How To Write And Perform A 'Listen' Audio Story

Hello community,

In this guide, I’m going to share with you how Listen works, why it’s something you should try out, and how to go about creating an awesome Listen story!

So let’s skip the small talk and get started.

How Listen Works

Listen is an audio story, i.e., a recording of you - the storyteller - literally 'telling' your story. So in that way, Listen represents the purest form of storytelling. One where you can give the context and perspective that you may not have been able to via a usual text story. Sure, sometimes the written word is the ideal medium for sharing a story. But sometimes, as you can see from our featured Listen stories - saying and performing a poem or a short story is the best way to express the emotions and core message hidden in your story.

Why you should try Listen

This are some of the things pretty much every person who we have featured has said before they try listen - 

"I don't think I can do it."

Or "I don't like the sound of my voice."

Or "I'm too shy".

Or "People won't understand me or like the way I sound."

And here's what every one who we have featured says after they record their listen story - 

"That felt really good!"

The purpose of Listen is not only to feature the 'best' stories, but to help you - our dear storytellers - come out of whatever metaphorical shell you have found yourself in. To give you the non-intimidating spotlight, and a safe space to share your story, surrounded by community members who are just like you. 

Giving yourself the ability to try something new is kind of a 'why not'.type of situation. You don't know if you're going to love/hate/like/dislike something unless you try it. And even if you don't like it, you'll know how you feel. 

Just like sharing a written story here on the platform, it is always completely your decision whether you wish to press that 'publish' or 'submit' button.

How to write a Listen story

Okay, if you've reached this point, I'm going to assume you're willing to give this thing a try. Or at least continue reading the whole guide because you always finish what you start. That's a good attitude. 

So, writing a Listen story is almost the same thing as writing any other story. You type one word after the other until it sounds like a smarter version of you came up with it. 

Having said that, I do have some suggestions for how to approach this process...

#1: For your first Listen story, try to stick to something where there's just once voice. Like a poem or a nonfiction story or a fictional story with first-person perspective. 

#2: If you would like to do a fictional story with one than one character, then keep it to a two-characters-only story. Any more would be too confusing. UNLESS you can get a friend or two to agree to play the other characters in which case go nuts!

#3: When writing, stay focused on the emotional core of your words. Why is it important for you to say this (eventually) rather than just keeping it as a text-story? Asking yourself this will help you figure out how to keep your story short and to the point. 

#4: A best-practice suggestion would be to keep your first draft to under 500 words. Then do the recording and see how you feel. If you think it needs more of less, come back for an edit until you feel good. 

How to perform a Listen story

This part is more about execution than overthinking - because you already did most of that in the writing part. 

So to record your Listen story, follow these easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy steps...

Step 1: Take your phone or laptop and download/open any free audio recording app you have.

Step 2: Use whatever mic/earphones set came with your phone (or borrow one from a friend). 

Step 3: Press record, and in the first try, just try to say the words, as they are, without focusing too much on the pronunciation, pitch, emphasis. Think of this a rough-draft of your audio story. Just get a sense of the way you want to sound, and then listen to it when you're done. You'll probably find out very quickly what sections you can to keep simple, and what sections you want to add some fun/flair/gravitas to.

Step 4: You're able to do your first proper take, so make sure you're a quiet room with no open windows. Then, when the coast seems clear, press record, and go right at it. Over-do it, if you can. Imagine you're Adele and you very well know you're ridiculously talented and will obviously nail this in one take.

Step 5: Listen to that last 'I'm-so-good-it's-unfair' recording. You'll most probably surprise yourself with how over-done it was. But that's okay. Because now you have a range! Because...

Step 6: Now comes the part where you try and try again until you don't hate it! Yup, that's the real secret sauce behind performing a Listen story. You have to learn to fall in love with your own voice, but only enough to judge which version of your recording is best suited for the story you want to tell.

So when it doubt, focus on the words, and not yourself. Think about whether you're making sense or not. Whether you're emphasizing the correct words/phrases. And once you think that you've figured all of it out, do one take just for yourself. Imagine that you're talking to the part of you that didn't think you could do this.

Trust me, that'll be your favorite take. And that'll be the one I would recommend that you submit. 

Which brings us to...

How to submit your Listen story

Since you're reading this, you must be a Standard or Premium LSP member, which means that you have UNLIMITED Listen Story Submissions. That's right. You just read the word 'unlimited'. That too in CAPS. We're not playing around here. Because here's the bonus you get for reaching this part of the guide. You have, at your disposal, the entire LSP Team to help you at every single step that I went over in the previous section. And I want you to take full advantage of this. Submit as many different versions of different stories as you like. And we'll give you all the help we can to help you make it Listen-ready!

Sounds good?

So there you have it! Now you know all you need to know to give Listen a try. Just remember - you already have all the resources and ingredients you need to record your first Listen story. All you have to do is press the button!

So go record your story, or maybe just tap the 'start writing' button below to type it before you say it :)

P.s. If you have any questions or would like us to cover something in the form of a Guide, send us a message!