Fixed Story Method using Objects

Fixed Story Method using Objects 

Another powerful way to do the story method is with a �fixed story� using objects. By �fixed story� I mean that the same story is used over and over again to memorize different information as opposed to the story method explained above which changes with each list of information that you want to memorize. 

While making up a story using the Fixed Story Method, move from object to object. Associate each object with what you are trying to memorize.

My favorite stories have objects like the Statue of Liberty, purple sports cars, King Kong on the Empire State Building, yellow submarines, orange talking alligators, three headed aliens etc. Each of these characters and objects can be associated with what you are trying to memorize. Your imagination is the limit! 

Remember that the objects in the story allow you to associate the information that you are trying to memorize with something. They are a type of peg image. The more unique and vivid the peg image and the association, the easier it will be to memorize. And if you can add action to your associations, they will be twice as easy to remember. 

Let me give an example of the Story Method using objects. This story starts out with a vacation trip to New York City. 

As I walked up to the plane that was going to fly me to my weeklong vacation in New York City I noticed that the pilot sitting in the cockpit was a giant. He was so big that his head stuck outside the window of the plane. He waved to me as I boarded the plane with the rest of the passengers. As we got closer to New York City many of the passengers on the plane started to gasp and quickly talk to each other. I didn�t know what all the fuss was about until I looked outside the plane�s window and saw something that startled even me�the city of New York was upside down! I couldn�t believe my eyes. 

The pilot then got on the announcer and told us that we weren�t all crazy but that the plane was upside down. What a relief! Unfortunately as we turned the plane right side up we were headed right for the Statue of Liberty. We were flying so fast directly and the statue that we didn�t have time to turn and we smashed right into Lady Liberty. Bang! The next thing I remember I was lying flat on my back on the runway dazed and confused. Pieces of plane and people were strewn everywhere. I was the only survivor. As I came to my senses a purple sports car pulled up. 

It was very shiny, had a ribbon tied on the front of the grill and I noticed its headlights were actually eyes. The car was alive! A man got out and put me in the passengers seat as we sped off.I heard this crying sound. It was very loud. It sounded as though it was coming from the backseat. I turned around and there was a baby in the backseat crying its head off. I couldn�t get the baby to stop no matter what I did. Finally we stopped the vehicle and got out. 

We were right in front of the New York Stock Exchange! Wow, I had always wanted to visit the Stock Exchange. I was so excited that I darted in and jumped right down onto the trading floor. I remembered that I had brought along one share of Microsoft stock so I hurriedly pulled it out of my pocket and jumped in the group of traders that were trading and I traded the stock for $1 million dollars. Payday for me! Just at that moment, a man with a dog�s head dressed it a nice suit and carrying a stethoscope came over and grabbed me. He said he was from the secret service and was there to escort me to the Alligator Ball. 

The Alligator Ball, what was that? Well he tucked me away in a car and drove me out to an old house in the country. It was beaten up and had tree limbs thrown all over it. He walked me inside and there was a full-size basketball court! He then introduced to one of the strangest creatures I had ever met. He called himself Alligator Jordan. Alligator Jordan was in fact an alligator! He was wearing a blue shirt and purple shorts. He immediately challenged me to a game of basketball. After he finished dunking over me, dribbling under me and slithering around me I was through. He had beaten me by more than 100 points. Of course the game was only to 100 so I didn�t even have a chance to score. After the game was over he took me outside and showed me his yellow submarine. He asked if I wanted a ride so we got in and off we went. Once we were inside the submarine the Beatles song, �The Yellow Submarine� came on the loudspeaker. Alligator Jordan and me sang the song together as we cruised under water in the New York harbor. Once we pulled up to the shoreline, wheels sprouted from underneath the submarine and before I knew it we were driving down the streets of New York. We pulled right up to the Empire State Building and Alligator Jordan let me off. We said goodbye and I stepped out of the yellow submarine. I looked up at the tall building and low and behold, there was King Kong! He had scaled the side of the Empire State Building just like in the movies but he had a bunch of books in his hand and he was handing them to a woman who was at the very top of Empire State Building. She was smiling and thanked King Kong for bringing them all the way up the side of the building. 

Mr. Kong then came down and picked me up in his hand and asked me where I would like to go. I told him that I would like to visit Central Park. So he took me to Central Park and set me down. Just then a brown rabbit came up to me and asked me if I would like to have a picnic lunch with him. I was a bit hungry so I answered, �Sure!� He pulled out a blanket and some sandwiches and we sat down to eat. Just as we sat down it started to rain. �No problem,� said the brown rabbit as we pulled out an umbrella and opened it up. We finished out lunch and I thanked him for his hospitality. It was time to go home so I flagged down the bus that would take me back to the airport. Soon enough the bus pulled up and a giant cow was driving it. By now there was just about nothing that could surprise me so I stepped onto the bus and said hello to the gigantic cow driver. He said, �Hello there!� with a big smile. I sat back and enjoyed my ride back to the airport and my wonderful vacation in the extraordinary town called New York City.

Did you notice the peg images in the story? I hope so! When memorizing information using this story, all you have to do is make associations between the peg images and the elements that you trying to memorize. 

Like the previous Story Method example, after repeating this story to yourself several times at different times of the day over several days you will have remembered it so well that it will become abbreviated. This is what it may sound like after you have locked the story into your long-term memory banks. 

 I got on a plane to NYC. The pilot was a giant and had an oversize head. We flew into NYC but it was upside down. We crashed into the Statue of Liberty. A man in a purple sports car picked me up. There was a baby in the back seat that wouldn�t stop crying. They dropped me off in front of the New York Stock Exchange. I traded a $1 million dollar share of Microsoft stock. A dog-man took me to an old beat up house. Alligator Jordan beat me in basketball. He took me onto a yellow submarine and gave me a ride across the harbor. He dropped me off in front of the Empire State Building where King Kong was giving books to a lady at the top of the building. King Kong took me to Central park and I had lunch with a brown rabbit. It started raining and the rabbit pulled out an umbrella. After lunch I boarded a bus that was being driven by an oversized cow to go back to the airport. 

There were a lot of peg images in this compact story. I counted at least twenty-one peg images that could be used to associate with information.

Let�s name some of the potential peg images in the story: 

This means that you can memorize at least twenty-one different and unique pieces of information from this short but powerful little story! 

You can use the same story over and over again with different applications. I have an arsenal of about ten stories that I use over and over again depending on the number of elements that need to be memorized. 

Again, stories can be used if you have a longer list of things you need to memorize and are great ways to come up with peg images.