Working the Storytelling Muscles by Trying Different Forms

After 35 years as a professional in a variety of storytelling modes, I believe this is the most exciting time that there’s ever been for writers as far as opportunities and reach. While traditional publishing struggles to adjust to numerous factors, from the closing of brick and mortar bookstores to alternative avenues like Create Space, the market for other types of writing is increasing. 

While my 30-year background is primarily in playwriting (a field also facing challenges due to shrinking audiences and a philosophical struggle within the community of how to make plays more diverse), I’ve recently landed numerous opportunities in four other forms—work-for-hire Screenplays, Audio Dramas, Escape Rooms, and Historical–Cultural Education. Each of these has increased my financial success and strengthened my skill sets when it comes to creating story well.

Make no mistake—no matter the medium of expression, what makes for a successful story applies across the boards—complex/compelling characters; a well-paced/well-structured plot with a clear arc and, when needed, efficiently implemented secondary and tertiary arcs; proper handling of exposition and tension; and a rich, enticing atmosphere.

And the tools that we have used to create story—the 3-Act Structure, The Hero’s Journey, carefully crafted Plot Points, the A–K Tension Map for Thrillers, etc.— are still our best chance for success no matter what type of story we tell.

How do these modes of storytelling differ? It is all in the EMPHASIS. Each has its Primary Emphasis. Audio Drama is all about SOUND. Everything must be conveyed through words, music, or sounds effects. When I say words in Audio Drama, it is the SOUNDS of words—their sibilance and dissonance, their rhythms. Syntax and the pause become the punctuation that furthers the creation of atmosphere in conjunction with music and sound effects. 

Then there is Screenwriting. Having written more than 20 produced plays and musicals, I thought Screenwriting would be the closest of all storytelling forms to playwriting. Turns out that Audio Drama is its closest cousin, especially if you are a playwright that is very conscious of the beats and rhythms of characters’ language.  The thing about Screenwriting is that words are things that directors have to deal with, and many don’t know how, so they hire actors who are geniuses with words—think about Tom Hanks, Vince Vaughn, Katherine Hepburn, and Al Pacino. Screenwriting is all about the IMAGE. Words are not a necessity until the IMAGES make them so. Screenwriting is the art of saying as little as possible and letting the IMAGES—the compositions, the locales, the play of light and dark, the angles and camera placements—tell the story.

I hope some eyebrows rose when I mentioned Escape Rooms as a form of storytelling. For those who don’t know, Escape Rooms are an increasingly popular form of entertainment where 6–8 people in a confined space have one hour to solve puzzles to either unlock the room to “escape,” find a special item, or solve a mystery.

With 6,500 Escape Rooms in the US and dedicated gamers who travel to play 50, 75, or 100+ rooms, the stakes are getting higher and the field more competitive, so some designers are hiring storytellers for a more immersive and integrated experience. 

As part of my duties as Creative Director at Port City Tour Company in Beaufort, NC, I created storylines for two Escape Rooms and wrote dialogue for actors and recorded nonplayer characters to be part of the immersion. The emphasis here is on PUZZLES, so how do you create “hooks” to hang puzzles on as you tell the story? How can you tell a story that is deep but not too wide (because of the confined timeframe), which delivers story in easily digestible bits that drive action? Solving these challenges makes you a better writer of character and mapping key plot points. 

                                             

Because of their success, in 2018 I was commissioned to write two articles on designing Escape Rooms as thrillers, for Stage 32 and Creative Screenwriting:

https://www.stage32.com/blog/7-steps-for-writing-escape-room-narratives-and-how-to-find-opportunities-to-write-them-1597

https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/thrill-writing-escape-room-narratives-contained-thrillers/

The Creative Screenwriting article was republished by the International Screenwriters Association in 2021:

https://www.networkisa.org/screenwriting-articles/view/writing-escape-room-narratives-as-contained-thrillers 

I have gone on to design 3 more Escape Rooms (one of which won regional and national tourism awards) and consulted for Mercedes Benz for their annual international in-house competition. 

Play your local Escape Rooms and if they lack story and immersion, offer to help design their next ones. It has been an education I could not get in the finest of graduate writing programs.

Another of my duties at Port City was to write and direct the Living History/Cultural and Historical Education (CHE) programs, from one-man shows to walking tours to paranormal investigations (spirits/ghosts all have a story: tracking them and teasing out their arcs is a fascinating way to engage in storytelling). Here the emphasis is on Facts and Dates. Finding engaging ways to use “hard history” as anchor points or the skeleton on which you overlay the tissue, muscle, and bone of character and story arc is key. We are out among the public, with three-generational groups of 15 to 20 people on walking tours, so the stories must be succinct and immediately attention-getting; appeal to a wide range of attention spans and interests; and there must be all the right mini-arcs of tension and “the turn.” 

                                     

I use these same emphases in my Chautauqua work. For more on these one-person performances that include a Question and Answer session with the audience, this blog gives you all the info:

https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/1027346460735612910/6083574019891743785

Each of these storytelling modes could be its own blog (some of which I have already offered in this blog series); each is a long journey of education, trial and error, finding good mentors and collaborators, and immersion in the best of the medium. I watch lots of films and good TV; listen to hour upon hour of audio drama; exchange ideas and techniques with other storytellers through various groups for creatives online and locally; and watch interviews/videos on YouTube that break down the media in which I work. The feedback that comes with getting your stories into the world from industry professionals and, in the case of my work at Port City, guests and Trip Advisor/Facebook reviewers, is invaluable. Over time, you learn to separate the chaff from the wheat and thicken your skin and open your heart and mind for optimum feedback value. 

Take advantage of these growing markets. There are others in these fields experimenting with ways to make the experiences more immersive, all by focusing on how to infuse story into the specific emphases of each. 

Experimentation and experience in these forms will make your primary mode of storytelling all the better.