Adapted from Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
Identifying a potential desire your customer can fulfill opens what, in storyteller terms, is called a story gap. The idea is you place a gap between your hero and what they want. Moviegoers pay attention when there’s a story gap because they wonder if and how the gap is going to be closed.
Jason Bourne is a spy who has amnesia, and we wonder if he’ll ever discover his true identity. He then finds out who he really is, which closes the gap, only for another gap to open when he wants to escape the agency that is trying to kill him. While that story gap is open, another story gap opens when he meets a young woman named Marie (enter love story subplot), and as they get together, that gap closes, only for yet another to open. Bourne and Marie have to flee the country. When they escape, that gap closes as yet another one opens. The cycle goes on and on, maintaining a taut grip on the audience’s attention up until the finale.
Here’s a storytelling rule that you can immediately apply to your business: attention rises and lowers with the opening and closing of a story gap.

For instance, recently I spoke to an audience of gift retailers. Because Mother’s Day was coming up, I advised the audience to open and close a story gap to drive sales. First, I told them to place a sign on the sidewalk outside the store that said, “Looking for something Mom will love for Mother’s Day? We’ve got 20 ideas under $100.” Then, in the store itself, I instructed them to place respectively numbered cards on twenty items around the store with the language: “#17 Mom Is Going to Love This.” The result? The stores reported significant increase in sales on all the numbered items. Why? Because the sign on the sidewalk opened a story gap and the numbered cards inside the store offered to close that gap. This simple strategy could be repeated for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Father’s Day, the Fourth of July, Easter, anniversaries, and on and on and on. In fact, a simple-to-produce promotion like this could be orchestrated nearly every month.
To understand the power of a story gap is to understand what compels a human brain toward a desire. And it’s not just cinematic or literary stories. Even classical music follows the formula of the opening and closing of story gaps. Many classical sonatas can be broken into three sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation. The final section, recapitulation, is simply an altered version of the exposition that brings a sense of resolve. If that doesn’t make sense, try singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” without singing the final note on the word are. It will bother you to no end.
We also see this at work in poetry. When our ears hear Lord Byron’s first line “She walks in beauty, like the night,” a story gap has been opened. We are waiting to hear a word that rhymes with night and closes the open gap in our minds. Once we hear “Of cloudless climes and starry skies,” our minds find a bit of resolution. Until the next line, that is.

Even a good dad joke follows the opening and closing of a story gap. Opening the gap: A man accidentally ran over his neighbor’s cat and agonizingly apologized, saying he would certainly replace the cat if the neighbor wished. Closing the gap: The neighbor replied: “I’m not so sure about that. How good are you at catching mice?”
It is my view that story gaps explain a lot more than how and why we pay attention. They also explain all of human behavior. The opening of a story gap works a magnetic force that drives every action we take and certainly every dollar we spend. Hunger is the opening of a story gap, and lunch is how we close that gap. A headache is the opening of a story gap, and aspirin is what we take to make it go away. Arousal is the opening of a story gap, ambition and sexual fulfillment brings its closing. There is little action in life that can’t be explained by the opening and closing of various story gaps.
The business lesson here is that when we fail to define something our customer wants, we fail to open a story gap in their mind. When we fail to open a story gap in our customer’s mind, we give them no motivation to engage our brand because they are not left with a story question that demands resolution. Defining something our customer wants and featuring it in our messaging and marketing will open a story gap that drives engagement and action.

Since the original publication of Building a StoryBrand, over one million business leaders have discovered Donald Miller’s powerful StoryBrand framework, and their businesses are growing. Now, the classic resource for connecting with customers has been fully revised and updated, making it an even more powerful tool to prepare you to engage customers. Building a StoryBrand 2.0 will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.