bring in real-life experiences.

Personal stories deepen the experiences of the reader. When you are writing a story, look at your life for inspiration. You can draw from your childhood experiences, previous jobs, vacations, or other life experiences and incorporate them into your stories.

Conclusion

None of these five tips are set in stone. Rather they are rules of thumb, meant to help you write powerful stories that inspire your readers. While it is hard to write powerful stories, it is worth making the effort. Your readers will be grateful!

If you would like to share your personal story on  History Chip, click here. History Chip’s mission is to celebrate the stories of all humans and open up the world of human resilience, triumph, and everyday experiences to our readers and storytellers.