Jon Ronson, Flower Sculptures and Stories to Inspire

Hey all,

This week we had our first open show-and-tell session, Proper Fancy. It’s a very relaxed hangout for people to share inspiration and chat. Jump to the bottom of the newsletter for more on that, or join us on May 25th for Proper Fancy 2.

Friend of Storythings Rifa Thorpe-Tracey is hosting another Creating Abundance 4-week course. It’s designed to help creatives get unstuck, maximize their income potential, and have fun while doing it. Sign up now.

That’s it from us for this week. Enjoy this week’s stories below and have a fantastic holiday weekend.

Hugh

How to Write a Story That Inspires (7 min read)

Breakdown What You Love About What You Love (5 min read)

The Future of Social Media is a Lot Less Social (5 min read)

I’m Usually Pretty Good At Naming Things (4 min watch)

Formats Unpacked: Married At First Sight Australia (4 min read)

The Origins of Creativity (12 min read)

Jon Ronson’s New Podcast (Podcast series)

Followers: So What Do These Numbers Really Mean (7 min read)

F*CK OATLY - Oatly Tackles Brand Criticism in An Interesting Way (5 min read)

Stunning Frozen Flower Sculptures (1 min read)

How can we help you?

Storythings is a strategy and production company based in Brighton, London, Bristol, Berlin, and Ibiza. We'd love to help you with some creative and bold ideas. Here are 3 reasons to get in touch. 

1. Audience Strategy - Do you struggle to understand constantly changing audience behaviours, and what strategies you need to reach them?2. Content Format Development - Do you want to develop and test content formats that give you a direct relationship with your audience? (e.g. newsletters, podcasts, publications, or video series).3. Production - Do you need help creating and running an existing or new content format, and growing loyal audiences around them?We do other things too. We're very friendly and always enjoy meeting people, so get in touch. 

How to Write a Story That InspiresThis article is part of a much bigger piece of work based on creating news stories for user needs. I highly recommend this model for developing content. It’s an approach we at Storythings have been practising for years. This piece gives some great advice on how to write for one of those user needs and provides advice on formats, how to write titles and some pro tips. (7 min read)

Breakdown What You Love About What You LoveThere’s a really great quote in this piece about breaking down what you love. It really gets to the heart of why we spend so much time writing this newsletter and our other newsletters, such as . If you want to be a good storyteller, then you need a set of processes that help you evaluate what makes a good story: "With food, a cook can look at a recipe and make the dish. A chef can look at a dish and make the recipe. With writing, he said, ‘I encourage my students to think of themselves like chefs rather than cooks.’”(5 min read)

The Future of Social Media is a Lot Less SocialFacebook, TikTok and Twitter seem to be increasingly connecting users with brands and influencers. To restore a sense of community, some users are trying smaller social networks. The New York Times takes a look at some of the networks that are catching the attention of those looking for something more authentic. If you want to dive deeper, there’s also this useful piece on the new wave of services rising to meet the crumbling empires of attention.(5 min read)I’m Usually Pretty Good At Naming ThingsI love the editing in this short film. If you’re going to make a film about the art of collage, this is how you make it feel like the thing the film is about. There’s something really important in the message here too: it’s all about surrender and trusting the process. A lovely film that you should spare 4 minutes for. (4 min watch)

Formats Unpacked: Married At First Sight AustraliaI’d been looking for a new binge. Then Rob Alderson asked me if he could unpack Married At First Sight, a show I’d ignored so many times despite recommendations from my friends. I gave it a go based on Rob’s unpacking, and now I’m hooked. Find out what this format gets right that similar formats don’t. And get in touch if you’d like to unpack a favourite format.(4 min read)

The Origins of CreativityAn interesting read from the New Yorker on the origins of creativity which, according to a new book, was devised in post-war America, in response to the cultural and commercial demands of the era. (12 min read)

Jon Ronson’s New PodcastI’ve just finished listening to Jon’s new podcast and it’s brilliant! It tells the story of a Tulsa debutante who, as a result of a series of unlikely and often very bad life choices she made in the ‘90s, found herself in the midst of one of the most terrible crimes ever to take place in America. If you’re a fan of Jon’s writing style you may be interested in this one-day masterclass he’s doing in London on May 28th. (Podcast series)

Followers: So What Do These Numbers Really MeanIn the third piece in this series that looks at audience attention, Matt Locke takes a look at the history of ‘Followers’ in social media and how the value of followers has diminished as the ‘game’ of social networks changed. (7 min read)F*CK OATLY - Oatly Tackles Brand Criticism in An Interesting WayPeople have been boycotting Oatly on a range of issues. So rather than sweep the criticism under the carpet, they’ve gathered it all together in one place and tried to give more context, show how they’ve listened and correct any misinformation that is thrown their way. How else have brands addressed criticism in an interesting way? If anyone has more examples, please share them in the comments. (5 min read)

Stunning Frozen Flower SculpturesThese are beautiful!: “Arranged on a scaffold and surrounded by a field of snow, bunches of flowers and foliage in a range of colors and textures are doused with water before they solidify into thousands of icicles. The artist and a team of assistants worked through the night, waiting until temperatures were at their lowest so that the ice would form quickly. The following morning, the sun revealed the finished composition, and by design, ultimately melted it.”(1 min read)

On Thursday we held our first Proper Fancy event. It's like a team show-and-tell for people who don't have a team.

Come and get some inspiration: Thursday 25 May 1 pm (BST). Leave your details here and we’ll send you a Zoom link.

Here are some of the things shared at Proper Fancy this week:

DS&Durga - Visual identity and copy

The First Romantic Comedy Ever Written By Bots - Video

The Sound of Mexico City - Interactive story

Nordorff & Robbins - Rebrand

Open Circuits - The inner beauty of electronic components

Join us in May for more inspiration and chat.

We hope you've enjoyed this week's newsletter. I'm sure some of your friends would love to read it. Sharing it would be really appreciated. If you've received this from a friend, you can subscribe below and get it direct to your inbox every Friday.

Thanks for reading. We’ll see you all next week.

Hugh, Matt, Anjali and the whole team at Storythings.