The Transformative Art of Storytelling

While discussing and workshopping our college essays last week, there were many things we were told to consider: first and last lines, conflicting identities, piths, etc. But the aspect that stuck out to me was mastering the art of storytelling, the skill needed to weave all these mentioned things together. Without a story, the intended message may not be conveyed and the reader could get bored. Evidently, we all experience interesting incidents and people in our lives. So although we may all have piths and character-changing events, how effective are they when they don’t come with a story? What do they mean to us without a story? Whether it’s in a high school classroom, a business meeting, or family gatherings, people with the ability to share a story that evokes laughter, gasps, and silence will always be the ones with circles of people around them. 

I’m a believer that anyone can become someone with a story. This can be seen through Anna Delvey, the infamous con artist who scammed upper class New Yorkers into loaning her upwards of $20 million and stealing almost $300,000 from others. How did the young girl from a small town in Russia make her way up to sit with the richest of the rich? She told a good story. She posed as a socialite coming from a wealthy family. Ultimately, with her attitude and her ability to sell her story, she lived a few short-lived, yet glamorous, couple of years. 

All in all, the “art of storytelling” is truly something to be mastered. While I wouldn’t necessarily use it to the extent and way Anna Delvey did, it can still be used to enhance the life we have. Right now, it could get us into our dream colleges as some of us turn seemingly minuscule moments into narratives of how our entire lives were shifted. With this invaluable skill, we can put ourselves in a position that makes not only others, but ourselves as well, see everyday as a story to be told.