原文: Ten Qualities of a Powerful Story

Photo by Patti Digh. I'll let her tell the story. Recently, the best presentations I've heard, and the most compelling business proposals, the most persuasive books, and the most effective blogs and blog posts I've read, have all featured very powerful stories. The word story (and the word history) come from the Greek root meaning "learning by enquiry". Stories were, at one time, interactive events, interrupted with questions from the audience. When we tell bedtime stories to our children they still adhere to that tradition. When we read a story we are engaged in an unspoken conversation with the author, asking her/him questions, filling in the blanks. I've been thinking about the best (and worst) stories I have heard, the cleverest jokes (a form of story), the most engrossing short stories and novels I've read, the (disturbingly few) good films I've seen this past year, to try to discern the qualities that make great stories so powerful. I've come up with these ten qualities: Personal, relating direct observation: A story can be in the third person, but it must still be from the personal perspective of the narrator, someone who was there, describing what happened as it happened. In that sense, every good story is really told in the first person. Conveyed naturally through dialogue and description: A great story does not need sentences that contain phrases like "he thought" or "she wondered" or "they believed". The audience needs to be there, a witness to what is said and heard and done, not told what is in someone's head. Tight, sequential, graceful: No words wasted, every word counting. And no flashbacks please; it's hard enough focusing on things in the right order. The essence of grace in storytelling, I think, is to let the story be told through you, to flow through you. You are just the medium.  Credible, transporting and real: Great stories have details, things that force you to take notice. Lots of sensory information, at least some of which should be subtle, specific. The clothing people wore, the way their faces looked, the sounds and smells and how things felt to the touch. So the audience gets transported there, they are there. Momentum and flow: Drama or conflict can give the story momentum (you want to know what happens next), but there are other devices to achieve it. many jokes (and fables) use repetition in threes, for example, where there is a pattern that leads you to anticipate what comes next. Surprise and serendipity are great, but there must be a flow to interrupt before the interruption has meaning. Characters you care about: This is especially hard in a short story. This is perhaps why sequels are so popular -- you already care about the character, so that work is already done. You can make characters charismatic and amusing, or have them face a struggle that is undeserved. But somehow you need to have the audience care about what happens to them. They must be sympathetic. Successful or famous or beautiful is not enough. Entertaining, funny, and/or imaginative: The story needs an imaginative spark even if it is a factual retelling. The imagination can be in your perspective, in what you as narrator notice and focus on that others miss, in your inference about what's important or what it means, in how you tell it or embellish it credibly to make it amusing. Space for the listener to personalize: Great stories leave enough untold that the audience can fill in the details and make the story their own, really feel themselves as part of the story. Metaphoric and educational or informative: Great stories not only amuse, they teach. They can teach directly by showing the audience what they missed not being there, or they can, more powerfully and subtly, teach them something about themselves by metaphor, by how the audience remembers or can imagine themselves in a similar, analogous situation, with sudden new insight about what it meant, or what they could or should have done. Told with passion and joy: For the audience the care about the story, the narrator has to show that s/he cares about it. Tone is important. What else? What other qualities do you think are essential to a great story? Category: Stories and Narrative

译文: 10个要点，造就引人入胜的故事

Photo by Patti Digh. I'll let her tell the story.

      近来（我发现），自己听过的最棒的报告，看过的最吸引人的商业提案，最有说服力的书籍，最印象深刻的博客和博文都具有这样的特色：引人入胜的故事。

     故事这个词（以及历史这个词）源自希腊语中的本意“在问题中学习”。故事是指一种交互进行的事件，在其过程中穿插着来自观众的提问。当我们给孩子们讲睡前故事的时候，他们依旧遵循着这个惯例。当我们读故事时，我们正沉浸在与作者的一场无声的对话中，向他/她提问，或是作出解答。

     我一直在想自己听过的最好（以及最烂）的故事，读过的最妙的笑话（故事的一种形式），最有意思的短篇故事和小说以及去年看过的（为数不多的）电影中最好的那部。我试图找出让这些精彩的故事如此引人入胜的奥秘所在。我得出了这10个要点：
     融入个人最直观的视角：故事当然可以以旁观者的口气叙述，但仍必须站在讲述者自己的角度来演绎，有些人只是呆板得叙述发生了什么。从这一点上来说，每个精彩的故事都是站在第一人称的角度来讲述的。

    以对话和描述自然地传情达意：一个好故事不需要在字里行间充斥这样的短语，像是“他想”，“她想知道”或是“他们相信”。观 众们想要的是身临其境，亲身听到看到主人公的所言所行，而不是被告知他们的脑子里装着什么。

    紧凑，连贯，优美：切忌语句罗嗦，做到字字珠玑。不要倒叙，因为要能集中精力保持正确的叙述顺序已经够难了。我认为，能够做到优雅地讲故事的精髓在于，让它通过你被传达出来，就好像流过你的身体一样。你恰恰是传播的媒介。

    精确传达，生动真实：好的故事总有让你注意的细节和事物。有太多需要感知的信息，其中肯定有一些是很微妙，很具体的。人们的穿着，面貌，声音，气味以及对事物的触感。这样听众们便会感到情不自禁，仿佛自己就在那儿。

    推动力与铺垫:戏剧性的场面或争斗会给故事带来推动力（你想知道接下去发生了什么），不过还有其他方法也可以达到这个效果。许多笑话（和寓言）会重复多次使用，这样就会形成一种模式让你预想到接下来发生的事。惊喜和意外发现很不错，不过在这些具有意义的小插曲之前，你必须做好铺垫。

    关注角色雕琢：这一点在短篇故事里显得尤其困难。这也是为什么续集会那么受欢迎的原因——你关注了角色，这样就已经成功了。你可以让角色充满魅力，引人发笑，又或者让他们经历本不会存在的战斗。不过你要用某种方式让你的观众去关心主人公的经历。让他们引人赞同。使其成功，出名，美丽是不够的。

    妙趣横生，充满想象：即使你是在复述一个故事，也要让它闪烁着想象的光芒。想象力可以存在于你作为故事的讲述者的想法中，集中在别人忽视之处，在你觉得至关重要或是有意义的地方，还可以用到叙述或是润色故事的过程中，使故事可信，有趣。

    留给听众自由发挥的空间：好的故事总会给听众留下足够的空间使其能够在故事里填补细节，创造属于他们的独一无二，这使得听众感到自己就是故事的一部分。

    寓意深远，具有教育意义和知识性：好的故事寓教于乐。故事通过向听众展示他们失去的东西从而使教育变得更加直接，又或者，故事能以一种微妙而更有力的方式，象是通过隐喻向读者传达一些有关他们自身的道理，通过让观者众回忆，想象自己身处故事中相似的境遇，使其对事物的意义，自己所能做的和应该做的事有新的认识。

    以热情讲述，用快乐演绎：对于观众们所关注的故事，讲述者必须表现出自己确实投入其中。讲述者的音调很关键。

    还有什么呢？ 你认为对于一个好的故事而言，还有什么特质是必须的呢？