"How to Tell a Story Series: Why We Tell Stories (Module 1 of 10)" (My New Liked Vid on YouTube) [VID]

How to Tell a Story Series: Why We Tell Stories (Module 1 of 10)


"This is the first video of a YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLehj-J7GtbVqY-Ht43ybiXcL5GuJRlOPB&si=bIoglgsUKfAx_CHV The YT playlist is the first part of my 10-part video series on How to Tell a Story. The first video in this playlist provides a strong foundation and the remaining videos in the playlist fill in some of the detail and help the viewer better understand the content covered. "Introduction — Why Stories? Before we learn how to tell a story, we need to step back and ask a more basic question: what is a story, and why do human beings tell them at all? One important starting point is this: storytelling is not a specialty skill that belongs only to novelists, screenwriters, or journalists. Everyone tells stories. Students tell stories. Parents tell stories. Athletes, musicians, influencers, and children all tell stories. Whenever we describe our day, explain why we were late, recount a game-winning play, or post a video about something that happened to us, we are telling stories. Some of those stories are gripping. Some fall flat. But they are all attempts to shape experience into a form that other minds can absorb. In this video series, however, storytelling becomes more disciplined. This series introduces the principles of effective storytelling across mass communication fields, including journalism, public relations, film, and digital media. We will learn how core narrative elements such as character, conflict, structure, and audience shape compelling messages. And we will do so by drawing on two connected traditions: narrative theory, which describes how stories are built, and cognitive science, which explains why stories work on the human brain the way they do. That second tradition is the focus of this first module. Before we can master leads, hooks, arcs, and campaigns, we need to understand the instrument every storyteller plays: the audience's brain. Why do audiences prefer stories to lists of facts? Why does a strong first sentence feel impossible to put down? Why does a well-told story change what people feel, believe, and do, when a bullet-pointed summary of the same information changes nothing? This video builds toward those questions." ------------ Readings and Scholarly Sources Cron, L. (2012). Wired for story: The writer's guide to using brain science to hook readers from the very first sentence. Ten Speed Press. Source link: https://ift.tt/MtVqszi Amazon: https://amzn.to/4d8GBYY Storr, W. (2020). The science of storytelling: Why stories make us human and how to tell them better. Abrams Press. Source link: https://ift.tt/ox0mHvr Amazon: https://amzn.to/4gsxPY1 Some other works cited: Damasio, A., Self Comes to Mind (2010); Pinker, S., How the Mind Works (1997); Lehrer, J., How We Decide (2009); Restak, R., The Naked Brain (2006); Haidt, J., The Righteous Mind (2012); Loewenstein, G., "The Psychology of Curiosity," Psychological Bulletin (1994). =============================== AI Use Statement: This video is based on Dr. Hart's original lecture notes. Script, visuals, and narration were produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed and edited by Dr. Hart. Tools used: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, ElevenLabs (voice, music), and Adobe Premiere (video editing). ==============================="
Via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap45Gas1WiE
Liked on August 30, 2026 at 03:38PM