it’s a rough start: audio storytelling

Watching Ira Glass talk about storytelling was really interesting to me. I really loved listening to him talk about how difficult it can be to start or find a story that works. Not every story is going to work on the first try, we may find something that sounds interesting, but once you get started, it doesn’t work the way you want it to work. I feel like it’s important to reassure people that failure is a good thing, it’s important not to give up.

Hearing that it’s about luck can be disheartening, but it’s true. I thought about the many youtubers who just posted a video one day and all of a sudden, they were gaining thousands of views on each video. I also really enjoyed who he mentioned that everyone who creates theses stories have good taste. You can tell when what you made is bad, and you don’t ever really lose that taste.

I also loved hearing his old work, and how he was able to explain why it didn’t feel good to him. Practice makes permanent, and the same goes here. The more you do it, the better you may become. Sometimes, though, it can take a really long time! Ira Glass mentions how he had already been working for eight years when he created the example he showed, and looking back at it, he realized it wasn’t very good. Hearing him talk about this was very reassuring to me, helping remind me that I can’t always make things perfect. Especially not when first starting out.