Don't start with your guest's origin story!

You're telling stories in your podcast, even if you're doing interviews. And even though it's very common to hear, starting with a guest's origin story is THE WORST way to get the attention of your listeners. Here are 2 reasons that you should NOT do this are coming from successful storytellers. 

Reason 1: Build interest 

Eric Nuzum is a master storyteller with experience at NPR and many other places/projects. In his book Make Noise, A Creator's Guide to Podcasting, he reminds us how good stories are told. Think of an action movie. Do they start with the origin story OR do they start with action? 

ACTION. 

That's because action is what gets us interested. And not revealing too much too soon peaks our interest. We want to know more. And slowly that will be told to us. But not all at once and not in chronological order. 

Reason 2: Invest in characters 

 I'll never forget hearing Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson of Broad City (TV show) mention the impact that Judd Apatow had on their story timeline. The two creators wanted to tell how the two main 20ish main characters met in season 1. Judd said NO. A big no. He stressed that that story would be lost on the viewers because they didn't know or care about the characters met. Instead they waited until their Sliding Doors episode in season 4. And you know what?

​As a viewer, I was invested by then. I actually watched the episode and thought, wow, I forgot that I didn't know how the characters met. And the parallel lives of how I thought I knew they met and how they told us in that episode made the experience all the more interesting for me.  

---

​🤯 15 Minutes To Grow Your Audience
Try my new 15 minute micro consults. Don’t let the short time fool you, we do WORK in these sessions! Order your first session here. I look forward to working with you!

---

​What should you do instead? 

IThere are three main ways you can approach your interview with a guest:

1. interview in chronological order and ask the origin story question first, then move that section to another part of the episode in post production. This is the more time consuming option and it's more difficult as well. 

2. Ask the origin story question later in the episode. Transition into it with something like, "let's go back in time for a bit. How did you get into all of this in the first place?"

3. Don't cover origin stories at all. Instead, link to the guest's website, another podcast episode that covers this or something else. Ask yourself, does the listener need to know the guest's origin story in order to gain value from what the guest is sharing in the episode. Chances are they don't. 

This will probably feel weird the first few times you try it. But I bet your listener retention will increase as will the value of the stories in the episode. Try it and let me know how it goes!