The worst thing on a first date is when the topics of conversation are exhausted and an awkward silence ensues and you do not know what else you can tell her to make her interested. If you have not been gifted with the gift of quickly choosing a topic for conversation since childhood, then you will definitely need our 5 ideas for an interesting story. They are universal, they can be used at any time to communicate with any girl.
Funny stories from childhood
Stories about how a handsome man climbed fences, wore tights and brought home stray cats home will melt the heart of any young lady.
Talking about kindergarten and school, you can not hide anything, and even serious failures and blunders will not expose a man in an unfavorable light. Childhood is treated like a different life, so the funnier the story, the better.
The only exceptions are attempts to torture animals or mock weaker guys. Otherwise, the man has complete freedom of action, and the piggy bank of memories is on his side.
Wikipedia is a source of useful information
"Do you like Wikipedia?" - this phrase can be an excellent continuation of the conversation, if all popular topics have already been raised, and an awkward silence has hung.
All you need is to look at home page- there are collected selected interesting facts about everything in the world. Women like men who are superior to others in something. Can't boast of perfect physical data? Why not show that you are smarter than others? You can, on occasion, hit her by telling a few interesting facts about Peter the Great, Australian platypuses or Jupiter's moons.
Ideal for communication on the Internet, for example in VK. It's enough just to turn off the conversation and google any topic of interest.
The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the girl may think that you are a nerd.
Does the girl ask you to tell something interesting? Why not talk about your travels? Funny or shocking travel experiences always get attention. People like to learn about other people's experiences, build future routes and learn useful nuances.
Tell us how you lost your luggage at the airport, and had to spend a week at sea in only shorts and bathrobe from the room.
Try to scare the girl by telling her friends to try dried or fried insects in an Asian market.
Of course, if all this really was... If not, then you can tell stories from the lives of your friends and report that this is only in the plans. In any case, each experience becomes a source of valuable information and allows you to be prepared for any trouble.
Selection useful tips about: where to start, how to avoid mistakes, where you can learn it.
Don't know what to talk about with a girl? How do you find common ground? we did it in a separate article.
The conversation should not turn into a monologue of one person. Do you constantly talk and she is silent? Why not throw the ball onto her field? Ideal for this open questions... You will learn about what they are and how to use them in a conversation with a girl with examples of real conversations from.
If you don't know what to talk about, another win-win option is.
Don't know how to make a compliment correctly so that the girl doesn't think that you are just flattering her? About, .
Want to learn how to flirt? Everything plays a role: words, intonation, gestures, facial expressions, body position. A detailed overview with examples can be found in the article on our website.
Features of different countries and cultures
This theme is rather encyclopedic character, unless your work is connected with regular business trips.
Surely you know about something unusual that is completely normal for other peoples, but strange in Russia... Do you have a favorite country that you have always dreamed of going to? Read more about her, find out local traditions and customs, and share this information with the girl.
Favorite literature and facts about writers
Another way to show your superiority over others is to show her that you love to read. Men rarely like to read, and even if they do, they read typically male books: science fiction, detective stories, and instructions for household appliances.
What you shouldn't tell a girl about
There are several topics that should not be covered in conversations with a girl:
Your global plans for life. This topic, even if you have planned everything out in detail for a long time from the name of the dog to the license plate of your car, is not suitable for the early stages of acquaintance.
Relationships with ex. If she was not 6, and you were 7, when love happened (you brought her sweets from home, and she allowed her to hold her hand), then it is better not to tell anything. Tell us about a good relationship experience - the girl will be nervous that you still have feelings, she will start to doubt. Tell us about a bad experience - the girl will be nervous that you will also talk about her later;
Diseases. There are almost no healthy people left, but it is worth talking about your sores when it comes to the wedding. You can tell how at the age of 7 they got sick with chickenpox and out of boredom they painted the cat with greenery, but it's better to keep silent about the rest;
Failures and failures. The question, of course, is how to present information, but at the beginning of a relationship, this is really not the best time.
If, nevertheless, you do not get away from the conversation, then you need to talk about the situation briefly and with humor.
You can find many more interesting topics for conversation with a girl on the video:
And the last tip on the topic - think not only about what the girl would be interested to hear, but also about what you really would like to tell. If a person is very passionate about something and is burning with the case that he is talking about, even a story about the displacement of the engine can interest the girl so that she will be ready to listen to about it for hours.
