Those who successfully build personal IP are good at storytelling. Even though they're using live action and telling the story to the camera, what you don't know is that a lot of work went into it. The creators of these personal IPs do not present content by simply moving or forging original content, but by gradually connecting the storylines to create an immersive feeling.
If you want to create your own personal IP, you must master the skills of writing stories. Only through interesting and vivid stories can your content get a better dissemination effect. Today, the topic I want to share is how to create a popular personal IP image through stories.
Table of contents
1. How to create a wonderful story.
3. Common techniques for writing stories
4. The mechanism of story dissemination is relatively unsound.
5. The principle of weak connection in the story
7. How is the human design abolished?
It is recommended that you read some books first, because writing a story is not an easy task. If you want to be creative, you need to know at least some content and techniques. It is difficult to create good works from an uninspired mind. Therefore, I don't recommend that your buddies take writing courses because they are of little help. Writing courses are more suitable for those who are already working in the writing industry, or those who want to improve their writing skills, rather than beginners.
If a novice wants to make money from writing, it is unlikely. Therefore, you need to start by learning basic writing skills. The following are some useful books: Stories, Scripts, Dialogue, and Ten Lectures on Fiction. Next, let's introduce these books in detail.
1. How to create a wonderful story.
Creation is a very interesting activity, and the story emphasizes the transformation of characters. Take "Rashomon" as an example. This book places special emphasis on revealing human nature and interprets the logic of the story from multiple perspectives. A man's gradual transformation of his humanity over time is what makes the story so appealing.
A good story must have the following three essential elements: the plot is coherent, the cause and effect are strong, and the characters undergo changes.
Why do so many people write unattractive stories or copy? The fundamental reason is that it lacks the following elements. With three examples as evidence, perhaps you will understand why.
After the king died, the queen died immediately after.
After the death of the king, the queen was deeply saddened, frowning and losing appetite all day long. Eventually, she too passed away.
If there is no causal relationship, these contents have no basis. Without causal constraints, changes between characters would be unconnected, and storylines would not be established. Hence how important causality plays in the development of the story.
When writing a story or copy, don't overlook any detail. While you may think that these details are unimportant and can be omitted, the audience will not know the full story of events the way you do. It is important to remember that the entire process was experienced and observed by you, and only you know the details. Audiences can only speculate from the information you provide, and if your writing doesn't make sense to them, it becomes a tricky puzzle that doesn't resonate.
A plot is an indivisible unit. You have to understand that humans connect through stories.
2. The value of storytelling
Through stories, we can convey ideas, values and cultural traditions to people. Stories are the most emotionally resonant form of expression, which can arouse resonance and reflection from the audience. In addition, telling stories can also improve people's comprehension and expression skills, enabling people to better communicate with others. Therefore, storytelling is not only an entertainment activity, but also an important educational and communication tool.
Simply telling a story doesn't make much sense, you need to make your story count. You might think, at the very beginning, I could offer my services for free as a public good. However, once you offer a free service, you will be slammed if you later try to charge for it. Take some of the bloggers I follow on Douyin as an example. At first they didn’t bring goods or live broadcast, but suddenly they started selling things and live broadcasting, and as a result, the comment area was full of foul language. In the current era of business, if your content and product are not tightly integrated, there may be great risks. Rather than being blamed, sell your product from the start. At least it makes me feel more comfortable that other people know you're making money from this in the first place.
Just look at those knowledge bloggers on TikTok, their appearance and demeanor emphasize how to teach TikTok skills. In contrast, my goal is to make money while also providing some educational content to help people get the hang of TikTok. Bloggers like Dong Shishi, Yi Yi, and Li Yizhou are doing very well.
If you want to learn how to incorporate commercial value into a storyline, I highly recommend watching a Thai commercial. The ad marvels at how well it blends a compelling storyline with commercial pitch.
In addition, there is another Internet celebrity named Qiu Qiyu who has become a smash hit on Douyin. His writing is amazing, I once came across an ad-laden video while watching a video, but his writing deftly directed my attention so I didn't even realize it was an ad. His copywriting was so captivating that I seemed to be immersed in it, until I slowly realized that what I had just seen was an advertisement!
