How to write the deep story behind a talk or pitch

Shows you how to expand your first pass into the deep version, the long, private source document every version of your talk gets cut from.

The deep version is your whole story, written long. The course suggests eight hundred to eighteen hundred words, and more if there is more. You write it for nobody and make it honest to the point of discomfort. It holds the doubt, the person who thought you were wrong, the day you almost stopped. You never perform it, publish it or show it to anyone. It exists to be the source you carve the talk from.

Many founders rewrite their pitch before every meeting because they build from the surface down. With no stable source underneath, each new room forces a new rewrite. The lesson offers a test. If your spontaneous three-minute version and your planned eighteen-minute version feel like separate talks, you have room-specific patches.

Depth changes how a short talk feels. A short talk that lands sits on a foundation the audience can sense, because the speaker knows far more than they say. A short talk that fails tends to feel thin and generic. To build the deep version, you expand each beat of your first pass into what actually happened, writing without editing. The talk gets good later, through cutting.

Key ideas.

The deep version is your whole story written long, usually eight hundred to eighteen hundred words, private and honest to the point of discomfort.
Founders who rewrite their pitch before every meeting are usually building from the surface down, with no stable source to cut from.
A short talk that lands sits on depth the audience can feel, because the speaker knows far more than they say.
If your three-minute and eighteen-minute versions feel like separate talks, you have room-specific patches and still need a source.

Questions.

Why does my pitch keep changing every time I give it?

Your pitch probably has no stable source underneath it. Many founders build from the surface down, with slides and a narrative, so every new room forces a fresh rewrite. The Source Talk Method fixes this with a deep version, the whole story written long and privately. Each pitch, keynote or speech then gets cut from that one source, which keeps the core of the story steady.

How much should I write before cutting it down to a talk?

Aim for eight hundred to eighteen hundred words, and keep going if there is more. In the Source Talk Method this long, private document is called the deep version. You write it for nobody, never perform it, and include things you would never say in a room. A short talk cut from it feels grounded, because you know far more than you say.

How do I know if I really know my story?

Test whether you could give a spontaneous three-minute version and a planned eighteen-minute version that tell the same story at different lengths. If the two feel like separate talks, you have room-specific patches. The Source Talk Method addresses this by writing a deep version first, so every length and every room draws on one source and the story stays the same.

Lesson 2.2 of From Story to Stage, a free written course by Aaron C. Leaman, published by Brighter Future. The terms it uses are defined in the glossary.