Open Loops: A Tiny Technique to Make Stories Far More Gripping
I want you to read the following passage, written as a podcast script. Imagine the show debunks myths about technology.
After you read it, let's see if we can make this script more gripping.
Here's the draft of this completely made-up script:
Most people think artificial intelligence is like a robot, shaped like a human, which speaks like a human, moves like a human, sounds like a human, and can solve complicated problems or create things like a human — or maybe better. The New York Times recently asked people which devices they picture when they hear the phrase “artificial intelligence,” selecting all that applied from a list. Sixty-five percent of people selected “robot with arms, legs, a torso, and a head.” Other popular answers included “drones,” “self-driving cars,” and “factory assembly line equipment,” as at least 35% of respondents added any one of those to their lists.
According to a leading AI expert from Harvard, Dr. Brainy McSmartpants, “Most people believe artificial intelligence is something very new, or even something similar to science fiction, like a radical thing the likes of which we’ve never seen. That’s because most people don’t know what TECHNOLOGY even is, let alone AI. They believe tech has to be a metal-and-plastic device that looks and feels overtly like machinery or electronics. They think technology advancements means they’ll suddenly experience the world in a very different way, like they’re transported to the world of The Jetsons or Star Wars. The truth is, technology is part of everything, and AI has been part of our daily lives for decades now.”
Again, 100% of that is fabricated. There was no study or quote from The New York Times, though if your name is Brainy McSmartpants, please contact me immediately. I need to tell your story.
Okay, so, the above passage is one way to record the podcast, but I'd argue it falls fairly flat. We haven't raised the stakes or agitated any pain or created much intrigue. It's reported well, yes, and that matters -- but it's not very emotionally gripping, so you never really feel like you NEED to know the answers.
How can we turn the experience into something listeners NEED to finish hearing?
Let's try again.
(Taps imaginary mic. Clears throat.)
So how do we separate fact from fiction in our understanding of artificial intelligence? Well, we can start by understanding the fiction first, and more importantly, where the fiction originated. Why do so many people believe in myths about AI?
Okay, so that’s our challenge together today. Let’s start here: What do most people think artificial intelligence actually is?
I’d ask you: What do you think it is? Any ideas? Here, I’ll give you a moment.
(Pause)
When you hear “artificial intelligence,” what do you imagine? A super-intelligent, human-shaped robot, walking, talking, doing crazy math problems, and recreating the Mona Lisa in mere seconds? What about crazy drones and self-driving cars? Chances are, when you hear the phrase “AI,” your mind serves up images rooted in science fiction. For better or worse, you’re far from alone.
According to a New York Times poll, 65% of people say the idea of AI brings to mind a robot with arms, legs, a torso, and a head. Other popular answers included “drones,” “self-driving cars,” and “factory assembly line equipment,” as at least 35% of respondents added any one of those to their lists.
One leading AI expert (and leading name-haver) is Dr. Brainy McSmartpants. He’s famous for his strong statements and opinions about how the public perceives technology, and here’s what he told us: “Most people believe artificial intelligence is something very new, or even something similar to science fiction, like a radical thing the likes of which we’ve never seen. That’s because most people don’t know what TECHNOLOGY even is, let alone AI. They believe tech has to be a metal-and-plastic device that looks and feels overtly like machinery or electronics. They think technology advancements means they’ll suddenly experience the world in a very different way, like they’re transported to the world of The Jetsons or Star Wars. The truth is, technology is part of everything, and AI has been part of our daily lives for decades now.”
Smartpants, indeed.
And all of that stuff makes sense. But one question remains: If AI has been around for so long, inside so many things we use or experience every day, then why is it only now becoming so widely discussed and hotly debated? Why do the images from The Jetsons and Star Wars suddenly feel a lot more … vivid?
NOW we’re effective storytellers.
So what changed? What did we add? Some tension, some intrigue, some drama -- all true. But how?
Through a technique called open loops.
Today, let's explore why these techniques matter so much in our efforts to become effective storytellers -- and why they can be dangerous and even spammy when used irresponsibly.
Before defining open loops, a reminder:
The overarching purpose behind our particular type of creative work -- work shipped in a business context, is to earn trust.
