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I’ve recently finished reading Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath, and while the book may not be targeted at fiction writers, I think it’s got a lot to tell us about what it means to write a great story. Because the stories we love best are the ones that capture our attention and remain vividly imprinted on our memories, i.e. the stories that stick.

So, let’s  take a look at how to turn an understanding of sticky ideas into practical tips for how to make your writing memorable.

First, what makes an idea sticky?

The authors of the book break down the steps for stickiness into a cute acronym: SUCCESs, which stands for simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. Many of these concepts seem reasonably intuitive: keep your message concise, try to surprise your reader to keep them engaged, use concrete language rather than academic, abstract language, make sure your idea is presented in a way that fosters credibility, speak to the reader’s emotions, and, if you can, utilize story to achieve these ends. Stated simply, I don’t think most readers will find these ideas very surprising; however, the book does present some interesting strategies for achieving sticky ideas (and some interesting explanations for why we’re not naturally better at framing our ideas in a way that makes them memorable).

Let’s look at how to make a story memorable using these principles

Here’s my takeaway for writing a memorable story after reading Made to Stick.

Simplicity

• Figure out what’s at the very heart of your story. What is the most important thing for the reader to walk away with?
• Don’t get sucked down the rabbit hole of convoluted plots. Subplots are fine, but make sure they serve the core of your story rather than distracting and confusing your reader. No one likes to read a book they have to struggle to keep up with.
• While avoiding over-explaining, don’t be afraid to spell things out for your reader. No one likes feeling that the author is toying with them and withholding information.

Unexpectedness

• The easiest way to achieve Unexpectedness is to surprise your reader: break a pattern, upset their worldview, make them think “No, wait…”. In a story this could mean a crazy plot twist, but be careful of coming across as gimmicky (this damages the story’s Credibility).
• There’s a reason everyone loves a good mystery novel. They’re frequently unexpected and keep us guessing and dying to know how it ends. As writers we can leverage this across genres: keep your reader guessing, make them doubt or dread the ending they foresee.

Concreteness

• Use concrete details in your description (this is the old adage of show, don’t tell). Concreteness aids in ease of understanding and retention for readers. In non-fiction writing, try to steer clear of abstract language and ideas unless your audience is limited to experts in their particular field.
• Make the characters’ world and experiences tangible.
• For non-fiction writers. Avoid the trap of facts and statistics. Instead, illuminate principles with concrete examples (in story form!).
• If you must use numbers, try to reframe your statistics in a way that makes them human-scale. We struggle to conceptualize 10^5 water drops, but can easily comprehend the notion of a gallon of water.

Credibility

• Don’t make the reader suspend disbelief. If you’ve ever given up on bad sci-fi, you know what I mean. Instead, build a world that’s internally consistent and operates within well-defined, concrete, and logical boundaries.
• You can use authorities and anti-authorities even in fiction (an anti-authority is a non-expert who has credibility on a subject due to personal experience, think Jared from those Subway ads). In fiction, authority comes internally from other characters, whose reactions lend credibility to your protagonists ideas and actions.

Emotions

• Sticky stories play to our emotions. We love the characters, we hate them, we dread the messy end we expect for them, and we rejoice when they are saved at the last possible second. We care.
• Avoid tried and trite language. Some words, phrases, and ideas have become so over-used they’ve lost their emotional mojo.
• Appeal to identity. As humans, we view our thoughts and actions through the lense of our own self-image. Make sure your character’s actions are consistent with their identity.

Now, let me know what you think.

Do you agree with Chip and Dan Heath about what makes a idea sticky? Do you like this as a framework for identifying features that make a story memorable? Do you have any tips for writing sticky stories? Let me know in the comments below!