Ira Glass, radio personality and host of the award-winning podcast “This American Life,” addressed BYU on Saturday as part of the College of Fine Arts and Communications’ BRAVO! series. His presentation of “7 Things I’ve Learned” expounded upon key lessons of his career and an analysis of the craft of storytelling.
Glass began with an hour-long masterclass for select students prior to his main presentation. Delving into his narrative theory, Glass expressed his intrigue in telling the stories of everyday people. In telling these stories, he emphasized that once you have a plot and an idea, you have a story that people will be interested in.
A story, Glass explained, is really about motion: that forward movement propels the story forward and captivates an audience. Glass also encouraged writers to interview children.
“We’ve always done a ton of interviewing kids on the show because I love it”, Glass said. “They are constantly getting into situations where they feel the stakes are very high because it’s the first time they are doing things, and they’re right.”
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