How to Tell Captivating Stories in 103 Minutes – Nat Eliason

Sign Up for "Writing Examples" and Learn From The Best Writing of All Time: https://www.writingexamples.com Two words: Storytelling. Masterclass. Yeah, yeah, we know — “become a better storyteller” is probably the most basic writing advice out there. But this episode is far from basic. It’s all about the storytelling advice you actually need that you didn’t get in school. Once upon a time, Nat wrote online SEO blogs: simple, generic, and kind of boring. What he really wanted was to write a memoir: something narrative, beautiful, and exciting. But his storytelling skills didn’t match his vision. So, for two years, Nat disappeared into a cave to master the art of storytelling. He emerged with Crypto Confidential, a captivating memoir that Grammarly hates and readers love. And in this episode, he reveals the not-so-basic tactics he learned as a self-made storyteller. Want to write stories that people actually read? This episode is for you. WRITE OF PASSAGE: Want to learn more about the next class for Write of Passage? https://writeofpassage.com/ SPEAKER LINKS: Website: https://www.nateliason.com/ Twitter: https://x.com/nateliason Instagram:   / nat_eliason   TikTok:   / nateliason   Newsletter: https://substack.com/@nateliason Book: https://a.co/d/7axrA8F PODCAST LINKS: Website: https://writeofpassage.com/how-i-write Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSbo... TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:12 Ways to get better at writing 00:12:15 Working with publishers 00:16:40 "The Grammarly Problem" 00:21:50 Writing commercially viable books 00:26:30 How to write for different audiences 00:30:05 How writers are not perfect 00:32:45 Promise, Progress, Payoff 00:36:05 Conflict and suspense 00:38:25 Losing $100 million 00:40:20 How to tell great stories 00:45:15 Writing good dialogue 00:49:00 Intention and obstacle 00:52:28 Writing Examples: John Steinbeck 00:56:30 What is good vs not good writing 01:04:30 Learning from big problems 01:09:55 TikTok for book marketing 01:16:00 Insecurity 01:22:20 Fire round! 01:22:30 Using all 5 senses 01:23:50 Keep the inner enemy in mind 01:24:55 How are you changing 01:25:55 Stimulus, Internalization, Response 01:28:55 Antagonists opposition clear 01:32:10 Four components of a story 01:34:15 Writing with AI ABOUT THE HOST: I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.