Story Spark Day 23 - The Conflicts In Your Story

Awesome! Welcome everyone to day 23 of StorySpark session where we take 15 minutes to come up or work on a lesson and then have a powerful day. So how many of you are actually enjoying this StorySpark session so far? We have done 23. Awesome, all of you.

Great!

So let's start with today's StorySpark session. We are in the week 4 of all the right elements in the story. And today's element is one of the most crucial elements. And what we are going to do is we're going to learn about that element. Most of us know, but just a revision. And then we're gonna work on our story to find the right— and the element is conflict. You see, if our stories don't have a conflict or challenge or problem then our stories become boring and there's nothing that audience is looking forward to. So in your stories, you got to have a conflict. Now there are two types of conflict. One is the external conflict, which means that it could be between, like the movies, hero and villain. It could be between human nature, it could be things which are out of our control, human versus Gen AI technology. And some of the most beautiful conflicts are the internal conflict. Like, we all have habits that we want to overcome. We all have challenges, personal challenges that we want to work upon. So in today's session, what we are going to do is you want to look at one of your stories. It could be the story you previously used, or it could be a fresh story. And I want you to think about your conflict in the story. What is the main conflict? And also, when you have the conflict, one of the things is you need to escalate the conflict as well. So if there is a problem, maybe the problem will become bigger and bigger before it gets resolved, before it gets solved. So let's take a couple of minutes, think about one of your stories, and after this 2-3 minutes, we're gonna go around the room and we'd love to hear the little bit background of the story, but more about the conflict in your story. Let's do that. Last time, tricky. All right, I think we are up. So let's start with Harsha. Harsha, tell us the brief about the story and the main conflict in the story.

Yes, I want to tell a story about father and son. Okay, okay. Uh, they are good human beings. Son has completed his B.Tech. Okay, one day Father asked, sit besides me, we have to talk, uh, I want to talk to you so much. But son Kumar, his name is Kumar, Daddy, I has work. And he used to see Instagram, he won't listen to the father. Then son Kumar gets a message Come and meet me from a Professor Atma. Professor Atma, his name is Professor Atma. Uh, again the dad asks, son, please talk to me, I want to talk to you. No, no, I have to go. Professor Atma called me, uh, he done some experiment, I have to see that experiment. Okay, and without listening to the father's words, he left. When he came to the experiments lab, uh, the Professor Atma designed a time machine. So he explains about the time machine. In the time, by using time machine, you can go forward or backward. But the Kumar doesn't believe on Atma, Professor Atma. Okay, he said, look, we'll see it later. And he, he goes back. By the time he came to house, his father was dead. The body is present there. He used to get up, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, but Daddy, let's talk. I will talk to you now, he said so many times. But he does not hear about— see, the father does not get up because he's already died. So he cried a lot. My father's last words that I used to— he, he has a— he asked me to talk with me. I was unable to talk with him. So after 20, 23 days left. He used to think that, and he got an idea. After final, uh, this process happens, no, body burning, these processes happen. After he got an idea, he comes to Professor. He asks that, Professor, give me your washing— uh, not washing machine, sorry, time machine. Time machine. I will go back into the time and I will, I will save my father. But Professor says, you can go back, you can't change anything, you can't change the fate. No, no, I can change my fate. I will go back to that time, 23 days back. Okay, I will change everything. You can't change anything, but you can go on, you can come, that's all, according to the physics, he said. But he won't listen to the Professor Atma. Then Professor Atma hesitates, okay, your wish, and he gave the time machine. And in the time machine, he went back to 23 days back, same Same scene happens. Father asks, he dies again. Again he goes 23 days back. In another way, father dies, he goes so many times, 10 times, 15 times, 23 days back. But dying is same, but the process is different. Then he realizes, he comes and gives back to the professor. We can't change the fate. Uh, we can't change the fate. My father is gone away. Uh, we cannot do anything. This is your time machine. Thank you. Means, uh, okay, what is the moral of the story is Here we cannot change the fate. We should, uh, we, we— every valuable things in our life is not money. Human beings, human, human nature, human, uh, relationships. Not iPhones, not smartphones, gold. It is not the thing. We should give respect to our elders. We should go respect our, you know, the loud ones. We should at least spend the time with the loud ones. That is the moral of the story. And internal conflict here is the boy had a conflict, a professor has a conflict, and the father has a conflict also. Both internal and external. This is my story. You can watch this story in my YouTube also. It is already made as a short film. Vidi, fate cannot be changed. Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you so much, that was amazing. Everybody write SPTY, story power to you. And yes, there are— there could be many conflicts in a story as well, so very well said. And we all know you are a filmmaker, so you bring the power of storytelling with you. Awesome. Let's go to Dr. Alka.

