What Is Your Life-Story? (Outline)
You can't beat a good story.
Whether it is a gripping drama, a star-crossed romance an outrageous comedy or a full-blown action thriller we love to suspending reality for a moment to step into another world.
Stories are immensely powerful way to share an idea or a journey. Without realising it our sub-conscious often is looking for ideas, clues and strategies to help us get on in the world. This could happen by providing cultural clues about good vs bad, hero/heroine vs villian, right vs wrong, etc. It is often the contrast between two sides or perspectives in a character or multiple characters that make stories so interesting. They fire up your imagination and often provoke questions about what you would do if you faced a similar challenge or opportunity.
What is your life-story?
In a way you can think about your life-story as a meta-story, an overarching story that comprises of categories of stories. These could include your health story, your relationship story, your career story, etc. There are also specific stories that reveal an interesting experience/moment in time.
At a basic level stories tend to follow a pattern:
- I was somewhere > I needed something > I went and got it or I didn't > outcome (+ve, neutral, -ve)
- I was somewhere > something unexpected happened > I dealt with it or I didn't > outcome (+ve, neutral, -ve)
What makes a good story?
The Plot
We all share a limited timespan in which to live our lives. By the very fact you are reading this means you are somewhere in the middle of your life-story. You could ask yourself what is the overarching theme? Is it a comedy, a tragedy, a romance, a heroic adventure, etc? What are the key events that represent the plot your story?
The Setting
What is the context and background to your main character? Where does the story take place? This is the surrounding environment that helps others to feel connected to the story.
The Characters
You are obviously the main character in your life-story, but what type of character are you? Archetypes provide a useful way to encapsulate your central character and it's traits. Who are the other characters that play a key role (good, bad or ambivalent) in your story?
The Conflict
What is the underlying conflict or struggle that the plot is centred around? For example, your life-story could revolve around trying to solve the internal conflict of who you really are and what meaning you want your life to have. It could also be the struggle against the threat of societal poverty, the fear of losing everything. It could also revolve around personal conflict by wanting vengeance or to prove someone wrong.
The Resolution
This is the strategy you used to solve your conflict(s). Herein lies the gold that those listening to your story would find valuable.
Exercise:
Have a go at writing your life-story so far using the framework below:
- What is the plot? (Drama, Comedy, Action, Romance etc)
- What are your key life events that the plot centres around?
- What is the background/context to your main character or supporting characters?
- Where does the story take place?
- Describe your main character/supporting characters in detail (use archetypes to help if needed)
- What were the points of conflict in your life-story that you have had to face?
- What were the strategies or paths you followed to deal with the conflicts?
- What was the resolution or outcome?
Once you have documented your life story so far, have a think about how you want the rest of your life-story to play out:
- Do you have unresolved conflicts that need to be dealt with?
- Do you have goals you wish to achieve?
- How do you want your main character to develop?
- What would be the ideal ending for your story?
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