That's what marketing is, in the end. It's not about "getting in front of" others. It's about ensuring they care. Can you resonate? Can you connect and add value? Can you earn trust?
Of course, trust is earned over time, and this is the fact too many marketers forget. We overemphasize getting people to arrive, forgetting that, for the good stuff to happen, they need to stay.
"Time" is what makes open loops so powerful.
What Are Open Loops?
Open loops are moments or sequences that create questions in the minds of the audience, which prompt continued, invested interest and attention.
“I stepped outside my house, looked down the street, and saw something I didn’t expect.”
That’s an open loop. The reason the loop is open is, of course, the missing detail and subsequent question: What did I see down the street? If you want to know that, you'll keep reading.
Why do open loops work?
When a loop is opened, our brains go, “Wow, I could reaaally use some closure right now.” That prompts us to stick with the experience to get answers.
Arguably, the most powerful tool at a storyteller’s disposal is the ability to create tension by introducing questions. The tension could be obvious, like a villain marching into town or a disruption to an industry's typical way of working, or it might be subtle, like reading something which contradicts your previous understanding.("Marketing isn't about who arrives. It's about who stays.")
Even a feeling that something is missing which you can't quite pinpoint could represent a moment of tension, like when music playing underneath dialogue suddenly stops. If you're listening to that podcast or watching that show, you might think, "Wait, what was that? What's happening now?"
As human beings, we crave closure. (Very Ron Burgundy from Anchorman Voice). It’s science.
People don’t just want to continue. They need to continue. And THAT is the power of an open loop.
This is a superpower, and as with any great power, we have a responsibility to use it well, in service to others.
The Fine Line Between Fulfilling and Frustrating
While it's true that we dislike when something is left unresolved, we also dislike when the resolution doesn't feel satisfying. To figure out why answers, conclusions, and moments of closure don't feel satisfying, we can look harder at two pieces of the opening of the loop: the logic and the intensity.
It's very easy to OPEN loops strong -- just look at clickbait headlines. It's much harder to deliver on the promise, to answer a burning question in a satisfactory way. To do that, the closure of the loop needs to match the initial logic and intensity of the open.
And this is the fine line we walk as creators.
Logic:
When closure doesn’t match the initial logic, it causes frustration because the story makes no sense. Audiences are left grappling.
If Game of Thrones ended with the characters declaring that the new king would be, oh I don’t know, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Santa Claus??? That ... would not be satisfying. And why? Because it doesn't match the logic previously constructed by the opening of the loop. Yes, closure is provided ... but not a good kind of closure.
It's true that GoT contains all these fantastical and outlandish characters and events. We accept they exist. Yanno what those initial rules ensure we won't accept?
Terminator-Claus.
Even in the world of the make-believe, the initial logic needs to inform the final closure provided.
Intensity
We also need to match the intensity of the intrigue created by an open loop. By definition, a clickbait headline creates tons of intrigue ... but does not pay it off with information to match. The article overpromises and under-delivers.
We see this phenomenon show up in more than just headlines, but in the open loops that begin other types of content too: videos, podcast episodes, and perhaps most infamously, Twitter threads and LinkedIn posts.
"99% of entrepreneurs will do this one thing wrong."
(Can you at least sanitize your stats if you're going to keep pulling them out of your ass?)
"There's one secret ingredient behind all high-growth companies today."
(Oh we're telling secrets? Fantastic, here's one: You're full of sh*t.)
If you claim the beans are magic, then the resulting plant better be magic. Otherwise, you're just a weed in the vast garden of content which we can't wait to pluck out and throw away.
The goal is to earn trust. Abusing open loops does the opposite of that work. We have to close the loops we open by matching both the logic of the setup and the intensity of the intrigue.
With great power comes great responsibility.
Spider-Man aside, let's look at the six types of open loops we can use (responsibly):
The 6 Types of Open Loops
Truly engaging stories don’t rely on just one type of open loop. Instead, they combine three "macro" and three "micro" types of loops to continue to hold attention over time.
