Ira Glass on Storytelling

      Something that I gained from group discussion and that Ira Glass reiterated for me is that my story, in order to be interesting, should constantly be baiting listeners. To do this I played up a faux love story only to answer the ‘why?’ with something unexpected. It makes my story more entertaining to hear. I guess I came to this realization after my original story had failed. Glass mentions that this failure is important to storytelling. He says that failure is a part of success, and although he was specifically talking about interviews, it is still relevant to my audio. 

     In part three, Glass, makes fun of himself by playing an old clip in which he places emphasis on every third word. This made me revisit my story and I realized that for some words I was doing the same thing. I wanted these words to hold poetic weight, but if I had just spoken like a normal human being (as Glass says in part 4), then my story would have been more compelling. When I revised and re-recorded my story I spoke far more conversationally. I hope that it has made a difference although; I also think that my story would sound better if it appeared as though I was speaking to my group of friends and telling them all that they have done for me. With some more peer feedback I feel confident that I will be able to flesh out a story that I am happy to turn into a final project.