Matthew Dicks - Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

Praise for Storyworthy and Matthew Dicks

Offers countless tips, exercises, and examples to get you on your way to better stories. Anyone who wants to take the stage, become a better writer, or simply tell better stories at Thanksgiving will benefit from Storyworthy.

Jeff Vibes, filmmaker

I laughed, gasped, took notes, and carried this book around like a dear friend because thats exactly what a storyworthy book should be. As a novelist, Ive studied my craft in countless ways, but never before have I seen its marrow revealed with such honest, approachable charisma. Matthew Dicks has written a perceptive companion for every person who has a story to tell and dont we all?

Sarah McCoy, internationally and New York Timesbestselling author of Marilla of Green Gables and The Bakers Daughter

Matthew Dicks is a master storyteller and an incredible teacher. Most importantly, he is an artist who paints his verbal canvases with moments that change how his listeners see the world. Matt taught me about the hidden arc and architecture that lie behind every well-told story, and Ive incorporated his techniques into innumerable courtroom presentations and told several stories before live audiences all thanks to Matt.

Ron Apter, trial lawyer

When I gave Matthew Dicks a recurring spot on my podcast, I billed him as the most interesting man in the world. He really has lived quite a life. But whats truly interesting is not necessarily what hes experienced but how he makes you, the audience, experience it through him.

Mike Pesca, NPR contributor and host of Slate magazines daily podcast, The Gist

Learning from Matthew Dicks has truly been life changing both for me as a public storyteller and for my high school students. Matts practical advice and techniques can be applied immediately, and thats what Matt encourages and inspires you to do. Start crafting your best stories right now: learn a little about yourself in the process and begin living a life of yes.

Jennifer Bonaldo, English teacher, Amity High School, Bethany, Connecticut

Matthew Dicks is not only a master storyteller; he is a master teacher. His clear and detailed instructions allow him to brilliantly give his techniques and tricks of the storytelling trade to his students. I personally benefited immensely from Matts workshop, and I continue to use his techniques both in my professional work as a rabbi and teacher and onstage at Moth StorySLAMs.

Rabbi Ira Ebbin, Congregation Ohav Sholom in Merrick, New York, and Moth StorySLAM winner

I had the opportunity to take Matthew Dickss workshop for beginners and then his advanced workshop. They were truly life changing. From Matts instructions, I have been able to sculpt true stories that I have shared with an audience of five hundred people. I am not a professional entertainer. But because of Matts insightful direction, editing, and support, I now have the confidence and ability to turn my life experiences into stories that entertain and impact many people. Thank you, Matt. One doesnt always have the opportunity to live a dream.

Lee Pollock, president, The Pollock Company, Hartford, Connecticut

In Storyworthy, Matthew Dicks gives us all the tools well need to become an effective storyteller, and he does so with wit, wisdom, and self-effacing charm. Whats more, he reminds us that through storytelling and our willingness to be honest and vulnerable when sharing the different moments that have helped shape our lives we invite the great possibility of deeper connection with others, and with ourselves. This book serves as a guidebook and a muse, rooted in the belief that our individual stories, when shared with heart, end up walking us down the pathway to true belonging. Storyworthy acts as a bright light along that journey.

Scott Stabile, author of Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide-Open Heart

Matthew Dicks is dazzling as a storyteller and equally brilliant in his ability to deconstruct this skill and make it accessible for others. His workshop was a veritable epiphany it has been formative in my own professional career and in helping shape the work of my students. Trust me: whatever Matt has to say about storytelling, you want to hear. In my role at Yale, I oversee courses that involve more than one hundred faculty members. I can say without a doubt that Matt is one of the finest teachers Ive ever seen.

David A. Ross, MD, PhD, director, Yale Psychiatry Residency Training Program

Also by Matthew Dicks

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

Something Missing

The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs

Unexpectedly, Milo

Copyright 2018 by Matthew Dicks

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for educational purposes only. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given or liability taken. The authors experiences used as examples throughout this book are true, although some identifying details such as names and locations have been changed to protect the privacy of others.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dicks, Matthew, author.

Title: Storyworthy: engage, teach, persuade, and change your life through the power of storytelling / Matthew Dicks; foreword by Dan Kennedy.

Description: Novato, California: New World Library, [2018] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018009879 (print) | LCCN 2018003193 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608685493 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608685486 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Storytelling.

Classification: LCC LB1042 (print) | LCC LB1042 .D53 2018 (ebook) | DDC 372.67/7dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018009879

First printing, June 2018

ISBN 978-1-60868-548-6

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-549-3

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For George Dawes Green, who built the stage;

Dan Kennedy, who first inspired me to speak my truth;

and Catherine Burns, who convinced me that

the stage is where I belong.

Contents

In early 2000, I got onstage, I told a story at this thing called The Moth, and something in my heart and head felt better. I remember talking about my biggest screwups, about some childhood dreams that hadnt come to pass, and about how my attempts to pursue them at half-steam were clumsy and ill-fated. The story I told that night, about going to Austin to become a singer-songwriter and discovering the hard way that I wasnt prepared or particularly good at songwriting, felt like the most deflating stuff any of us go through in personal defeats. Up to the moment I stepped onstage at The Moth that night, my life felt as if the stain of failure had been on me since about age twenty. But when I opened my mouth and shared a story about the details of that trip to Austin, the crowd laughed. Which made me smile through the bundle of nerves I was that night, and somehow made me feel like maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay in this life.