Cooking up a Story? Check your ingredients!

That’s what was left of the Creamy -Garlic Mushroom Chicken that I made for dinner last night. I grabbed my phone to take this picture just before I dug into the last of it on my plate. So excuse the quality of the picture. It does NO justice to the amazing meal I was eating.

I cooked this one for the very first time and I was marvelling at my culinary skills! You know, it was one of those rare times when I cooked something from an online recipe and it turned out exactly the way it should have.

My son said, “Mumma, you must make this again!” Now that is a rare one and my heart went, “aww! Of course baby, I will make it again.”

But then, didn’t I promise to never make this again even before I finished cooking it the night before?

The herbs & garlic threw up fumes that made my husband choke furiously. Through his tears and bouts of cough, I was already regretting experimenting with dinner. I should have gone with something that I had made many nights, a safe options, regular chilli chicken or curry, perhaps?

I was distracted and I made a note to myself, “Let’s not do this again!”

Err…now what?

But then, of course it had turned out perfect! How could I have gone wrong? There are 3 powerful ingredients…butter, cream and cheese.

Let’s not forget the chicken, mushroom, garlic, parsley & a bunch of herbs to add flavour.

But then, having the right ingredients is only have the job done. Right? Imagine having all the best ingredients and still ruining a meal? You have to know HOW to use the ingredients in the right measure.

Do you agree?

#Storytelling is pretty much like cooking.

We may gather all the ingredients of a good story, but we may still go wrong. Ever failed while telling a story someone’s told before? That’s like failing to follow a recipe that you have read in a cook-book!

So, what are the ingredients of a good story? Let’s take a quick stock of your story pantry and see what are the Essential Story Ingredients that you MUST have.

CHARACTERS are the backbone of a story. You can’t cook a dish without vegetables, pulses or meat. While the central character is the hero of the story, the other characters challenge, support or complement the protagonist’s narrative. In my dish chicken, garlic & mushrooms are the characters.

EMOTIONS add flavour to a story. A story is made interesting with the range of emotions that characters feel. Similarly, we can accentuate flavours in a dish by adding salt, spices & herbs. A story also evokes emotions in the audience. Just like a well-cooked dish evokes emotions of satisfaction and joy, a well told story will leave the audience with strong emotions.

To me, a story is made most interesting by its CONFLICT! Let me say it, conflicts make stories compelling! They add a sense of mystery, a stroke of adventure and a whiff of action making a plot story-worthy. Conflicts can be internal or external or a mix of both. How the protagonist deals with the conflict is the real story! Now conflicts in cooking are BAD. No one wants the dish to go wrong, but then if you are a position like me who had to replace parmesan cheese with mozeralla, you would have to wait till the end to see the outcome of the dish! So yes, some conflicts are good in cooking, just like conflicts make a story perfect.

The NARRATIVE ARC in a story binds a story together so that a reader / listener / viewer follows it through the beginning, middle & end. The character undergoes a change during the story and so does the audience. Similarly, cooking a dish requires you to follow the recipe in order so you may be prepare and follow the steps in order. Imagine switching on the gas AFTER you have added all the ingredients in the pot?

Last on the list of absolute essential ingredients in the story pantry is a SECRET SAUCE, a special concoction made up of your belief (in the story), your authenticity, your desire & intent (why are you telling this one story and no other?) the SPARK that you want to ignite in your audience. While cooking, it is all about your love for the people who you’re cooking the meal for, your mindful attention to cooking and the belief that you can cook a meal for your family, even when you are NOT a gifted cook.

What do you think of the Story Ingredients? Do you have them in your pantry?

Share your thoughts, questions and yes, recipes with me.

I am curating a community of Storytellers on LinkedIn who would share stories on the platform. Come, join the community at Cha, Golpo & Adda and let's serve up real stories with our secret sauce.

#LiCreatorAccelerator #LinkedIn #Storytelling #StoryCoach #StorytellingwithRituparna #YourStoryBag