But if you do not have such a hobby, and you have no idea what to tell this particular young lady, then it will not be superfluous to ask her what she would like you to tell. There is nothing wrong with that, and it will be worse if she listens to overseas travel all evening, and herself only admits to being in the country with tents ...
Perhaps all storytellers can be divided into two unequal parts: people who know how to tell interestingly, and everyone else. Unfortunately, people who belong to the category of everyone else often like to tell different stories no less, but their listeners in this case, you can only regret. Indeed, an unfortunate person who is forced to listen to such a narrator for one reason or another, as a rule, thinks about anything, just not about what they tell him and only dreams of being somewhere far away from the annoying interlocutor who, as they say, “drives on his ears ”, not experiencing the slightest interest in the story.
It is quite another matter if you come across a person who really knows how to tell interesting stories. You cannot tear yourself away from your interlocutor, listen to him with bated breath, fully imagining the described pictures and events in your imagination, unconditionally empathizing with their participants.
So what is it - the ability to tell interesting stories, and is it possible to learn it? It must be said that this question is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Undoubtedly, interesting storyteller, this is a talent from God, he intuitively understands how to capture the interlocutor so that he listens with his mouth open, this is how famous writers and actors are born.
But, on the other hand, it is quite possible that such a talent is only dormant inside you, it needs to be awakened and slightly polished, removing all unnecessary. In this case, you just need to know what to pay attention to and you will become a master storyteller. Well, by the way, even if you just learn how to tell stories in a way that would be interesting to others, it's already not bad.
What is "superfluous" and how to remove it
Add some emotion to your story
Another enemy of a good storyteller is the monotony and melancholy of the story. Gradually, the listener loses interest in such a story, and if he has the opportunity, he tries to quickly escape somewhere. A talented and interesting storyteller will certainly add more emotion and drive to his story with the help of verbs, especially in imperative mood for example, often use the expressions "imagine", "imagine" so that listeners can draw the picture you are describing in their imagination. Pause briefly in critical areas to draw attention to your story. This will help you emphasize what has been said.
Don't make the start too long
One of the main mistakes inexperienced storytellers make is to abuse the listeners' patience by providing a long backstory to their story. Try to get straight to the point after two or three introductory words. In other words, in order to tell about the witch, you do not need to first tell the whole story of her family. It is better to immediately give an intriguing outset and go directly to the heart of the matter.
Well, and finally, the final advice
To learn how to tell interesting, remember: brevity is the sister of talent.
Storytelling: How to tell a story in an interesting way without turning it into a boring set of facts?
© Andrey SkvortsovStorytelling: How do you tell a story in an interesting way without turning it into a boring set of facts?
Storytelling is the buzzword that Harvard Business Review magazine named one of the best business ideas of 2006. The meaning of the idea is as follows: “ The best way to make a report or presentation and transfer knowledge is to tell a story. " The father of "storytelling" in the modern sense is considered David Armstrong, who outlined this concept in the book "Managing by Storying Around". However, there is evidence that people understood the importance of stories before him.
There is little doubt that the method is good. However, questions arise. How to choose the right story? How do you tell a story in an interesting way without turning it into a boring set of facts? Finally, how to create a story if there is no story as such, but there is only a lot, a lot of information?
In other words, how do you do it - storytelling? To find the answer, you have to figure out what this is - history.
Intuitively, we, and not only we, have long groped and use stories in our work. However, the theoretical basis and "decomposition" were found - guess where? - in textbooks for film scriptwriters. And among such textbooks, the book "Story" by Robert McKee turned out to be the most useful for us. Alexander Mitta in "Cinema between Hell and Heaven" describes (and much more interestingly) the same principles, but at McKee everything is drier and "more technologically advanced."
So, let's list history components successful.
At first, stories happen with character... We need a character. It can be both a person and an organization, but then it must be talked about as something animated. A character can also be a film presenter, a speaker, a real or even a "hypothetical" person, as well as any creature inspired by our fantasy.
Secondly, history is a must change... Changes. Moreover, the changes are value - that is, so that the character has something important in his life that was not there before. Perhaps this is the most important thing and required quality stories. Without it, there will be narration, but stories will not.
Thirdly, the story is interesting only when the viewer can empathize, subconsciously imagining himself in the place of the character. That is, the statement of facts is not yet history. And abstract history, too, in our case, is not history.
Further, if the event took place in reality, the formal framework is very important for it, or “ coordinates"- when it happened, how long, where.