Game of Thrones was so unbelievably gripping because they were among the best shows at using open loops. Ever. Hidden though most of them were, the writing, acting, and directing all formed a complex network of open loops -- questions which held our attention over time, because we craved answers. Of course, unless you knew about this technique while watching the show, you probably didn’t think, “Wow, what great open loops!” You just felt the urge to keep watching.
In fact, you didn’t want to watch this show. We needed to.
Now here’s my entry for the Most Obvious Statement of the Year Awards: You probably don’t make Game of Thrones.
It’s easy to see how a project like that — with all that money and time and creative talent — could incorporate open loops proactively and strategically. But when you're resource constrained (including when you have no time to do much post-production editing), you can still incorporate open loops into your work to become a more effective storyteller.
That starts here:
1. Project Loops
This is the first macro loop. It's the biggest. Across your entire project's life -- every "unit of content," like the editions of your newsletter, chapters of your book, or episodes of your show -- you explore one looming question or source of tension. Often, this represents the premise of the project.
This is one reason I often position my work as an ongoing journey to understand and evolve something, like story or resonance in content marketing, or what it takes to create our and our audience's favorite things. Partly, I'm very curious about a thing and think it's worth exploring. Partly, I hope I can inspire you to join the journey and stick around.
The only way to close this particular open loop is to end the project, or maybe launch some kind of capstone project -- like the author of a newsletter finally deciding to author his next book after months of you reading him. (Or her or them. I'm not speaking about anyone specific of course. Nope. Nuh-uh. Definitely not me.)
You don’t need to make Game of Thrones to go on a grand quest, but you do need to ask questions that can’t be answered with a quick Google search or coffee chat with an expert. You could explore something serious or something fun, something theoretical or highly concrete. You just have to explore ... something. Over time. Consistently.
That’s the journey. That’s the project loop.
2. Series Loops
Series loops are also macro loops, but they are contained inside a finite number of editions or episodes. For instance, I could dedicate my next six essays to the six types of open loops. That's a series. To make it a series loop, however, I can position it with a big question to raise the stakes and convey intrigue: "What does it take to hold attention, not just grab it? To accelerate trust and create passionate fans, not just win brief attention before people move on? That's what we're exploring over these six essays."
To close a series loop, the series ends, ideally with some kind of conclusion that satisfies the logic and intensity of the open loop sitting across the entire series. "What does it take? THIS."
We see limited series everywhere in media, from podcasts to TV shows, YouTube channels to newsletters. They often position themselves as "exploring X." I think they'd be more successful if they were trying to answer X.
That's a series loop.
3. Story Loops
A story loop is the final macro loop, as it encompasses "the whole." Except in this case, the whole is one single "unit of content" -- one episode of the podcast, one edition of the newsletter, one video in a series (or even just one single standalone video or article). The loop is opened at the beginning of the piece and closed by the end. You set out to answer something, and you do -- today. By the end of this exact experience.
These are often used ... but poorly. I hear lots of podcasters opening strong with a big question, but then they don't revisit or restate that question enough throughout the episode, so we lose sight of it. The questions they ask don't explore that one big question. They used the open loop to grip us, but failed to actually explore it -- meaning the closure won't have as strong an impact on us, because we weren't as eager to receive it.
That's where micro loops can help. Micro loops are meant to hold attention within one single piece -- and there are three types we can use.
(Hey! That's a micro loop right there!)
("What are the three types?")
4. Segment Loops
Imagine the image above shows one podcast episode, broken into segments. Each can begin by revisiting the initial tension (or introducing newer, smaller questions which relate to the big one), and each can end with some kind of satisfying conclusion, before new questions arise -- and so on.
Now, the above example is highly structured. Not every experience will have a repeatable formula like that, but every story does have a structure -- even if it just unfolds in the moment, during the drafting process.
My show, Unthinkable, resembles the above image. It relies on a repeatable rundown every episode, known only to me and producer Ilana Nevins. The listener isn't told which segment is happening, but behind the scenes, we know.
The essay you're reading, however, did NOT rely on a documented structure, but inevitably a structure emerged as I wrote, both through visual breaks and the musicality of the writing.
Perfect moments for providing tiny bits of satisfying closure.
(Like that.)
(And that too.)
(I must be stopped.)