I'm sticking to one story only. Yes. So So I will actually tell in short because time is less. So this girl, when she was about 12 years of age, she came to me. And she— the boy, sorry, the boy came to me, the boy came to me. And he told me that I don't feel like a boy, I want to become a girl. So it's our job, we're helping them to do that. And we give them some time and we make it confirmed that they are actually going to do that. And we have some questionnaires, we ask them questions and Cut it, long story short, one day she walks into my clinic fully dressed like a girl. You have seen that, right? With short hair, with long dangling earrings, with the bindi on her forehead, with the flying dupatta, with a red dress and with mirrors on her dress, and with TikTok shoes. She comes into my room, she hugs me, and as she hugs me, she gives me the teddy bear and she tells me, Doctor, I've got a job. And to tell you the truth, so I don't know whether I should tell this in the beginning or if I should tell in the end. Like you said, you should give it in the end. So she— this was the trans woman. She was the girl who became— who was a boy actually, and we have helped her to become into a girl. And it's not easy, it's not easy at all for a boy to become into a girl. It's a set of lot of operations, a lot of medication, a lot of treatment, and a lot of psychological, um, psychological treatment which goes into helping the child to become what they really want to become. A lot of acceptance has to be given to themselves. So this was my story. And after helping her for so many years, she has got a job, and that for her is a very big thing in her life because they never get jobs. They get thrown out of jobs everywhere, and they never get accepted by the world. So when she got the job, it was the best news in her life, and that is what she came to tell me, to meet me. So that's my story. That is my conflict.

Awesome, amazing. Thank you everybody. Like, story power to SPTY. And we can see again here in this story also there are two conflicts. One is of course the conflict of not getting a job, not being accepted. But I think the bigger conflict which comes much before that is a conflict of being in a body which you don't feel like being, being a boy while you are actually a girl. And that I think is a bigger conflict. And here is the tip: sometimes actually if you talk about inner conflict, it can connect more with the audience. Yes, external conflict is good, but inner conflicts also, uh, lets them think about it, their life as well. Okay, let's go to Venkat.

Good morning to all. If we have enough time, then we will do best, and we will refine our ideas. At the same time, if you think about over-perfection, we will collapse that activity also. So these two things might happen. So last week, weekend, I planned to— so I thought that I had two days time, Saturday, Sunday. So I, I started to write. So at the time writing, I'm getting refined ideas. I am focusing about conflict and audience perceptions. Yeah, I'm getting new, new ideas. So I'm continually writing. I'm not started to taking video. So evening I got a feel, uh, feeling not well because I had a headache. Outside, due to outside cold. I couldn't get a sleep at night also, Saturday night. And Sunday also, I got a stomachache, but I wanted to complete it. I write and I finally I wanted to start video. At time 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, I started making video. First time I wanted to posting YouTube. So I take 3 times, 3, 4 times, take, take and delete. And because I didn't have enough video editor to cut and edit, so in one stretch I take and post. That is the thing will happen. So I didn't have any editor option. 2-3 times. Every first time I take up to 5 minutes, I'm— I was speaking correct, and after that I collapsed my words or sentence. So again I'm taking, again I'm taking, up to night 12 o'clock I'm taking, from 9 to 12. So at the time 12 o'clock, my phone was switched off because battery was low and switched off finally. Then I put a battery, and I took and I published at 1:30 something, 1:30 PM, AM, morning, 1:30 AM. So this is, uh, my story. In this, I conclude that if you have enough time, do not spend much time to refine the things, because if you refine, it means perfection. If you over-perfection, then it would spoil our activity.

