I love stories. As a playwright and theater producer, reading and writing stories is one of my passions. I listen to several podcasts, including This American Life, Risk, and The Moth, that are solely based on storytellers engaging an audience with nothing more than words told skillfully.

You’d think that this would carry over to YouTube. After all, “Story Time” videos are immensely popular, and it’s one of the simplest forms of video creation, from a technical standpoint. Turn on the camera and start talking, right?

However, I’ve noticed that a good number of “Story Time” videos fall into an easy trap that plagues most beginner storytellers. The trap of, “And Then…”

A good story is built upon goals and consequences. A good storyteller knows that an audience should follow along his or her journey towards an easily-defined goal,  be surprised by the obstacles that fall in the way, and delighted by the unexpected ways in which those obstacles are overcome.

The creators of “South Park” instigated a rule for storytelling: Replace, “and” with “but” or “therefore.” It doesn’t seem like a big change…they’re just conjunctions to tie events together. However, the words “but” and “therefore” have a profound effect on your story, and in fact can tell you if you have a story to tell at all.

“I was driving in a snowstorm and it was scary,” isn’t a story, per se. It’s an accounting of an event, but it doesn’t give your audience any stakes to hold onto, and doesn’t give you, as a storyteller or a character, any autonomy over the situation. Changing that to something like, “I was anxious to get to my first date, but a blizzard swept up out of the blue, therefore I had to creep along the highway at 5 miles per hour” starts you off on a better foot. You have a defined goal, there are obstacles, and you’ve chosen a path to solve the problem.

Remember that stories aren’t just events strung together with a bunch of, “and then’s,” and you’re well on your way to telling more effective, more engaging tales that can build an audience.