The User's Guide to Storytelling

The User's Guide to Storytelling is a fun, accessible book with light, sometimes humorous, text and lots of illustrations that will help the reader learn to write a good story and how to tell a good story well.

Storytelling is huge in America today. From live events like The Moth and Risk! and the National Storytelling Festival, to radio broadcasts like The Moth Radio Hour, This American Life and innumerous podcasts, people have rediscovered the simple yet powerful art of storytelling. But it doesn't stop there. Executives are hiring storytelling coaches to hone their delivery for board meetings, advertisers use long-form stories in their online marketing, and budding screen writers flock to Robert McKee's Story seminar all over the world.

This book is perfect for the person who just heard a 5-minute story on the Moth Radio Hour and thinks to themself, "I want to do that."

It is perfect for the nervous 29-year-old who has to give a toast as best man at his brother's wedding.

It is perfect for the business woman who is crafting a presentation for her next meeting and wants to make her message stick.

This book is an easily accessible, yet practical book that answers the question, "how?"

How do I take that experience I had and fashion it into a narrative that holds the audience spellbound and delighted?

This book will show you how.

Doug O'Brien is a storyteller, story coach, and seminar leader. He also teaches classes in Sleight of Mouth, NLP, Ericksonian Hypnosis and The Havening Techniques®. His podcast, "The Essential Coaching Skills Podcast," is popular weekly listening for many people and his first book, "The User's Guide to Sleight of Mouth," has been called "MUCH better than I thought it would be." If you google him he is not the hockey player.