[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":146},["ShallowReactive",2],{"post-en-2026-07-29-storytelling-2026":3},{"post":4,"newer":120,"older":142,"hasTranslation":145},{"id":5,"title":6,"body":7,"cardImg":120,"date":121,"description":122,"excerpt":123,"extension":124,"figCaption":120,"img":125,"lang":126,"listed":127,"meta":128,"navigation":127,"path":136,"readingTime":114,"seo":137,"slug":138,"stem":139,"tagList":140,"__hash__":141},"posts\u002Fposts\u002Fen\u002F2026-07-29-storytelling-2026.md","The 3 Things I Learnt About Storytelling",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":112},"minimark",[10,14,17,20,25,28,31,34,37,41,44,47,50,53,72,75,78,81,84,87,91,94,97,100,103,106,109],[11,12,13],"p",{},"I spent the past months trying to tell the story of my travels through video. Filming was the easy part. Turning hours of footage into something a stranger would sit through was not.",[11,15,16],{},"These 3 lessons turned out to be less about cameras and more about attention: how you plan for it, how you hold it, and how you earn it over time.",[11,18,19],{},"Here are the 3 things I learnt:",[21,22,24],"h3",{"id":23},"_1-you-cannot-enjoy-what-is-in-front-of-you-if-you-did-not-plan-for-it-beforehand","1. You cannot enjoy what is in front of you if you did not plan for it beforehand",[11,26,27],{},"Without a plan, you spend the whole trip on logistics. Where to eat next. How to get to the next stop. Whether the booking actually went through.",[11,29,30],{},"And you miss the entire point of being there.",[11,32,33],{},"Planning is not the opposite of spontaneity — it is what buys you room for it. Every decision you make in advance is one you no longer have to make on the ground.",[11,35,36],{},"What are you deciding ahead of time so that you can be present later?",[21,38,40],{"id":39},"_2-narrative-timelines-are-easy-but-narrating-emotions-through-visuals-is-an-art","2. Narrative timelines are easy, but narrating emotions through visuals is an art",[11,42,43],{},"Anyone can arrange clips in the order they were shot. That is a timeline, not a story.",[11,45,46],{},"It explains why some films feel out of this world. The narrative, the storytelling, the techniques used to make it seamless — each one is a feat of its own.",[11,48,49],{},"Catch your own bias towards simply following a timeline. Unless the story really is a day at a place, the clock is not your structure.",[11,51,52],{},"Where you can, layer your storytelling in this order:",[54,55,56,60,63,66,69],"ul",{},[57,58,59],"li",{},"Visuals, to guide the viewer through",[57,61,62],{},"Clip audio, to ground them in the moment",[57,64,65],{},"Music, to carry them across the transitions",[57,67,68],{},"Voice-overs, to say what the visuals cannot",[57,70,71],{},"Captions, to catch whatever is left",[11,73,74],{},"A-roll carries the narrative. B-roll gives the eye somewhere to rest while the narrative keeps moving.",[11,76,77],{},"In every part of the story, you are working towards something called the Story Beat Viewer Question: at this point in the story, what question have you quietly planted in the viewer’s head?",[11,79,80],{},"The YouTube title could be: The most isolated island in the Philippines. The thumbnail could be: Nobody knows about this.",[11,82,83],{},"The first question in mind becomes: what is on this island that nobody knows about?",[11,85,86],{},"Answer it too early and they leave. Never answer it at all and they feel cheated.",[21,88,90],{"id":89},"_3-learning-how-to-be-patient-with-yourself-while-you-find-your-niche","3. Learning how to be patient with yourself while you find your niche",[11,92,93],{},"Finding a niche that genuinely resonates with you is harder than it sounds.",[11,95,96],{},"It is easy to fall back into broad, generic topics: travel vlogs, top N things to do in X, and things to avoid in Y.",[11,98,99],{},"These are common for a good reason — we are the persona of these topics. We love to travel. We want to plan well. So we end up making what we ourselves would watch.",[11,101,102],{},"But be mindful of who you are standing next to. How do you compare against someone who travels for a living?",[11,104,105],{},"Your niche is not the topic. It is the part of the topic that only you can speak to.",[107,108],"hr",{},[11,110,111],{},"What are you learning as you tell your own stories? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.",{"title":113,"searchDepth":114,"depth":115,"links":116},"",2,3,[117,118,119],{"id":23,"depth":115,"text":24},{"id":39,"depth":115,"text":40},{"id":89,"depth":115,"text":90},null,"2026-07-29","What does it take to tell a story that someone else actually feels?","I spent the past months trying to tell the story of my travels through video. Filming was the easy part. Turning hours of footage into something a stranger would sit…","md","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1519791883288-dc8bd696e667","en",true,{"layout":129,"fig-caption":120,"tags":130},"post",[131,132,133,134,135],"storytelling","narrative","video","content creation","niche","\u002Fposts\u002Fen\u002F2026-07-29-storytelling-2026",{"title":6,"description":122},"2026-07-29-storytelling-2026","posts\u002Fen\u002F2026-07-29-storytelling-2026",[131,132,133,134,135],"WTMYuufDufIGrGlQ4QQKrqWqzu2LtBSSR_0gv0DzyZY",{"slug":143,"title":144},"2026-06-19-greece-2026","The 3 Things I Learnt as a Software Engineer in Greece",false,1794023415017]