03.16.09
Ira Glass and the structure of storytelling
Ira Glass
Closing keynoter Ira Glass made his debut Sunday morning in complete darkness for a few minutes to demonstrate the intimacy and impact of radio. Thirteen years ago, the host and producer of NPR’s This American Life figured out that he felt most comfortable giving public lectures in a studio setting, so he came equipped with a CD player and other audio equipment that allowed him to play clips from previous shows and use music as transitions between his stories and his comments about them.
Glass talked a little bit about story research (which he suspected librarians might enjoy, although he also expected his audience would all look like Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), but his major focus was on the techniques he uses to create effective storytelling. “We need characters and a plot,” he said, “and we need them to be pleasurable surprises.” He added that “most journalism makes the world seem smaller and stupider and less interesting” because it tries to eradicate the narrative. “But we live in a world where stories provide hope.”
His formula is a combination of anecdote, more anecdote, and then a brief commentary on the anecdote, glued together with engaging instrumental music that pushes the storyline forward and creates anticipation as well as ambience. It’s the same technique, Glass said, that rabbis and priests use in their sermons: “Even Jesus used this method in his parables.” He placed responsibility on much lameness in radio news on the “topic sentence” (the opening sentence of a composition that states the theme). Unlike every other NPR program, Glass said he does not begin his show by announcing the guests and topics; instead, he launches immediately into the first story and lets the narrative draw listeners into the magic of the tale: “When I hear people’s stories, the world seems to make more sense.”
Perhaps the greatest audience reaction occurred after Glass actually asked for ideas on what to do with the archival tapes of This American Life and whether any institutions would want to keep and preserve them. You could almost hear the bidding process taking tangible shape in the low rumbles of reaction. Glass admitted that he did not take a long view with his program and that he thought its value was in its immediacy in the present: “If it all got destroyed and went away, it wouldn’t be such a bad day,” he said, “but maybe you guys know better than me.” Indeed, before too long AL DIrect may well be carrying news of a new acquisition by a university audio archive.