The material of the story is developments... Common words can only be cement, not content. A story consisting only of common words, is a cement porridge. Searching for facts, events, examples is the most difficult, but also the most interesting task.
Now let's imagine that we have a task to convey some information about the company, some of its value, and we want to find or create a story for this.
The first thing to do is search. Read the corporate press, talk to people, rummage through the Internet and in your memory.
For example, in a film about a large metallurgical plant, the topic of employee care is raised. In the corporate newspaper, we find a wonderful story on the topic. There and then, on such and such a worker, several liters of molten metal poured out. However, the worker was not injured, as he was equipped in a protective suit in full compliance with safety regulations. And after this incident, he began to tell his colleagues about the importance of observing safety measures and even became an inspector, a highly respected colleague.
This is history. There is a character, there is an event that has a date and place, there are significant changes in the character's life. And this story tells about how the company cares about its employees, much more clearly and convincingly than any number of general phrases about "improving safety at work." And the main thing is not at all the fact that the worker did not suffer, but that this incident transferred him to a new quality - an instructor, that the company saw the benefit in this and gave him such an opportunity. In fact, the management has already applied "storytelling" - used a lucky chance for competent propaganda of safety measures. We can only repeat the find in the film.
If nothing is found at all (which is rare, but it happens), we can "create" history. We are not talking about fiction (in our, in essence, informational work, there is no place for it). It is about presenting information in the form of history.
One of the simplest but most effective techniques is to apply the “ did not know - found out - surprised - changed my attitude". This kind of change can happen with the presenter of the film, the speaker of the presentation, and with any employee of the company. Such situations are interesting because they allow the viewer to experience the same emotions (surprise, admiration) as the character. This technique is fully used in the anniversary film of Mostransgaz: a completely outsider for the industry, Kirill Nabutov discovers something that he never thought about - the complexity and interestingness of gas transportation technologies. The viewer, who has been “in the subject” for more than a dozen years, will be interested in looking at his daily work through the eyes of a beginner and be surprised with him. And the outside viewer will be even more interested in learning new things. Nice, working welcome.
In 2007, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, an Oscar for Best Documentary, was awarded the Climate Change Film. The film consists almost entirely of a series of stories, and every fact, every evidence in it is presented like a detective story. Even the graphs of climate observations are presented as "mind-flipping". And that is why it is not difficult to perceive them, despite their fair amount. In this film, there are many real life, serious, amazing stories. But now our special interest is a completely invented, and in some ways even stupid story of a cartoon frog. The author had to illustrate the idea in the spirit of our proverb "until the thunder breaks out, the peasant does not cross himself." To do this, the cartoon frog first tried to get into the boiling water and jumped out of it like a bullet (hot!), But it could sit for quite a long time in warm, but gradually warmed up water, and not show signs of anxiety until ... until ... until it will be saved. The frog was an image of humanity, not worried about climate warming, then until…. She was also a character in a fictional micro-story.
In other words, keeping in mind several principles of creating a story, any fact, any information can be presented in an interesting and not boring way.
The question remains, is storytelling always necessary? Perhaps not. If the audience is initially interested in information, it makes no sense to artificially add drama (especially if the information is negative). Indeed, in this case, the participant of the present, real story your listener is, and that may be more than enough for him.
Munchausen, Ronald Reagan - they were great storytellers. Watch their Youtube videos. ;)
How do you compose a story? What you should pay attention to?
Bright start (intriguing title)
It is advisable to come up with a bright, eye-catching, intriguing title for your story:
- "I want to tell you how I won a million dollars ..."
- “Have I already told you this about how I fell from the 10th floor? Well listen ... "
- “Once the CIA tried to recruit me. It all started at the university ... "
And it is not at all necessary that later in your story you won this very million or actually fell from the 10th floor. The purpose of the name is to attract, catch the attention of the audience, like on a hook. And if your name does that, great. If not, look for a more intriguing title for your bike.
Spectacular tie
A good start is half the battle.
Plato
Sometimes the story begins to be told from afar, listing boring, irrelevant details.
Once in the story with the title "Fight with the Shark" for the first four minutes the speaker for some reason told how they bought a ticket, then packed their things, then went to the airport, then flew, then got to the hotel, then settled ... And only after 1 minute before the end of the allotted time, he finally got down to the point: how they put on the scuba gear and began to descend under the water.
Voltage build-up
A speech needs an exciting beginning and a convincing ending. The job of a good speaker is to bring these two things as close as possible.
