Crafting transformational stories: The future of creativity and multi-platform storytelling - Sophie Mei Lan

From fake news on social media and gossip in the street to profound speeches, blogs and books which can transform our lives, we hear so many stories nowadays whether they be junk food for our minds or carefully crafted to feed our souls.

We have such a huge array of mediums to now consume, create and communicate with in more ways than ever before.

But the leading, yet archaic, way of driving deep, state-of-the-art human connection is story-telling.

Something that has depleted me when having to hit targets for how many online news stories I can recreate, thrash out and publish per hour as a young journalist on a national newspaper, churning click-bait to drive revenue or an art form which has written me out of the depths of despair and inspired my grassroots reporting for regionals.

As we move with the harsh Hokey Cokey of the pandemic, I have been connecting with other creatives to discuss the importance of multi-dimensional stories to unite us all regardless of background.

I know, as someone who discovered journalism through a calling, to speak out from the perspective of my own seldom-heard community in which I was born and bred, rather than just sweep in and interpreting my subjective view with the pressures of a fast news agenda.

Hayley Trowbridge is from People’s Voice Media and is organising The Future of Lived Experience Storytelling at the Institute of Community Reporters Conference. She said: ”Community reporting is basically a way of bringing people's stories, experiences and ideas together so that we can collectively find ways to make the world around us a better place to be.

“Taking the time to listen to different perspectives - including ones that may challenge your own - is a way of understanding through empathy how different people experience the world differently. There is power in people's experiences being described in their own words - a chance to really connect, person to person.”

How do we share these stories to have the greatest impact possible? I’m fortunate that my age enables me to straddle the worlds of traditional media with the wider sharing tool of the social media wagon.

This is reflected in my work, enabling me to share and tell stories on multiple platforms. A hybrid approach to carefully crafted content, aligning a variety of mediums online and offline, may just be the solution to engage and change the universe for the better.

“Uniting creative businesses across the North and encouraging them to come together, to unite, share their experiences and collaborate will be extremely powerful in helping to shape the future and create change,” explains Sarah Novotny, of GC Business Growth Hub, who is hosting the Creative Leaders Festival. This aims to connect, inspire, and energise creative industry professionals from across the North of England and she believes such events will also play a key role in the recovery of the UK economy.

At Creative Leaders Festival, I'll be discussing the evolving media world and the future of the theatre with the likes of Northern Ballet, Sparkle Influencer Community, and politicians. In Summer, I’ll also be sharing more seldom-heard stories and my own lived experience at the Institute of Community Reporters event.

Book for both events for free, go to: https://www.mamamei.co.uk/2021/05/15/story-telling-to-heal-divide-or-to-prosper-creativity-connection-health-is-wealth/