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Articles by Nathan Baugh
Beginnings
A week ago, my friend Jack Raines published a book called Young Money. He has this knack for telling great stories that both make you laugh and make you think. Not many people can do what he does, so I asked him to tear apart the story he tells in chapter 1 to show you exactly why it works and how the storyteller thought about building it. Enjoy. In the real-world, I have a selection of tried-and-true “stories” that I know play well in different settings.
How to Write for a Living
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -46:13 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. ➡️ Get my FREE email course, Substack Launchpad, when you subscribe - you’ll get one email a day for 7 days to help build your confidence, consistency, and traction on Substack. Season 4, episode 6 is here! Nathan Baugh has wanted to write fantasy his whole life. He just needed a bank account crisis in Spain to finally make him do something about it.
The Great Library
This tweet got me thinking about what resources I'd recommend to someone who wants to become a better storyteller but isn't sure where to start. So, today, let's take a break from storytelling breakdowns and techniques to give you a curated list of my favorite resources to help you become a better storyteller. This isn't exhaustive but I've filtered it down to what's been the most helpful for me.
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Timeless stories
Make it timeless. Nassim Taleb says, “If you want to be read in the future, make sure you would’ve been read in the past.” Critics argue that Harry Potter is Star Wars retold with wizards instead of Jedi: To them, this makes Harry Potter a lesser story. A copy. A phony. Maybe. Except they act like Star Wars was an original. Even George Lucas disagrees: “I had an idea of doing a modern fairy tale. I stumbled across The Hero with a Thousand Faces. I began to understand how I could do this.
Steve Jobs' Storytelling Framework
Yesterday, I found a case study comparing the words Steve Jobs used in the 2001 iPod launch to the words he used in the 2007 iPhone launch. It shocked me how different the presentations were. One was highly technical, the other not. One was full of numbers, the other barely mentioned them. One read like a monologue, the other a story. Today, I want to talk through the storytelling framework Jobs used for the 2007 iPhone launch. Hope you enjoy — Nathan.
Show & Tell
Hey — Nathan here. You’ve heard the advice “Show, don’t tell.” But it likely came with examples like: “She was sad” → “She frowned” Not exactly helpful. So when the legend Trung Phan wrote about how Ted Lasso’s first 157 seconds nailed the technique, I reached out about a guest post. Today’s storytelling tip — show, don’t tell. From Trung’s great SatPost newsletter, which I highly recommend. A massive thank you to this week’s sponsor, LMNT. I’ve been on a rare cardio kick. But… I hate drinking water.
The Newsletter Playbook
Over five days, we will teach you the keys to growing your newsletter from 0 to 10,000 to 100,000 readers, building a cash flow machine along the way. We will break down the four business models for newsletters, the best social media growth tactics, the optimal tech stack, collaborating with other creators, and more.
The Rule of Three
Humans love patterns. We're drawn to them. We learn from them. We remember them. A 2012 study by Cambridge neuroscientist Daniel Bor found: Tldr: Your brain is a pattern-completion machine. The number three is the smallest number of elements needed to create a pattern. Two? One too few. Three? Spot on. Four? That's a lot to remember. See, three bullet points look natural. But this idea doesn't just apply to bullet-point structure.
How SBF used storytelling to build a fraudulent company
Welcome to 2,118 new World Builders. Each week, we study the best storytellers throughout history — from creatives to entrepreneurs — to become better storytellers ourselves. Check out past pieces here. With the SBF saga unfolding, I wrote about the dangers of a great story... A message from The Daily Valet. I subscribed to 100+ newsletters in 2021. I was figuring out what I liked and what I hated. Now, I barely get 15. But one I read every time is The Daily Valet. Why do I like it so much?
Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling (Part 1)
Hey friends, I re-read Ed Catmull’s book Creativity Inc (he’s a co-founder of Pixar) and it sent me deep down the rabbit hole. I came across Pixar’s “22 Rules for Storytelling.” They’re incredible, and I’m breaking each one down in a three-part mini-series. First seven today. You can check out last week’s piece on using data to enhance your storytelling here.
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