One thing I always preach when you’re telling a story, is that the focus of the story should always be on the “struggle” part.
For example…
A few days ago, I saw a post on Facebook from my friend Holley saying there was a little husky pup who was running loose in a field about 40 minutes outside Austin.
The pup was all alone…
Sleeping in the freezing cold…
And scrounging for anything to eat…
Apparently he was dumped in the field a few weeks ago with two other dogs.
Sadly, neither of the other dogs survived…
So the little husky was all alone…
Left to fend for himself.
I knew it was only a matter of time before he’d be dead as well…
Either from starvation…
Or from the packs of coyotes that roam the fields…
So on Monday, I drove out there to see if I could find him.
We looked up and down the fields…
We trekked the dirt roads…
The result?
Nothing.
He was nowhere to be found.
At this point we had been searching for him for nearly an hour.
And my fingers felt like icicles.
So we were gonna pack it up and call it a day…
And that’s when our luck finally turned.
Cause as I was getting ready to leave, I saw something move in a pile of leaves by the trees.
I couldn’t tell what it was…
I thought it was just a squirrel…
So I walked a little closer.
And when I got about 40 feet away, I realized it was a little tail wagging under the pile of leaves.
It was the husky!
The poor guy was hiding under a big pile of sticks and leaves from god knows what…
You could tell he was scared…
And hungry…
So we went slow with him…
Little by little we tossed him some hot dogs to eat…
Eventually he warmed up to us.
And he let his guard down.
And we were able to get him in the car, and get him inside.
Like I said this was on Monday…
And since then he’s been enjoying life at my house…
Yesterday he spent most of the day sunbathing in my backyard…
He’s also getting an endless amount of belly rubs…
And enjoying some steaks.
So he’s living the dream right now.
And I’ll probably hold on to him until I can find a long-term home for him.
So he’s in good hands.
Now, the reason I shared this story is because there’s a very good lesson in here.
And the lesson has to do with storytelling.
Whenever you tell a story…
You want to put most of the focus of the story on the “struggle” part.
Not the happy ending.
Why?
Cause the struggle is what pulls people in.
The struggle is what allows people to empathize with the main character (in this case, the husky).
Without the struggle, there’s nothing interesting about the story.
So when you’re writing a story…
Make sure 80-90% of your story is about the struggle.
Cause that’s what people empathize with…
And that’s what keeps them reading.
Keep that in mind.
– Justin
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