The Power of Storytelling: Discovering Truth Through Narrative

1. Storytelling "Story" is a universal mirror that shows us the truth about ourselves--who and why we are. Norma Livo and Sandra Rietz, Storytelling: Process and Practice

2. Universal MirrorLivo and Rietz • We see daily routine and mundane circumstance transformed into something profound • "Story" takes the ordinary and binds it into all of human existence, revealing the significance of the trivial.

3. Universal MirrorLivo and Rietz • Through "story" we can transcend the experience of daily living and know ourselves as more enduring than the little occurrences than mark our individual existences. • Inside "story" we can accept pain,find justice, and experience exaltation.

4. Universal MirrorLivo and Rietz • Inside"story" we can recognize and understand our own motivations, because we are the people in the stories • When we enter into "story" we find the story inside ourselves. • "Story" defines humanity.

5. Story • Structure • way of presenting that is different than information, description, illustration • easier to remember because structured • Personal--we identify • commonality of experience extended • we are part of the group • provides order and meaning

6. Understanding the human need for stories.Bill Johnson http://www.storyispromise.com/ • A story is a world where every character, every action, every story element has meaning and purpose. • fundamentally different from life, • life offers facts and ideas that don't necessarily have a clear meaning; • events that generate emotional states that have no clear resolution • events engage the senses, but not in a meaningful, fulfilling way. • Real life, then, can be chaotic, or appear to lack a desirable purpose and meaning

7. Understanding the human need for stories.Bill Johnson http://www.storyispromise.com/ • we can never predict the outcome of any action or series of actions. • Most people have a need for something that assigns a desirable, discernible meaning and purpose to life. • This is what a story does. • A story promises its audience a dramatic journey that offers resolution and fulfillment of life-like issues, events and human needs. • We organize the chaos of life

8. Who Tells • First person • Narrator • Authority • Producer

9. Should Have • Timeliness • Proximity • Significance • Conflict • Prominence • human interest • Make clear why it is worthwhile

10. Structure • Beginning--set up • Middle--conflict or problem • End--resolution • Hero--with whom audience can identify

11. Structure • Conflict-- • with a nemesis • Self • society • Plot-- the series of events • Theme--moral of the story • Denouement--order and harmony

12. How to tell it • Showing is preferable to telling • Begin powerfully • unfold events • reflect the plot and the theme • through behavior reveal the character and conflict • Keep it simple • Characters unique

13. How to tell it • Modulate tempo, mood • Emphasize relationships • Unpredictable

14. What it’s aboutBill Johnsonhttp://www.storyispromise.com/ • A storyteller should to be able to perceive what a story is about at its deepest level, and how to move that to a resolution that offers fulfillment to a story's audience. • Understand what about the movement of a story engages the interest, the needs of an audience. • Create a dramatic movement of a story toward its fulfillment. • Every element of a story works together in its characters, plot, environment and ideas to make vivid and potent a story's world.

15. What it’s aboutBill Johnsonhttp://www.storyispromise.com/ • At its heart, a story must have an issue at stake that is of consequence to the story's audience. • Something the members of the audience will desire to experience in a state of resolution and fulfillment. • Love. Courage. Redemption. Renewal. • Some issue that revolves around the aching need of humans to feel they matter, that they have a place in the world.