Storytelling is Powerful

Lately, I am filled with small epiphanies. This morning, it was a commercial so powerful I said, "Wow! How'd they do that?" It was all in the storytelling. As writers, and hopefully as humans, we know that words are powerful. And words tell stories. Storytelling is very powerful, too. The commercial had no music. It was a regular guy talking in a regular way, an advertisement for a restaurant. He started out by saying, "Let me tell you about something funny that happened to me the other day." He's walking down the street with a big ol' ice cream cone, enjoying life and the nice warm weather. Someone stops him and says, "Hey, man, where'd you get that ice cream cone?" And he answers with the restaurant name (I already forgot - but it's in a town an hour and a half from mine), "You know, the place right on Main Street, across from the Court House?" The onlooker asks how much it cost ($2.00) and then offers the man $4.00. The man on the commercial says, "I licked that ice cream all the way around and handed it to the guy. 'I'll take $5.00.'"

I could just SEE this ice cream being licked, FEEL it even. I could SEE and HEAR this conversation actually happening, like a scene from a book. I really wanted an ice cream cone after that powerful commercial. So tell your stories. Tell them to the world. They are powerful, and so are you. And go eat some ice cream. Happy 4th of July!

Come back tomorrow for our HIGH FIVE interview with a debut author!