Story Structure
"Phewf!"
So you've brainstormed an audio story, done a little research, conducted and transcribed your interviews. Now you can focus on putting the pieces together, starting with story structure.
Storytelling can be daunting, but remember, many of the same things that make any story good will probably serve your audio story!
As you begin to create your script, reflect on the following questions:
How would you tell it to a friend?
What is the plot of your piece?
BEGINNING - MIDDLE - END
What has changed over the course of your story?
Who are the story's characters? How do you introduce them? How do you develop them over time?
What will your role be as the producer? Do you simply want the components to flow into one another, or will you include narration as well? (If you haven't done a lot of audio work, it can be helpful to err on the side of including narration for clarity's sake.)
Remember, it's an audio story. How can you exploit the audio format?
Where does emotion or gravity come through in your interviewee's voice? How can you highlight these moments?
What kind of background music, if any, well help set the mood for your story?
How can you build different scenes in the story with sound?
How can your own performance as a narrator shape the experience of listening to your podcast?
Common Story Structures
Every story will be structured somewhat differently. Even though your story structure might change over time, it can be helpful to get something down early rather than staring at a blank page. Former Rhode Island Public Radio reporter Bradley Campbell shared a few common story structures with members of Now Here This, an audio storytelling collective for Brown and RISD students. (**These drawings and a lot of the language of their explanations are from a Producer Handbook made by former Now Here This Managing Editors Alex Hanesworth and Mitchell Johnson. The full handbook is available under the More Resources section of this site.**)
Spaces + Exclamation Points Structure: Plot Points Meet Reflection
The above structure is often used by This American Life. In this drawing, the dashes represent plot points, and the exclamation points moments of reflection or meaning. Of course, the number of dashes and exclamation marks can change based on what the story needs.
The Trough Structure. Alot of STUFF in the Middle.
You might notice the structure at left in stories on popular news programs like All Things Considered.
As Alex and Mitchell explain it, "The story starts in one place (the line) and dips into a whole bunch of reporting/information (the trough) before coming back to the same or a similar moment. So, let's say you start with a scene of a candidate for city council knocking on doors in the neighborhood (the line), then you jump into all the contextual/journalistic information the story needs, maybe you interview someone else—an expert, or the opponent—or drop a bunch of statistics. Then, you come back to the door knocking scene (or a town hall, or a campaign speech—anywhere that's back in the present) to close out the story (this is the second flat line)."
The "e"! A Classic Story Structure.
Alex and Mitchell again: "Basically, the story starts in the middle, then loops back to the beginning, then ends in a new place. It works because the middle can act as a "hook" to get listeners invested in the story. The most interesting, tantalizing moments often happen midway through—you can lead with these moments, then go back to the beginning, then hear the middle again in a new light, and then push forward into something totally new!"
Still not sure what fits? Go to your transcript.
Draw out parts that feel important to you. Start lining them up. What background information might someone unfamiliar with the story need in order to understand what's going on? How might you carry a listener from one piece to the next? There are infinite ways to structure an effective audio story.
