5 Audience Needs, the Banality of Genius and a Really Useful Story Template

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10 stories we've enjoyed this week

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Hi All,
Just one thing from us this week.

This is closing very soon so I wanted to give it a final push. Last year we launched First Draft - our pro-bono consultancy offer to small organisations, groups, networks or collectives who work with under-represented communities. We mentored three different groups to help them develop formats that will help them create change.

This year we're offering the opportunity to four more organisations. If you fit the description then apply quickly, or if you know someone that you think would be right please share this with them.

Thanks for reading this week's newsletter and enjoy the stories.
Hugh

The Short Story

How 'Don't Look Up' Follows the Hero's Journey
(4 min read)

The Boys Who Ran Away From Home on a 747
(4 min read)

The Banality of Genius
(30 min read)

The Atlantic Spent Two Years Studying What Readers Need
(8 min read)

Collage and Social Media Flirting in the Victorian Era
(7 min read)

Weird Old Book Finder
(Tool)

How to Bring a Language Into the Future
(20 min read)

The Oatmeal: 8 Things I've Learned About Creativity
(8 min read)

Formats Unpacked: Kroll Show
(4 min read)

TV Cream: How We Used to List
(5 min read)

Victorian collage featuring photos and a watercolour background depicting various victorian men, women and children in a painted living room setting.

How can we help you?

Storythings is a strategy and content company based in Brighton and London. We'd love to help you with some creative and bold ideas.

Here's 3 reasons to get in touch.

1. You want to talk to us about content production: podcasts, videos, animations, illustrations, editorial.

2. You want to talk to us about content strategy or format development.

3. You want to create a brand or an identity that makes it easier to communicate your message.

We do other things too. We're very friendly and always enjoy meeting people, so get in touch.

The Full Story

How 'Don't Look Up' Follows the Hero's Journey
This is a great tool for anyone thinking about how their stories can have more impact through better structure. Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey has been mashed up with the Business Model Canvas to create this re-usable template. Here we can see how the template works for 'Don't Look Up'. I should say, there are spoilers.
(4 min read)

The Boys Who Ran Away From Home on a 747
What a story. In the 1980s, two Irish boys went out to play, caught a ferry and a train to London, then sneaked on to a 747 bound for New York City. Why? I won't spoil that for you. Just read the story. There's a film too, but if it's restricted in your area check out the trailer.
(4 min read)

The Banality of Genius
I went for dinner with some musician friends last night. I hadn't seen them in a couple of years and at one point someone asked "Have you watched Get Back?" Like most fans of the documentary, it's a question I don't think I'll ever get bored of answering. A couple of months after watching the series I'm still enjoying hearing what others have taken from it. The always interesting Ian Leslie jump in a at the deep end. It's a long read but he's a great writer and not a word is wasted.
(30 min read)

The Atlantic Spent Two Years Studying What Readers Need
From this study, they came up with five audience needs. They've published the list because the needs aren't exclusive to the publication - most content producers can learn something from the research - so they want to encourage other publications to share their research findings too. If you produce content, this is a definitely worth reading and bookmarking.
(8 min read)

Collage and Social Media Flirting in the Victorian Era
A fascinating read on the social impact of collage in 1860: "Many contain visual puns, or in-jokes and coded messages, strengthening our understanding of these albums' social function – something for men and women to chuckle over together. They were even, Di Bello suggest, a means of flirting – both via what's depicted on the page, and simply through providing men and women with an excuse for sitting close together, to flick through an album."
(7 min read)

Weird Old Book Finder
Tech writer Clive Thompson missed the serendipity of browsing libraries and used bookstores during the pandemic, so he made an open-source tool that serves up, as promised, weird old books: "I dig reading old public-domain books from the 19th/18th centuries. So I made a little search tool *specifically* for that. You type a query, it finds you one book that matches it -- and presents it for instant reading."
(Tool)

How to Bring a Language Into the Future
Until recently, it was nearly impossible to type in Urdu, a language spoken by 170 million people in South Asia and the diaspora. A few devoted developers and designers have made great inroads in taking this calligraphic script into the digital age without losing its Urduness.
(20 min read)

The Oatmeal: 8 Things I've Learned About Creativity
Regular reader Michael Newberry reminded me of this excellent set of comics from The Oatmeal. Each lesson is short and funny and very useful. I loved the metaphor about creativity being like travelling in a car when your ears pop. Sometimes you have to change elevation for the soundscape to become clear. Have a read. If you've read it before, read it again.
(8 min read)

Formats Unpacked: Kroll Show
If you're not familiar with the Kroll Show let this unpacking be the perfect introduction.
(4 min read)

TV Cream: How We Used to List
A fun distraction that shows you the listings of what was on telly twenty years ago this week.
(5 min read)

We hope you've enjoyed this week's newsletter. I'm sure some of your friends would love to read it. Sharing it would be really appreciated. If you've received this from a friend you can subscribe here and get it direct to your inbox every Friday.

Thanks for reading and see you all next week,

Hugh, Matt, Anjali and the team at Storythings

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5 Audience Needs, the Banality of Genius and a Really Useful Story Template

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