3. Common techniques for writing stories
Writing a good story is not easy, and sometimes you might get stuck at the initiation stage and want to put your pen down. However, there are just a few tricks and rules you need to know to make your stories more engaging and interesting. Here are some recipes for success stories:
From the introduction I just made, you should be able to know that any fixed form can carry the word formula. Explain that there is also a fixed template for writing stories.
This formula is: Story = Goal + Difficulty + Effort + Ending
In this way, you may not be very clear, but after I bring the case, you should understand.
Let's take college students as an example:
Story: College students take the postgraduate entrance examination
Goal: to be admitted to graduate school in xx colleges and universities
Difficulties: going to bed late, waking up early, overcoming various pressures
Effort: how to work hard in the face of pressure
Ending: Admitted to graduate school
This is a common routine used when writing a story. If you think this routine is not enjoyable enough, you can add two more: accident + second effort + second ending.
Accident: Diarrhea during the exam
Second effort: do it all over again, work hard
Secondary ending: successfully landed
If you don't find it, with this logic, you can continue to add, two accidents, three efforts, and three endings. The continuous continuation of this kind of plot, in fact, is the same as a TV series. If you still don't believe it, you can watch a movie: "Wrestle! Dad", this movie uses such a plot.
4. The mechanism of story dissemination is relatively unsound.
If you still can't understand after I explain it, then I strongly recommend reading "Weak Communication". This book is written by a professor of Xiamen University.
"Weak communication" means that information, ideas or news are hindered or restricted in the process of communication, and cannot achieve the desired effect.
Using things around you for weak communication can quickly promote and produce good results. Weak propagation is a strategy to weaken yourself.
Why does this happen?
Because the weak are usually easier to pass on information, not many people live at the top of the pyramid, most of them are ordinary weak like me. Therefore, when I meet the weak, I always have empathy, and I am more willing to pay attention to their thoughts and opinions.
For example, if a student suddenly catches fire, if the principal handles it, there will be a power balance between the student and the principal. In this case, relatively speaking, students are at a disadvantage.
Suppose there is a song with lyrics that reads: "We ordinary people are really very happy". But if we change the lyrics to: "Our boss is really, really happy," then something is wrong. Ordinary people's lives are not easy, and when they receive good news, they feel happy. But what about the boss? Every day is a joy because the boss is always in a good position. If the boss dares to sing such a song, showing off and acting, then he is likely to be attacked and retaliated by others.
Those seemingly fragile stories tend to resonate more with the people at the bottom, just as songs expressing broken love are easier to sing than songs full of sweetness. Likewise, stories of hard revelations are more likely to stick in people's minds than stories of successful people. Of course, this is not to make you appear vulnerable on purpose. In fact, an overly strong image is not good. If you are too strong, the audience may feel inferior, so how can you win people's love? Instead, you can show your strength without showing off your abilities in front of me. We all know you're great, and it won't do you any good to pretend to be.
Simply maintaining a strong position is not feasible. We can get inspiration from superhero movies, their strength is very weak in the early stage, until they gradually rise later.
5. The principle of weak connection in the story
It refers to those seemingly insignificant details that are integral to building a story. These details are called weak links because they may form connections with other details in the story. The principle of weak ties has applications in many works of popular culture, such as movies, novels, etc. Through weak connections, not only can the story become more complex and interesting, but also enable readers or viewers to better invest in it and feel the existence of continuity.
If you have been on a high ground and cannot take advantage of relatively weak information dissemination, then you can consider using weak links. This means that when you are in the upper hand, the person you are connecting with may be relatively weak. For example, a person who graduated from Peking University chose to go home and raise pigs. This is not to belittle the pig raising industry, but to use this example to illustrate that among the powerful group of graduates from Peking University, the threshold for raising pigs is relatively low. Through this comparison, we created the concept of "weak link".
The same goes for connecting with people, whether it's boss and employee, or prince and Cinderella. When it comes to building your personal brand and image, don't be arrogant or you will turn off your audience.
Take the story of "Cinderella" and the prince, and the story of Liu Qiangdong and the milk tea girl as examples:
Why do we feel happy seeing Cinderella and the prince together? Because Cinderella is in a disadvantaged group, and the love between her and the prince makes us feel gratified and moved. However, outstanding entrepreneurs like Liu Qiangdong and people like Milk Tea Sister who have studied at Tsinghua University and Columbia University are not so novel to ordinary people. As much as we want them to be happy, it doesn't have much to do with our daily lives.
