I think I need to get some professional help

As soon as they start playing, the audience goes wild and I think: 

“This is not going to end well.”

I’m at a Counting Crows concert, and it’s absolutely packed. 

The first chords of Mr Jones ring out, and the place starts rocking. 

But slowly the audience notices something strange. 

Everyone tries to sing along, but the rhythm is off, the verses sound nothing like the song we heard a million times. 

When the vocalist lets the crowd to sing the on their own, it’s great, but as soon as the song is over I can see lots of people looking confused and disappointed. 

“That was… kind of lame, right?”, my friend Lara says. 

It was. But I knew it was going to be. 

When we run out of beers, Lara offers to go up to the bar and I say, 

“It’s ok, I’ll go in a bit, the bar will be packed in the next few minutes.”

And that’s what happens: they start playing something from their brand new album, which nobody seems to have listened to, and there’s a rush to the bar. 

The song after that is popular but I don’t like it much, so I pop over, get a couple of beers and I’m back in no time. 

“Wow, that was fast!” Lara says. 

It was. But I knew it was going to be. 

After the concert, I bump into someone else I know.

“Hey man, great concert, right?”

“Sure, but I’m still annoyed! I spent most of it dying to go to the bathroom but I didn’t want to miss that song from the Shrek soundtrack–and they never even played it! What a letdown… ”

It was. But I knew it was going to be. 

Because here’s the thing: 

I don’t really like surprises. 

Before I go to a restaurant, I always check out their menu online to decide what I’m going to eat. 

I organise my barbecues weeks in advance. 

When I’m close to finishing a book, I choose the next one I’m going to read. 

And before I ever go see a band, I check out the setlist of their previous concerts.

That’s how I knew, from listening to other live recordings, that Mr Jones always sucks. 

That’s how I knew the easiest time to grab a beer. 

And that they never play that Shrek song live. 

I was feeling pretty proud of myself after the show, my preparation massively paid off. 

But I must admit that, right now… I’m not so sure. 

Seeing all this in writing, it looks less like planning and lot more like…

Well… 

Neurosis 😬

Maybe I should see someone about that… 

Some surprises are great

Every story needs something surprising–or, at least, unexpected. If the audience knows exactly what is going to happen, why bother telling it? 

The surprise doesn’t need to be some sort of crazy Sixth Sense/M Night Shyamalan twist (I’m probably dating myself here!). All you really need is a funny thing someone said, an everyday situation taking a weird turn, or even something a little strange you thought about. That will often be more than enough. But you do need something. 

And if it's genuinely wild, all for the better.  

Some… not so much 

But the point of your story should never be a complete surprise. Just like a good crime story, there should be enough clues of what’s coming. It's ok if some audience are able to guess it before but, when you say it out loud, everyone should immediately know how you got there. 

You do want, “Ah, yes, that makes complete sense” or “I thought that was where it was headed.”

You don’t want, “Oh. Ok. Didn’t really see that coming” or “Hm, I thought you were going to say something completely different.”

Plant the seeds early on by having your character be (or do) the opposite of what they’ll learn at the end: 

• Start confident, end doubting yourself 

• Start doing everything yourself, end being a team player

• Start selfish, end recognising you need help

You get the idea ;-) 

For some things, we need professional help. 

But your stories… 

Are not worth getting neurotic about 🤘

-Francisco 

If you're into podcasts, you'll probably like this:

The SpeakerPath, featuring my partners-in-crime Brian Miller, Iona (Jo) Jongsma and me!

We already have a bunch of episodes out covering all things speaking (including, of course, storytelling).

You can check it out on Spotify, YouTube or wherever podcasts are found!

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