Video summary
MrBallen attributes his storytelling style to growing up surrounded by professional writers and storytellers, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist father who ran the Spotlight team at *The Boston Globe*, a writer mother, an older sister with two Pulitzers, and a younger sister pursuing a PhD in science. Despite struggling academically himself, he learned narrative techniques through osmosis from these high-caliber figures. He categorizes his specific approach not as deception but as strategic storytelling where details are intentionally withheld to maintain suspense rather than accuracy; by omitting information that will be revealed later, he sets up an incomplete narrative arc designed for a powerful final reveal without explicitly flagging the unusual nature of events in the first ninety percent of the story. The core of his method relies heavily on delivery and audience engagement rather than just the plot itself, as most stories require skilled presentation to captivate listeners. MrBallen constantly gauges reactions while building toward a twist where he reveals that everything described previously did not happen, ensuring no linguistic cues in the opening act tip off the audience about this impending deception. He avoids telegraphing major events too early because it causes audiences to guess prematurely, which undermines the impact of the final payoff; instead, every story on his platform is engineered with an intentional twist at the end that guarantees a surprise outcome if the listener stays engaged until the conclusion. To ensure authenticity before the reveal, MrBallen layers in small, realistic details such as family game nights or specific interactions like Kayla ushering her children out of the room when Mitch becomes unresponsive staring at a blurry lamp. These mundane elements create a sense of reality and human interaction that makes the eventual revelation—that none of this actually occurred—more impactful by first establishing deep investment in characters who appear to be living an ideal American dream life with date nights and mutual care. He argues that while these details might seem irrelevant to the core trauma story, they are essential for making the narrative feel genuine so that when he discloses the truth about Mitch's psychotic break or a killer lying under their own perspective, the audience feels cheated in a way that heightens the emotional resonance of the twist. A powerful example of his technique involves inhabiting perspectives to tell lies as truths within the framework of a story, such as narrating from the viewpoint of a murderer who is actively deceiving others about their actions. By adopting this perspective, he can honestly recount statements made by the killer that are factually false but presented as truth because they align with what that specific person believed or said at the time; thus, within the context of his narrative structure, these lies become valid components of the story rather than fabrications added for effect. This approach allows him to explore complex themes like trauma and criminal psychology while maintaining a layer of mystery until he can unveil how those perspectives were constructed on top of real events or complete falsehoods. Ultimately, MrBallen's philosophy centers on creating an authentic beginning that lures the audience in with normalcy before delivering unexpected plot twists that recontextualize everything heard previously. Whether discussing true crime cases where suspects lie to protect themselves or personal anecdotes involving medical trauma, his goal is always to make listeners believe they are witnessing real events until he fills in every gap at the end for a big reveal. He emphasizes that this method of layering authenticity and purposeful omission ensures that audiences stick around expecting something significant will happen, fulfilling their anticipation with a payoff that feels earned despite being entirely unexpected based on how the story was initially presented.
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how would you describe your style like
where did it come from how did it
originate what did you do to develop
this particular and and how would you
categorize
it um so I think that there's some
necessary context I I grew up around
professional writers and storytellers my
my father is a pulit prizewinning
journalist he worked at the Boston Globe
he ran the spotlight team which there
was a movie made called Spotlight with
Michael Keaton um that's that's like the
type of investigative journalism he was
doing so you know my dad is this very
high-speed journalist my my mother is
also professional writer radio host you
know when she was younger um incredible
writer my older sister is a two-time
Pulitzer winner also a journalist the
Boston Globe uh and my younger sister is
a u a scientist she's a about to defend
her dissertation get her PhD to be a b
scientist so I say all that because I
was not like a big- Time academic I was
like you know barely scraping by and
honestly did horrible as a student and
uh but but growing up I was I was
surrounded by people that were
incredibly good writers and storytellers
and almost you know unintentionally I
learned how to speak you know I learned
how to tell stories you know through
osmosis and some genetic raw material as
well per it's almost like you know I
yeah yeah basically and um so I think
that that is a big part of why I think
I'm able to tell a story well is just
being around really good
storytellers um but I think in terms of
my specific style which I would
categorize as you know not deception but
telling a story where I'm holding off
details not to to make the story not
accurate but rather uh using
perspectives you know inhabiting certain
perspectives in a story that allow you
to effectively tell an angle of the
story where you are knowingly omitting a
portion of the story that's going to
come in later that will actually answer
questions the audience is going to have
it's like I'm I'm setting you up for an
incomplete story that I absolutely fill
in every single Gap but in a way that's
not like and then I'm going to explain
it to you it just it happens where we've
we've left all these holes and it gets
filled in at the end for a big powerful
reveal use the story that we just went
through sure explain to me how you've
constructed that tell me what's going on
so it's really important to understand
if you're going to tell a really good
story that it has less to do with the
story and much more to do with the
delivery of the person telling it now
that's not entirely true because there
are some stories that are so outrageous
they carry the day but most of the time
if you're going to tell a story it's
your delivery that's going to have the
biggest impact on the audience and so
for this you know I'm actually telling
that that lamp story with only you in
mind I'm not thinking about anybody else
here I'm really just gauging your
reaction to the story and so as a
Storyteller I'm constantly trying to
size up how my audience is reacting to
what I'm saying um but in terms of that
specific story I know that I'm building
to a place where I'm going to tell you
that everything that happened in the
story didn't happen that's going to