I want to ask you: When is a person most vulnerable? That is while eating and falling asleep.
Often people are most vulnerable in the inevitable parts of life. When we want to advance the storyline, we often choose the dinner scene as the background. As portrayed in the TV series "Heavenly Way" and "Celadon", these dramas full of human touch and sophistication all unfold wonderful storylines at the dinner table. Therefore, if you want to establish a unique character image, it is undoubtedly a good choice to shape it into a gourmet. Watch Zhang's video, each of his works is closely related to food, introducing Liuwei Dihuang Wan, Wahaha, country food and other food. Similar examples also appear in the short video of the Sannong scene, which focuses on food.
6. How to create characters
The first is the appearance characteristics of the characters, such as face shape, skin color, hair, etc., and the second is the clothing of the characters. The color and style of clothing should be selected according to the personality and identity of the characters. At the same time, it is necessary to describe the characters' emotions, thoughts and behavior characteristics according to their identity, personality and background, so as to make the characters more lifelike and three-dimensional. Finally, pay attention to avoid rigidity and kl Luqiong, and pay attention to detailed descriptions to enhance the artistic and realistic sense of the work.
In fact, the secret to portraying a character lies in discovering his or her flaws in detail.
Nowadays, the building of personal brand has been based on stories, so I hope to share some things related to small shortcomings in the form of stories. This story happened at Xiamen University. It tells the story of a group of students taking selfies, directing, and acting in a program called "If You Are the One on Campus". There are 5 boys and 12 girls as guests.
After the top three male contestants took the stage, they failed to win the favor of the female guests, and the lights went out one by one. But as soon as the fourth male contestant stood on the podium, he firmly attracted the attention of all the female guests present. This male player is not only good-looking, but also has a very good figure. In the end, the lights of all the female guests were not extinguished. However, in the last session, a female guest asked the male guest: "You are so perfect, do you have any shortcomings?" The male guest answered unabashedly: "I don't have any shortcomings." off.
In real life, it can be unsettling if a person is not aware of their own flaws. Even very good people cannot be flawless, they will have some shortcomings. If a person has a high self-esteem and thinks that he is perfect, he needs to try his best to discover his own shortcomings. This is true even for celebrities, but it is even more true for us ordinary people.
Look, Ma Yun said he was not interested in money; Liu Qiangdong revealed that he has prosopagnosia; and Lei Jun is even more amazing-the song "Are You OK" is a household name, and he is straightforward about his English accent. In addition, let's take a look at Shen Gongbao in "Nezha", he is a stutterer; Taiyi real person is riding a pig. This kind of weakening of the setting of excellent characters just improves the effect of character shaping.
Why do girls prefer slightly naughty guys over flawless guys? Take "Journey to the West" as an example, who is that boy with a slightly bad breath?
This is Zhu Bajie, he has always been honest and straightforward, he never hides his thoughts, and always mentions Gao Laozhuang. But his shortcoming is lust. Why is Tang Seng not popular? Because he is so outstanding, only people like the king of the daughter country dare to love him, and ordinary girls dare not approach him. If Tang Seng wants to become closer to people's hearts, he can show a little more emotion and create a little conflict, so that he will naturally be more popular.
Sometimes it's the little negatives that paint the characters better. Take these few movies and TV series as examples: "Remaining Sin", "Operation Mekong" and "Wolf Warrior 1". In these works, both policemen and soldiers have their own "little flaws". For example, the policeman in "Remaining Sin" is a bit like a punk. In Operation Mekong, sleeper cops smoke, play cards and drink. Nevertheless, this does not affect their image as heroes in our minds, but makes them more extraordinary.
7. How is the human design abolished?
Plagiarism is a simple vocabulary consisting of two words.
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Please Note: The following content is for reference only and cannot be directly translated.
Many people's personal IP images are almost exactly the same, which can make people feel uncreative. If this situation continues, individual IPs may face elimination. For example, a match girl who lights a match to keep warm is a sad story, but if a group of match girls light a match together, it becomes a refugee story.
In creation, there are no shortcuts. If you want to establish your own unique personal style, you must learn to create original content.
If you are not good at creation, then read more books. Reading more books will naturally generate inspiration and stimulate the desire to create.