#andrew linderman

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Stories With a Splash: 3 Tips for Surprising Your Audiences

Stories With a Splash: 3 Tips for Surprising Your Audiences

As most of my friends know, I’ve been following the Golden State Warriors, a professional basketball team, as they’ve moved closer to securing an NBA Title.  By all accounts, the team is outstanding: creative ball-handling, precision shooting and solid defense earned them the best regular season record in NBA history.  But what makes the Warriors so popular among sports fans and the general…

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Design in Mind: 5 Steps for Telling A Design Story

Design in Mind: 5 Steps for Telling A Design Story

Over the last three years, I’ve worked with a number of designers who have great ideas, but struggle to get colleagues or potential backers to see the power of their vision.  So if you’re a designer, how do you talk about your work effectively without falling back on blueprints or drawings? The answer, not surprisingly, is pretty straightforward: tell a story. To help you share compelling design…

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Second That Emotion: 3 Tips for Telling Emotional Stories

Second That Emotion: 3 Tips for Telling Emotional Stories

A few weeks ago, This American Life (TAL) broadcast an episode entitled “How I Got Into College”, which included a story told by a man in his 30’s about his early life.  In the story, a 13 year-old boy escapes from war-torn Bosnia, only to face violence and isolation at an inner city high school.  One day, the boy’s high school English teacher brings him to an exclusive private school and…

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That's So Funny! 5 Ways to Inject Humor Into Your Stories

That’s So Funny! 5 Ways to Inject Humor Into Your Stories

I’m a huge fan of Louis C.K.  Louis is a masterful performer whose spot-on observations of the human condition and casually neurotic delivery have won him praise from comedians (Chris Rock is a big supporter), filmmakers (he’s won 3 Emmys) and fans.  But what’s his secret? You guessed it: storytelling. It took Louis over 25 years to perfect his jokes and stories, but it doesn’t need to be such a…

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10 Ways to Use Storytelling to Improve Creativity at Work

10 Ways to Use Storytelling to Improve Creativity at Work

It’s Tuesday morning.  Your boss shows up at your desk two minutes after you arrive and says that he needs a “creative solution” to a problem.  You rub your eyes because you were up late catching up on Mad Men and Game of Thrones and now you’re slamming coffee just to stay awake. But just when you think your boss is gone, he pats you on the back, smiles and says, “I need your answer in an hour.”…

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7 Tips to Become a Better Storyteller

7 Tips to Become a Better Storyteller

Want to become a better storyteller?  Start by becoming a better listener. A few nights ago, I came across an article by Maria Popova over at Brain Pickings.  I was half-asleep, but I started reading anyway.  In the article, Maria recounts advice on how to become a better appreciator of music through active listening.  I perked up a bit.  According to experts, she says, active listening can help…

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What A Character! 3 More Tips on Creating Great Characters

What A Character! 3 More Tips on Creating Great Characters

As followers of this blog know, I’ve written extensively about Breaking Bad, the Emmy award-winning show on AMC that wrapped its final season a few weeks ago.  But I’m not here to praise the expert storytelling (ten Emmy awards), the suspenseful scenes (too many to name) or even the superb direction (Vince Gilligan is among the best in the business). I’m here to talk about Saul Goodman. Saul,…

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Put a Stake In It: 5 Tips for Building Tension in Your Stories

Put a Stake In It: 5 Tips for Building Tension in Your Stories

In preparation for Halloween last week, I started watching clips of Carrie, the Academy Award-winning horror film by Brian De Palma.  In the movie, Carrie does all sorts of paranormal and frightening things.  But after a few minutes, I started to wonder: What makes the scenes, and the story as a whole, so engaging? The answer turns out to be really simple: lots of tension. To help you keep your…

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