Storytelling for social change
mooc
I work from the idea that stories can change people. Stories communicate. They display certain perspectives and they tell their audiences what their creator believes or thinks about a subject, a topic, or an idea. Sometimes, when people try to express an opinion about something they believe deeply, they argue about who’s right or wrong, or what others should or shouldn’t do. But an argument usually doesn’t go very far, because people polarize, standing up for beliefs without really listening to anyone else.
A story can be much more effective than an argument, because a story can draw you in, make you feel how a character might feel, and if someone’s listening to your story, feeling your story, they might just change their minds about a topic or an issue.
So is a story a lie?
When I was a little girl, and my mom accused me of telling a story, she meant I was lying.
A story is not a lie.
It’s a way of crafting a description of an incident to communicate a particular perspective.
How do you structure a story and character to create empathy?
Change happens one person at a time, and change happens when we listen to and empathize with another person’s experience. There has to be an element of trust it seems to me, or evidence of a shared experience of some kind. And once you’ve established that base of some kind of agreement between two people in the sharing of the story, then I think, not only is the listening better, but the possibility of change is present.
What do we react to on television when we see a report about a country we know nothing about?
But we see a woman crying, holding a baby. Right. And we know there’s a disaster, and there’s been distress. There’s a story that we can relate to.
And I think that’s part of what you’re talking about in a classroom. Who’s the other, and who isn’t, and how do you create a situation where everybody feels equally invested in what the story’s actually about.
Story Scenario 3: Wedding Cake Controversy
Mary Washington is a small business owner who runs a very successful bakery in the Boston suburbs called “Sweet Dreams”. Much of Mary’s business comes from weddings and wedding cakes. Mary was raised in a devoutly Catholic family, and is proud to have raised her children in the same tradition. James Lee and his fiancé David, who have been a couple for the last 8 years, were very excited to get their wedding cake from “Sweet Dreams”. But when they contacted Mary to order their cake, they were shocked when she refused them service on the grounds of her religious convictions. Mary notified James and David that her Catholic faith prevented her from being able to contribute her work to a same sex marriage ceremony.
Monologue
Mary on her Sweet Dreams: I have finally made my dreams come true. I’d worked so hard for so many years. So, I could open a shop where people can buy cakes for their weddings. I also believe in marriage. My mum taught me marriage is sacred and blessed by our lord. It is a promise and union between a man and woman so we can raise a new generation of children who will love each other and make a positive change to this world. More importantly, Sweet Dreams now allows me to earn enough to put my kids to college. Without the devoted help from my church, none of this would be possible.
Mary on David: Why is he looking to buy a wedding cake with another male friend?
Mary on James: What? They are getting married? How can they give birth and raise children? What is the purpose of their marriage? Why would our lord bless their union?
Mary on her decision: I guess they can still buy anything they want from my shop. But, what if my church friends found out I made wedding cakes for same-sex couple? Would they stop coming to my shop? Without support from the church, my business would never survive. I might have to be savage and refuse service.
David on Mary: She seemed friendly enough. Would she refuse service from same-sex couple? This is our 3rd visit to a wedding cake shop. The last 2 shops wouldn’t accept our business at all. But I have a feeling she would this time.
David on Mary’s decision: Here we go again. How predictable! 3rd time we are turned down due to some stupid religious ground. I had so much hope for her. I was so confident she would be different from the others.
Storytelling for business
linkedin learning
A story is just a series of events. A story has 4 essential components:
- Connection – Events must be connected from beginning to end.
- Characters – Users
- Tension – User’s frustration
- Conflict – User’s pain points. Conflicts can be
- Person vs nature
- Person vs self – It’s easy to write about what’s going on in a person’s mind using novels. It needs to be more externalized in movies or TV
- Person vs society – Values or moral conflicts against society
- Person vs person – Most common. Soap opera drama.
A story can be split into a three-act structure
- Problem (user’s pain points) – First act is intros to the main character and the character’s world. It’s apparent there is something missing. Main character is unhappy.
- Complication (user’s conflicts) – The main character trying to solve a problem is failing because she doesn’t have the magic ingredient that you can give her. What are the things that must occur in order to force the Protagonist to confront and overcome the things that are holding her back?!
- Solution (user’s miracle outcome) – The main character solved her problem and they live happily ever after.
You can set simple rules about your world in the story. If you are clear about your rules and never break them, then your audience will go along with just about anything.
Why do you need to know who’s doing what? It’s because you need characters to tell an engaging stories.
You must have characters in story. They are necessary to conflict. Bottomline you need at least one. Each character must be distinct and pull their own weigh. Or, they are out!
