I wasn't particularly eager to use personal stories in my writing.

I found that these stories were just for the gap between topic sentences that no one wanted to read. But I found that personal experiences with the subjects created credibility and a connection that helped the reader and writer find common ground.

In the book "Storyworthy" by Matthew Dicks, I read these 4 questions that always help me find my connection to the topic.

Asking about the best/worst/first/last experiences with a topic you encounter gives you a personal connection and helps you find the arch in the topics.

When I'm working on a new topic, I ask these four questions about myself.

1. What was my Worst experience with it?

2. What was my Best experience with it?

3. What was my First experience with it?

4. What was my Last experience with it?

Let's take a look at 4 experiences with job interviews in software development

• My worst interview was when I applied for a job I didn't want to take.

• My best interview was when I was asked to do a complete spell check based on Wikipedia.

• My first interview consisted of writing code with pen and paper.

• My last interview was professional, with clearly defined steps, and I got a response within 24 hours with the next step.

4 arches with software development job interview

• From my worst experience, I learned that I don't apply for a job I don't want to take because I can't fake my interest.

• From my best experience, I learned that developing challenging standalone applications is a great experience no matter the outcome of the interview.

• From my first experience, I learned that testing programming skills on paper are still a terrible idea.

• From my last interview, I learned that an interview sets a high expectation for the company, and I chose the company based on that good impression.

Reference:

Dicks, Matthew: Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling, 2018.