"Forget Love – I'd Rather Fall in Chocolate"
Stories With Heart – a fortnightly round-up of the best storytelling, for people and organisations wanting to win hearts and minds by telling better, richer stories.
Hello story lovers, Sam Lightfinch here. Welcome to Stories With Heart.
As a strategic storyteller and speaker, I use strategy, ideas and creative executions to craft and share narratives that resonate with people and drive organisational success. Basically, I tell stories with heart.
Are you ready to pick at the scab of story, work at its edges, and test how much you can pull away before the blood surfaces and dribbles down your knee? Me too. Let us go at our crusty skin, and promise we definitely WON’T eat our crunchy ruby treasures once we’re done.
🏆 Story of the week 🏆
Homelessness Is Spiking | TBWA\MCR |
The UK government and councils have done some pretty shitty things (always good to begin with an understatement), and the rise of hostile architecture is quite a damning indictment of where we’re at as a country. So it’s nice to see some design agencies using their powers for good, with TBWA\MCR drawing public attention to anti-homeless spikes through this fantastic campaign.
As I’ve said before in this newsletter, a campaign isn’t going to fix the problem, but putting this story where people can’t ignore it is a solid first step. And that’s why it works – it’s uncomfortable viewing. It draws us straight to the problem, and the cruelty at the heart of it. People will still see those spikes long after the posters have gone.
Takeaway: If there’s a story you really care about, don’t wait for someone else to tell it. There are always thousands of reasons not to do something, but sometimes you need to put them all in the bin, set the bin on fire and do the damn thing.
Newsletter of the week
“Forget Love, I’d Rather Fall in Chocolate” | Harriet Richardson
What?! the inaugural ‘Newsletter of The Week’ mantle doesn’t go to this newsletter? I know, but don’t worry, I’m doing my best polite clap and smile for the camera. The exciting news for you, dear reader, is that another wonderful newsletter scooped the award.
Harriet Richardson is an ex-Pentagram designer turned performance artist who navigates intimate themes of love, sex, connection, and addiction. And her work is so compelling because she goes in deep. She’s a rare storyteller who leaves me feeling like I’ve read the warts-and-all story, rather than a prim and spruced editor’s cut.
Her newsletter is always a cracking read because A) I never have the slightest clue what I’m going to get, B) she’s got a knack for telling funny, compelling stories, and C) I always come away with more questions than answers, pondering my own existence like a monk having a particularly existential day.
Takeaway: The more people know about your story, the more compelling it becomes. Those who dare to share more will probably reap bigger rewards.
Bar of soap of the week
Beauty Never Gets Old | Dove | Edelman
The beauty industry is a bit like Ant and Dec – unsettling and off-putting, but so deeply ingrained in society and culture that we can’t help ourselves having a little look every now and then.
Here’s a nice bit of relief from the usual cosmetic guff, courtesy of Edelman for Dove. This multi-touchpoint campaign shows age as a power, rather than something to be feared. In the age of anti-aging, it shines a beautiful spotlight on the ‘thing’ that most sector products are sold to combat – now that’s a point of differentiation. More diverse representation across the board, please.
And while the cynical part of me wants to scream Dove and everyone else could have been doing this for years, and this campaign is probably just a strategy to make money, I’m going to keep that opinion to myself. Also, who am I to pass judgement – younger Sam did his fair share of grubby work.
Takeaway: People want to see themselves in stories. And it’s usually only a very small percentile that do. How can we make our story more inclusive?
Video of the week
The Shape of Stories | Kurt Vonnegut
Everyone has a model for storytelling. Joseph Campbell in 1949. Pixar. George Lucas. The guys who wrote South Park. Turns out, Kurt Vonnegut is everyone, too.
But he’s the only one I’ve seen with a chalkboard, making an audience laugh while he does it. He draws three story shapes – and it’s the last one you want to tell. Vonnegut says, “Every time it gets told someone makes a million dollars – you’re welcome to do it.”
Sure, he’s playing for laughs, but there’s a serious point underneath it all. People like patterns. We actually like the expected. We’re comfortable with stories where we already know the arc.
Takeaway: Sometimes, the best place to start is the most obvious. If you’re unsure what shape your story needs to take, drop it in a really basic story model. You’ll soon realise where you need to add tension or put some roadblocks in the way of your goal.
Article of the week
“Hilary Mantel Was My Mentor” | Guardian | Katie Ward
You’re here because in some small way you care what I have to say about storytelling. Well, Hilary Mantel has a bit more clout than me when it comes to the art of story. In this article, Katie Ward shares 7 insights passed down from Mantel to herself when she was a fledgling writer under the Wolf Hall author’s wing.
From ‘knowing how your story ends’ to ‘greatness and gentleness are possible’, these tips translate from fiction writing to leaders looking to shape stories for themselves, their teams and their customers.
Takeaway: Stories are everywhere. And so is advice about telling better ones. Go be a truffle hog, get your snout to the ground, and start sniffing.
My story of the week
“A Bird’s Erratic Footprints in The Snow”
Here’s a story about being an expert…
My brother is rebuilding a house. It’s a cottage from the 1600s. He’s got to redress ALL the stone.
I’ve stayed well clear so far, using the excuse, “Well, I’ve never chiselled stone before.”
Then, a fortnight ago, 3800 (the studio I work at) held our first values day. We have 4 values as a company, and the day was about embedding them in our heads and hearts.
The first activity was stone carving with Steve Roche and Lily Marsh. And, funnily enough, our time with them was based around the value of expertise.
Now it goes without saying that Steve and Lily are experts... and I was not.
But after an hour, it clicked how to roll the chisel in between my palm and fingertips. The toolmarks in the Welsh slate looked more uniform, like marks left by tiny tanks rather than a bird’s erratic footprints in the snow.
I carved a monogram, and then contributed a few grooves to a special piece of stone that’s going to become a totem for the studio’s first value.
A few hours of play definitely doesn’t qualify me as an expert (another 9,997 hours according to Malcolm Gladwell), but it reminded me that if you value being an expert, you’ve got to put the hours in – and that’s easier if you can find joy and excitement in that time.
I don’t think I’ll ever be an expert stone carver – but there is plenty of stone to practise on at my brother’s house.
THE END(ISH)
Hopefully, you’re here because you like stories, and not because some kind digital whiz took out some PPC ads in my name to funnel you here, like a moth to story’s flame.
If it’s the former, I’d appreciate it if you A) shared this newsletter with someone who might like it, or B) checked out my website.
If it’s the latter, then you’ve got two options. 1) get yourself some ad-blocking software. 2) throw your phone into a river so ‘those’ people can’t find you anymore. Or, you can always unsubscribe. No hard feelings.
Loved the Vonnegut video ❤️