I’ve just read yet another piece on the importance of stories for business that doesn’t actually explain how to find and write that story.

I prepared this for a client of mine recently:

1. Find your setting and characters and the context for your story.
2. All stories need conflict: what’s yours?
3. Let the action rise – expand on the conflict – until it gets to a climax (a point where things can’t go on the way they are, for example.)
4. Allow the action to fall, perhaps by deciding how to resolve the conflict.
5. Reach a conclusion about your story and begin to live it.

I’ve simplified massively but if you follow this structure it will definitely help you tell your story. Once you’ve found it.

In my experience, that’s the really hard bit and the difficulty is all too often glossed over. But you’ll know when you’ve found it because it feels right.