Rilbert Keith Chesterton
Each subsequent sentence in your story should help build tension. Your task is to whip up emotions, excitement, intrigue. Let the listeners listen with bated breath. Let their hearts sink and interest in your story grows with every second.
All phrases that do not contribute to an increase in tension, ruthlessly discard from the story. Or redesign them so that they add passion to your story.
- Such harsh censorship will also keep your story as short as possible. Only masters are capable of keeping listeners in constant tension for more than 3-4 minutes, so try to put your story in four minutes!
Climax and denouement
If in the first act there is a gun on the stage, then in the last act it should fire.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
And when the tension has already reached its limit and the audience is already exhausted with curiosity: “Well, how will the story end ???”, the time comes for a climax!
- The climax is like a “dead loop” in a roller coaster. All that came before her was just preparation. The culmination is the peak of experiences, an explosion of emotions overwhelming from within.
Interchange
At the moment of the denouement, secrets are revealed, secrets are unraveled, riddles are solved, miracles are performed, the accumulated tension is released. A good ending is something unexpected. As in a good detective story - until the last second it is not known how the story will end.
Completion-moral
The last word seems to me the most important of all words.
Bertolt Brecht
You can't pull off with completion. Long ranting after the climax will blur the impression of the whole story.
- That is, after 1-2 phases after the climax (while you are still at the peak), it is time to complete your story.
So that the ending is not too primitive: "This is how the story happened" - experienced storytellers usually end with a certain conclusion (morality), which they draw from their story. It can be a proverb, a saying, or the ending of your own composition.
- “So, friends, happiness is not in money, but in ...” (to the story about winning a million dollars).
- "God protects the beloved" (to the story about the fall from the 10th floor).
- "All that glitters is not gold" (to the story about the recruitment of the CIA).
This ending makes the story brighter and more memorable. At the end of the story, a sort of exclamation mark appears, clearly indicating the end of the story. Sometimes even an unsuccessful story can be saved with a beautiful and interesting moral that sounds at the end. So choose strong endings for your stories.
The non-verbal presentation of the story should also be at its best.
Dramatization
Play with emotions, intonations. Add acting skills. Don't be afraid to overplay! Your story should be a small show. A performance by one actor. Make it bright, rich, lively!
Draw images
God created us in his own image and likeness. But where is the confidence that he worked in a realistic manner.
Stanislav Jerzy Lec
In the course of your story, a fascinating movie should flash before the listeners' eyes. Therefore, it is important that your words evoke colorful images in the minds of the listeners.
You can say: "A man came up to me and asked what time it was." But there is no image, no picture. Therefore, such a phrase is not very catchy.
And if: “A man comes up to me. Height is 2 meters. Beard like Karl Marx. Instead of teeth - gold crowns. There is a tattoo on the forehead - a sickle and a hammer. And so hoarsely asks ... "There is already an image-picture, which is easy to imagine.
Feed the listener with delicious, vivid image images!
Keep pauses
"Sell" your culmination more expensively!
A pause in the right place builds up tension. Therefore, in the most important moments, take your time and pause. Especially before the climax.
One option: “We hear - someone is moving in the bushes. They turned around, and it was Vasya who returned with a bucket of water. "
Another option: “We hear - someone is moving in the bushes ... We turned around ... we all looked tensely into the darkness ... And then Laika suddenly whined and tucked her tail ... We have goosebumps ... Our faces are pale ... Everyone seemed to be numb ...” And we continue to build up tension , keep pause until the listeners' faces appear: “Well! Come on! No more strength to endure! "
We "sell" our culmination at a higher price! With the help of a pause, we add passion and tension to our story!
First person
Even if the story did not happen to you, it is better to tell it on your own behalf. Then, after the climax, you can reveal your cards - the case, they say, happened not about me, but with my friend. But as the story progresses, it will be much easier to involve listeners in your story if you speak in the first person.
Brevity
Nothing spoils a good story like a speaker's verbosity. The optimal time for a bike is 4 to 5 minutes. Not more! Be talented - keep it short!
Exercise: story of the day
Develop the ability to see interesting things in your life
Make it a rule every day at dinner to tell what interesting happened to you today. To do this, you need to find at least one minute during the day when you became a witness or a direct participant in an event that is worth telling your loved ones.
- This exercise develops, in addition to storytelling skills, the ability to “see” interesting things in your life. And also the ability to make a candy story out of the most ordinary incident, which everyone will listen to with pleasure.