Characters don’t just hold strong opinion. They put those opinions into action. Because action is where the characters come from! In real life, we often say actions speak louder than words. The protagonist (the main character) is the entryway into your story. They are who your viewer relates to most.
I need a yardstick in the first sentence/paragraph that answer all 3 questions below:
- Whose story is it? Joel Campbell’s
- What is happening? He’s on a bus that somehow will trigger him to commit a murder
However, you must show, not tell their feelings. Help the reader feel, what the protagonist feels.
linkedin
- What is at stake? Someone else’s life and Joel’s future
For example, this sentence for a novel answers all 3 questions above: Joel Campbell, age eleven at the time, began his descend toward murder with a bus ride.
It’s important to tell reader how our protagonist feel.
We need to do 2 things:
- What the protagonist feels?
- Why they feel it?
We must make sure that the reader know what the protagonist expectations were. If they know what she expected, chances are they will understand why she’s reacting the way she does. Not only that, they will be able to anticipate what she might do as a result.
So one way to use storytelling to promote social change is to present multiple sides of an issue from multiple perspectives. So audiences can hear a voice they may not have listened to before.
Writers are the most powerful people in the world because they can change how others see the world. How will your story change your reader’s world view, even only by a smidge.
linkedin
We all have secrets. And if we are willing to reveal some of our secrets or appear to reveal some of our secrets, then there’s a big possibility that the listener is going to start to trust us a little more, right?
And they’ll trust the lessons within the story. They’ll enter into the landscape of the story.
Ionesco is another wonderful playwright, he had a wonderful idea in a book called Notes and Counter Notes in which he said, ‘how about we think of a story as a sequence of images?’ Which, placed side by side, have a friction, and then invoke ideas in us.
That we don’t just have to tell a story like a fairy tale.
We can take different images, different situations, put them next to each other, and that will tell us something.
Applied storytelling
edx
What is Ethos vs Logos vs Pathos?
They are 3 types of appeal a speaker can make to their audience.
Ethos = Credibility. It’s about spending time speaking to an audience convincing them you’re the most reliable person talking about a subject. Think Total Credibility = Competence + Character. So, it’s about being a lovely person (character) and also being knowledgeable about the subject. It ensures the speak will always speak the truth (high competence) and so in a kind and humane ways (high character).
Stats universalise. Stories personalise.
mooc
Logos = Logic. It’s about supporting evidence, the stats, numbers and key findings. It tells you the facts about what the issue is. It gives you a big picture of the people affected by this issue. Logos universalise.
Pathos = Emotion. It’s about the feeling and emotion of the people. It zooms into one specific person in the big picture and tells you their emotion, feeling, character and how they deal with the problem. Pathos personalize.
Ethos (10%) Logos (25%) Pathos (65%)
Short short short story = Lists | Short short story = Examples | Short story = Personal Anecdotes
If you can tell a joke at the beginning of your story, then you will get your audience on your side right away.
What makes a good story? A good story has specificities. Basically, it has unique fingerprint of you in the story. Your personal experience and all the specifics in your experience.
They went and search for something real, but they found quite the opposite
At a job interview, you want to avoid being too list-y. You need tell a story about why you love what you do. What motivates you? Story is specific remember? But then you can also link your story into the specifics in the job description.
What you should do?
Think about telling it as a story about your journey from beginning to end with lots of specificity about everything. Add humour if you can but not necessarily. The most important thing is to tell it like you are reliving the experience all over again. Most importantly, you always end the story with a lesson learnt.
How to make a sales pitch?
People bring a sense of storytelling to the demonstration of sales pitch which a series of steps does not.
How to make a connection?
Rather than focusing on yourself, instead focusing on your action. What do you want from this other person? It turns out when you are less focus on yourself, you become less nervous.
A story is context with curated connection points.
A story is not a list of facts.
What is the most important thing about giving a presentation at a workplace?
The hook! Remember these at the start of your presentation:
- Do not announce your topic straight away
- Make sure that we get to know you first
- Start by asking your audience a question before you give away the topic of the day
- 5 words max for each key point
- Make 2 decks. One for speaking and one for presso.
- Use vocals variety in your reading of quotation
- If you use an image in slide, always ensure there is humour in it!
- Direct your focus to each key point
- One key point at a time (practice animating this on a slide)
- You need to practice and say it out loud!
Some useful resources on TED talks:
How to sound smart on your TED talks? by Will Stephen
The rise of boring architecture – and the case for radically human buildings by Thomas Heatherwick
How schools can nurture every student’s genius by Trish Millines Dziko
A second chance for fathers to connect with their kids by Charles C. Daniels
The Future of Fashion — Made From Mushrooms by Dan Widmaier
Do Schools Kill Creativity? by Sir Ken Robinson