Very nice, awesome. Everybody write SPTY and we can also see, we could actually feel your, uh, your struggle with the YouTube, making video on YouTube and publishing. And yes, we all have been through. So this is the part of it, when you are real and authentic, we can feel it. Because yeah, I have made so many YouTube videos And now I'm pretty, uh, it takes very less time for me to make a video. But when I started, yes, I've done a lot and lot of retakes. And yeah, having that imposter syndrome, not feeling perfect, not feeling right, I don't like my voice. So we could all connect through them. So first of all, congratulations on sticking, sticking to your plan that yes, you committed to yourself that you will publish the video and you did it. And amazing storytelling. And this is what we are here for, right? To tell our real authentic one and ever story. So yes, story power to you all. This was amazing.

Thanks, Haritosh Srivastav.

Awesome, awesome. And I'll quickly finish it with one of my stories. I'm not going to go into detail, but it is one of my story where my manager asked me to present very early in my career and Yeah, at that time I wanted to showcase I am very confident speaker even though I was very scared and nervous and it literally backfired where I completed 1 hour presentation in just 15 minutes and it was a big embarrassment personally and I really felt that I may be fired at any time. So in this story, the conflict is that yes, I am showing somebody who I am not, and I am— I didn't prepare much. I should have prepared, and I, I didn't know much about public speaking back then. And the resolution is that I took a resolve that yes, I am going to work on this skill, I am going to improve my skill, and that is why I do what I do now. So that is my story.

Awesome.

So I hope you guys learned something. Let's go quickly around with a quick reflection. So Harsha, in 30 seconds, what was your major learning or reflection from today's session?

Uh, today's, uh, I realized that I improved myself when I start said first story to you one month, two months back. Yes, my communication is improved, my language is improved because of Haritosh Srivastav.

Oh, thank you. It's not because of me, it's because of the whole community effort and you are showing up. Yeah, so, so yeah, thank you for the compliment, but I think most of the work is done by you. I am just the guide, I'm just a helper here. So awesome story, power to you. Let's go to Dr. Alka.

So I think what I am noticing today is that the way you explain your conflict is also very important. Yes. So this— yeah, so because in my story, the— everybody may not be able to connect with me because they don't understand the conflict also of that kind of a person. I understand it because I'm treating this kind of patients for 30, 40 years now. My first patient was when I was like in 1991, and that was my first— was a little girl. But I'm just trying to think that connecting with your personal stories with the internal conflict is a better way to connect with the audience. And what Venkat said was very beautiful. And that video that I sent to you that day, it was also— I didn't realize how many times I'd recorded. My sister had come yesterday and I was looking into my phone and I had something like 25 recordings, which I deleted everything. So very true that we have to practice, practice, practice to become perfect.

Absolutely, absolutely. As you said, right? And the best conflicts are actually inner conflicts. Even in your story, Yes, there is a conflict outside that your society is not accepting and not getting the job, but before that is the bigger conflict whether I am not who I am supposed to be, and that is, yeah, not letting me live my life. So awesome, let's go to Venkat. Beautiful story, Venkat, loved it.

Thank you, thank you, Haritosh Srivastav.

And at the time of 21 Days Challenge, At the— after that 15 days, I couldn't get a story. But now I am getting a lot of stories in recent days. That is, initially I thought to share my old stories, but at the time of, uh, 10 minutes after this session, I changed the topic. That is, changed my story title so I can share this story. Yes, I have now I have more stories to share.

Yes, so now you can feel the story abundance, and this is what it is— story power. When I say story power, it is also about having so many stories and collecting story every day and being able to share with the right audience at the right time for the right reasons. So awesome, thank you so much everyone. It, it is— was a little longer today, but I think it was all worth it. So thank you so much. This was day 23. Of Story Spark Session. And if you are watching it on video, please think about a story, write about the conflict and inner as well as external conflict. Would love to hear that and write it, put it as a video in the community if you are part of CSH, Confidence Storytelling Hub, or if you are watching it on YouTube, you put it as a comment over there. Have a great day, and as I say every time, until next time, keep learning. Keep growing and keep going out of your comfort zone. See you tomorrow for Day 24.

Thank you, thank you. Have a good day. Bye.

You too.

Thank you, Ankur.