The Story Behind Your Story

by Bobette Buster

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” —Carl Jung
“And you think you chose that color blue?” —Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada

I’ve been asked by several people if I’m simply going to replicate my previous Q lectures for this year’s Q Epiphany in New York, Nov. 13–14. Will it just be all the same content slightly re-tooled? The same video clips, the same films deconstructed? The same 10 stages of transformation. The answer is, of course, “yes and no.” But mostly “no.” Sure, we’ll spend time looking at stories and, yes, we’ll explore those 10 stages. But we’re going deeper this year, or perhaps a better way to say it, we’re going behind. To the story behind the story. To the fears behind the fear. To the deep work behind each stage.

The fact is, I’ve learned a lot from observing the participants these past two years, and how you’ve embraced my cinematic storytelling concepts. I’ve been both really gratified, and humbled. Many have written over the past few years to thank me for how these breakthrough insights continue to impact their lives. Yet, frankly, I’ve also been afraid that my concepts have been, perhaps, too ferociously devoured. For example, I had a participant tell me he felt he had been through all the stages—that he was now at stage 10. Stage 10! Something I would say only a very few have ever journeyed through (Jesus, Ghandi, Lincoln). And make no mistake, it is a journey … the journey of a lifetime.

The 10 Stages of Transformation we story gurus and screenwriters apply to cinema are diagonistic lenses not to be taken blithely. You see all story development is about analyzing character under pressure. Why do we love Lincoln? Why do we want to go back and live in his times? Because he made remarkable choices that others did not make—and yet, Lincoln and all those around him were living through the same “story.” Yes, he changed the world entire because he personally dared to make a choice unpopular for his times: to fight for equality for all. He shook the world to its very foundations. And, then, Lincoln paid a very high price, indeed, for becoming a fully transformed character.

This year, what will be unique about the Q Epiphany experience is that I will reveal the far deeper process of shaping your own story—the story behind what you think you’re life is about. For all stories, this is the path to courage. This can only be discovered by facing your worst fear—the fear behind your fear. For example, if you look at the story of The King’s Speech. The Duke of York (played by Colin Firth, who won the Academy Award) was afraid of public speaking. For very good reason, because he possessed an embarrassing, debilitating stammer. How awful for anyone, let alone someone who must speak on live radio to the whole of the British Empire. Yet, that was only half the story. The Duke of York’s stammer was really masking his greater fear —that of his own majesty. He was paralyzed with his worst fear: could he really become King; could he even possibly be a great one? Or would he go down in history as Mad King George the Stammerer?

This year’s two-day intensive will be about asking the Big Questions of Your Story. Are you truly willing to analyze your own character? When are you under pressure (and who isn’t)? Can you take the temperature of your own denial, and pull the “log out of your own eye”? Do you really want to face your fear? Are you reacting or choosing your life? Can you visualize your future? Do you wish to affect lasting change in your life, family, community, even the world?

If you really want to have an epiphany about your life—or about how to communicate your company’s mission, business, charity or ministry—you must be willing to ruthlessly assess how much you’ve adapted to the status quo of our times. We are awash in economic concerns. Competitive consumerism bleats distractions in our ears 24/7. Can we really (really?) keep ourselves from aging? When are we still? Can any of us listen to the silence whispering? What if our life was meant to be truly remarkable, filled with wonder—and our every step meant to bless? What if we truly believed in heaven? All great stories ask these questions in their subtext.

This year, I will be revealing the subtext of your life. Yes, of course, I will be providing film clips. I will impart to you the skills and tools of story analysis so you can dig deeper into your own stories. Effectively, I will lead you into a wilderness (maybe scary, maybe unsettling). But most importantly, I will provide visualization tools to strengthen, confirm and establish your imagination. After all, this is why we love the movies—we get to see a world we would never have seen otherwise. We bask in the imagination of others. Now, let us learn to imagine our own lives anew, afresh, audaciously, and thereby, discover our own stories.

Remember, when all is said and done, what we have is our story. And, it is for us to shape the telling of it. Now.

Join us for Q Sessions: Epiphany and discover your story November 13th & 14th, 2013 Bobette Buster, story advisor for PIXAR, Disney, and Sony, will teach you the connections between listening well and writing well. Through an incisive analysis of the common stages in storytelling, she will help you connect to the power of your own story and the ways it’s meant to change the world.
REGISTER TODAY.

Bobette Buster is an adjunct professor at USC's Peter Stark Program. She consults at major companies, including Pixar Studios, Disney Animation, Sony Animation, and Twentieth Century Fox Studios. She is the author of the recently released Do Story. Find out more about Bobette's work at Bobette Buster.com and follow her on Twitter: @BobetteBuster.

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