I think of "segment loops" as a dialogue between communicator and audience member. For instance, since Unthinkable explores the leap between trusting best practices and trusting your intuition, I can anticipate what you might ask or what we might need to share with you (and in what order) to explore that specific premise -- the movement from trusting best practices to trusting your intuition. Because that feels ... unthinkable. So I have to make it logical, as if we were talking it out together.
Here's the rundown of a typical episode. The bold question represents what I imagine you asking me, and the rest of the text is what I need to provide in the story to answer it. As you'll see (because they're listed as questions-and-answers), each block is a segment loop:
"Why is this story for me?" (COLD OPEN: Set the stakes by introducing the big problem, question, or desire we face as creative people.)
"What's the best practice here?" (A BLOCK: Build up the best practice(s) for whatever craft is being discussed by our subjects in this episode.)
"What did they do?" (B BLOCK: Tear down the best practice by introducing the thing that seems unthinkable, done by the person/people we profile today.)
"So wait, why did they do it that way?" (C BLOCK: Convey just how smart it was in their situation, despite the general advice out there. It wasn't unthinkable at all.)
"Oh wow! How did they arrive there anyway? Who IS this person/team?" (D BLOCK: Share the backstory, with breadcrumbs that lead us to that alleged "unthinkable" thing they did.)
"How can I/we adopt this same mentality or approach?" (E BLOCK: Share insights and frameworks that emerge from this story, with motivating words from the subject(s).)
"I think I'm ready. Am I ready? This still feels a little scary." (F BLOCK: One, short, final punch -- scored to inspiring music -- to send people off. Help them reach "exit velocity.")
5. Moment Loops
Here's the good news: You already understand moment loops. Remember the blurb at the opening of this newsletter? (Yanno, all 80 minutes ago? I know, I know, we went long today.) Well, those were moment loops. They include:
Open-ended questions to raise the stakes.
Pauses for dramatic effect.
"Signposts" which tease forthcoming details, like when I wrote in the script that Dr. Brainy McSmartpants was famous for strong opinions. That's like planting a signpost for his next quote to be a strong opinion. You think, "What does THAT sound like? What ARE his opinions?" And then I immediately close that loop by playing his quote.
In each case, the loop opens and closes moment to moment.
Finally, we arrive at the tiniest of open loops. (Aw. Just look at them, all snuggly in the corner, wide-eyed and fuzzy.) But just as anyone with an infant knows, the tiniest little creatures can change everything.
That’s the effect of this final type of open loop…
6. But
(Before I go any further, the answer is yes, I contemplated calling them "But Loops," but all I could picture were Fruit Loops shaped like peach emojis.)
(I need to go outside more.)
But is the most undervalued word in creating content and crafting stories. But is this tiny little pivot point, this ability to create intrigue in an instant and create the need to hear what comes after the word. But is the promise of a new idea, a different direction, something we haven’t considered or heard yet. The payoff is coming, but … it hasn’t arrived yet.
“We're familiar with this approach to our work, but how often do we stop to wonder why it's done that way?” It’s a tiny pivot between what people assume they know to what you want to explore.
(You can also use the cousins of the word but, however and yet. Though maybe avoid its obnoxious neighbor, actually.)
Even the grandest of stories and most powerful of experiences can unfold because of that one tiny word. But is part of any great sequence of events. We think it’s “and,” but really … it’s but.
“This happened, and then this, and then that ... but then that. Which led to this. But then that happened, which led to this.”
Loop opening, loop closing, consistently over time -- earning your time.
The Golden Rule of our work: Get them to the end. It's not about who arrives. It's about who stays. If we can't earn trust, we can't inspire action. If we can't inspire action, we can't grow our businesses or causes or help pretty much anyone.
We need to earn our way forward, and that requires a time investment from others.
Ensure they know: Spending time with your work is a great investment.
Open loops are just tools. As with any tools, merely knowing they exist is a pretty useless bit of knowledge. Only when you start to use them to build something better does any of this help.
Incorporate open loops both big and small into your work, and you’ll create something audiences adore. I believe you’ll earn their trust — no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Actually, scratch that: Lots of buts.
Lots and lots of buts.