BBC Learnings · Section 6

What makes a good story

Let me tell you a story, Georgina. Are you ready?

Level: C1 · 114 sentences

Transcript

  1. Let me tell you a story, Georgina.
  2. Are you ready?
  3. Yes! Grandma had always warned me not to look
  4. into the mirror at midnight.
  5. There was something strange about that mirror, she said.
  6. How childish to believe silly stories!
  7. Later that night I heard a noise.
  8. I woke up, dark and alone.
  9. A clock chimed midnight.
  10. The floorboards were creaking as I walked towards the mirror.
  11. I looked into my face, reflecting in the glass,
  12. when suddenly my eye winked.
  13. Ah, stop Neil, you're scaring me.
  14. Sorry Georgina. OK, let's try another story.
  15. Once upon a time there was a beautiful servant girl.
  16. who lived with her wicked stepmother and two jealous stepsisters.
  17. Ah, that's better, Neil.
  18. And I know this story Cinderella more romantic and much less scary.
  19. As you can see from Georgina's reaction,
  20. telling stories is a powerful way to connect
  21. and communicate with people and the topic of this programme.
  22. Stories help us make sense of the world,
  23. which is why we've been telling them to each other for millennia,
  24. and why some of the earliest folk tales
  25. Stories that parents have told and passed on to their children over many years are still being told today.
  26. According to the novelist Sandra Newman and other academics,
  27. there are seven classic plot lines
  28. which are constantly being recycled into new stories.
  29. They include rags-to-riches plots like Cinderella,
  30. defeating the monster plots like Dracula,
  31. and other plots such as comedies, adventures and tragedies.
  32. So, my quiz question is this
  33. which of the following well-known folk tales
  34. is a defeating the monster story?
  35. Is it a bear-wolf, b Beauty and the Beast,
  36. or c Goldilocks and the Three Bears?
  37. Well, they all have beasts, bears or wolves in the title,
  38. so I'll guess b Beauty and the Beast.
  39. OK, Georgina, we'll come back to that later.
  40. It's interesting to ask how we can explain the lasting appeal of these classic plotlines.
  41. Someone who might know is anthropologist and writer Professor Jamie Tirrani.
  42. Here he is talking to BBC World Service's The Why Factor.
  43. See if you can spot his answer.
  44. Often the reason why we feel
  45. so motivated to pass on stories is because the stories
  46. do tap in to certain universal human fantasies
  47. and fears that will often transcend the concerns of particular times and places.
  48. We are intensely Most of the time,
  49. the bad guys have unhappy endings
  50. and the good guys have happy endings.
  51. We know that in the real world,
  52. it doesn't actually work like that.
  53. So there's an element of wish fulfilment that somehow satisfies
  54. our moral appetite.
  55. Stories from very different cultures often have plots with similar fantasies and fears.
  56. These human emotions are universal,
  57. meaning they exist everywhere and relate to everyone in the world.
  58. Classic stories work because they tap into basic human emotions.
  59. They understand and express what it means to be human.
  60. Unlike in the real world, stories can reinforce our sense of morality.
  61. Evil stepmothers get punished,
  62. Cinderella marries her prince and everyone lives happily ever after.
  63. In this way,
  64. they create wish fulfilment the achievement of what we
  65. really want and desire.
  66. Well, so much for plot lines, Neil.
  67. But that still doesn't explain how stories have the power to catch
  68. and hold our attention.
  69. Let's hear from novelist Sandra Newman,
  70. author of How Not to Write a Novel,
  71. a handbook of over 200 common mistakes.
  72. Here she tells BBC World Service's The Why Factor
  73. that her absolute number one storytelling rule is comprehensibility.
  74. People need to understand your story.
  75. There are some people who actually are so
  76. unfortunately bad at communicating that even
  77. when they tell a story to another person,
  78. it becomes incomprehensible.
  79. And gradually, as they stop making sense and ramble
  80. and digress and don't know where they're going,
  81. you see everybody not only lose interest but become hostile.
  82. People become very frustrated when someone is not getting to the point.
  83. According to Sandra,
  84. the biggest mistake is incomprehensibility or not understanding the plot
  85. because the storyteller is rambling talking in a confused way,
  86. going off the subject or not making sense.
  87. When listeners give a story their time and attention,
  88. they want the storyteller to get to the point
  89. start talking about the most important and relevant information.
  90. But to cut a long story short, Georgina,
  91. it's time to return to the quiz question.
  92. Remember I asked you which famous folk tale had a defeating the monster plot?
  93. What did you say?
  94. I said the answer was b Beauty and the Beast.
  95. Was I right?
  96. Your answer was...
  97. Oh, do get to the point, Neil!
  98. Wrong! In fact, the answer is A Beowulf,
  99. an Old English epic about the hero Beowulf
  100. who defeats dragons and beasts.
  101. Well, Neil, there are two sides to every story,
  102. as the saying goes, so let's recap the vocabulary we've learned,
  103. starting with folktales popular stories that have been told
  104. and passed down over generations.
  105. Many folktales contain universal ideas ideas which exist everywhere,
  106. in every age and culture.
  107. Stories tap into these ideas, meaning they understand,
  108. connect to and express them.
  109. Wish fulfilment means the achievement or realisation of things
  110. you really want and desire.
  111. A good storyteller will never ramble talk in a confused way,
  112. often going off the subject or not making much sense.
  113. And instead, we'll get to the point
  114. start talking about what is most important and relevant.