that's going to be the reveal but the
best way to set that up is to not flag
that there is anything unusual about the
beginning of the story because it wrecks
the reveal if there's any language
whatsoever in the first 90% of that
story that tips the audience that this
might not really be happening it wrecks
the story what would be an example of
that he was in he was in school and hit
and fell on the floor no it it actually
it's it's devices that a lot of
storytellers use that I think hurts
their stories for example I could say uh
go back going back to the lamp story you
know he's first noticed the lamp right
and so he's he sees a blurry lamp and so
Mitch he sees the lamp it's blurry he
can't make sense of it but what he
didn't know is this lamp was going to
ruin his life right yeah yeah yeah yeah
now that's that's an overt example but
there are little things that people
think are are are good transitions
between the story you know like leading
the audience to get ready something
Big's going to happen but if you
Telegraph too much early in the story
that you know get ready something Big's
coming the audience will just start
guessing what it's going to be and a lot
of times it's fairly obvious that
there's some element of the story that
you know is going to be revealed to be
different in the end
so I would also say there's just Nuance
to it when I'm for example I I added
something into that story and it's part
of the story but I usually don't add it
in which is when uh Kayla came back in
the house when Mitch is now unresponsive
and he's staring at the lamp and he's
not even reacting to her whereas the day
before he was I made a point of saying
that Kayla ushered her kids out of the
room it's a small detail but it gives it
a a level of reality that if you're the
parent you've come in and the parent
unresponsive that little detail reminds
you that this is a real human having a
real interaction if I don't include it
it likely has no impact it doesn't
matter that I you know whether Kayla did
or did not shoe her kids away because of
this crisis it it doesn't really matter
but adding that in and delivering it not
as like a I said it as if it absolutely
happened like it's factual she shoed the
kids away and then she dealt with her
husband that's telling you here it is
this is happening like engage with the
story this is really happening but I'm
doing it I want that I want it to feel
as real as possible in the beginning so
that the reveal actually has impact and
that's why I added little kind of almost
the they had game family game nights
right that they really did but that's an
important detail to the beginning of the
story because I'm going to tell you it's
all fake so it's like layering in things
that create authenticity in the
beginning of that story is really
important because the way that the way
that story often gets told is you people
will start with here's a story about a
guy who hit his head and he imagined his
whole life and then it was taken away
from him way yeah he was in his house
and he saw this lamp and it was blurry
but it turns out that was the beginning
of this psychotic break he was having
but it's like the audience there's no
there's that's the thing is when I'm
when I'm telling a story
it's all about stick around because
you're going to learn something that you
you were not expecting there's going to
be a plot twist there's going to be a
reveal I'm instead of telling you that
the way I tell a story always includes a
payoff always there you I I guarantee
you you can you can look at every single
story I've ever put on the internet ever
and there's a payoff at the end that is
absolutely intentional and so your
audience begins to believe begins to
know that's what they get yeah there's
loads of details and I'm not really sure
where this is going but if I stick
around something big is going to happen
and I did that without even telling you
it it's just the way I tell the story so
are you adding stakes in the beginning
as well it seemed like that as you're
saying um they were in love and they do
the the family thing and and it's the
white picket fence and it's the American
dream and they they make sure that they
look after each other with date night
and is the things that they do that's
adding a degree of of stakes and I guess
you're invested like you you like these
people like you want to know what's
going to happen to absolutely I mean
that that the deal is is for this
particular story I need the first part
of the story to just feel like it
happened which seems like a pretty easy
charge but when Mitch describes what
happens he does not spend a lot of time
talking about whether or not you know
Kayla shed the kids away when she walked
in the house or whether they had game
night those are little details that
definitely happened but for him the
story is the trauma itself the fact that
this didn't really happen that's what he
wants to talk or that's the the question
that he's answering are going to be
about the trauma side and so what I do
is I recognize that in this case if I'm
going to tell it I have to find all
those small details to reassure the
audience that oh this is real this
definitely happened but I don't need to
tell you that I'm adding those little
bits of just normal human life and
thoughts that remind you without you
even realizing it oh this happened
that's not part of the story of course
this happened I'm going to see what
happens next you don't realize that like
none of this happened but I have to make
it authentic playing with the
chronological order of events as well I
imagine is something that you have to do
and also this uh purposeful omission of
certain details yeah actually a good
example of that purposeful Omission
would be take a a crime a murder let's
say there's a pretty good chance that
the person who commits the murder is
going to do something to get people to
not think it's them they're going to lie
they're going to they're going to
misrepresent what happened if if you
know if people are asking questions
they're not going to be like oh I did it
some people do but a lot of people don't
they're going to try to protect them M
themselves with lies we'll tell a story
where we will take the perspective of
let's say the killer but I haven't told
you it's the killer I'm I'm just
introducing this person into the story
and I'm using their perspective and if
their perspective includes absolute lies
but they're selling it as truth and you
don't know that the're killer and you
don't know they're lying I can I can
very honestly tell you something that
this person said that was a lie but I
can tell it to you as truth because I'm
you you know I'm inhabiting that
person's perspective so yes it's a lie
but in the the framework of that story
if I'm saying so and so said this thing
and here's how they said it and do this
person and here you know here's the
outcome of that that what they said it's
not a lie it winds up being a lie but if
I'm telling it from their perspective it
allows me to mislead you but using real
things that happened that's a very
powerful tool for the podcast which is
mostly True Crime where we're looking to
find perspectives that allow us to
basically lie but using someone real lie
that was part of the story that makes
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