story has to earn the audience’s attention
Attention isn’t free. And it absolutely shouldn’t be taken for granted.
You have to prove to your audience that spending their attention on your thing is worthwhile. This can be a difficult thing to do, because attention is the most valuable resource we have control over. Most people are, rightfully, protective of it.
In today’s world, attention is a luxury. Everyone is trying to capture it, and winning the battle for attention is harder than it’s ever been before.
So how do we earn the audience’s attention?
To figure that out, we need to first understand the minds of the audience. What do they care about? What are they searching for?
It may be true that all people are different people, but we’re also all human beings with the same evolutionary path. If we can use story to tap into survival instincts, then we can assure that the story will capture their attention.
But how are we going to tap into deeply rooted survival instincts with storytelling and content?
The brain just wants to keep us alive. To do that, it has to try and control the environment around us. What we control can’t kill us. So the brain’s primary mission is control.
Our world is ambiguous and ever-changing. But change means a potential departure from safety. And since the brain wants safety, change equals danger to our brains. Danger makes us pay attention. So, change makes us pay attention.
Good storytelling is about creating moments of unexpected change that captures the attention of the protagonist and, by extension, the audience.
The beginning of a story is often called a hook. It “hooks” the audience and grabs their attention.
To do that, it has to stir up curiosity in the audience. A great way to do that is to create a moment of change. It has to be specific. Vague is boring. Specificity captures attention. “Things were this way, but now they’re a different way.”
The threat of change is also a great way hook an audience. If you can make the protagonist feel that specific change is coming, it has the same effect. Often, the anticipation is more powerful than experience.question❓ Why is this?
”There’s no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” Alfred Hitchcock
The way for a story to earn the audience’s attention is by creating a moment of specific change that hooks them in.
After we earn their attention, now all we have to do is keep it. The best way to keep attention is to keep people curious, and the best way to do that is to take advantage of our natural inclination to resolve information gaps.