14 Think Like a Storyteller
Philip Loosemore
Stories stick. Always tell a story—especially when the thing you’re writing isn’t one.
What You’ll Learn:
- How stories engage
- How to transform abstract ideas into story
- Techniques you can use right away
Compare these two passages. Each is about 100 words long:
1.
Some parts of the constraints that deception requires will involve regulatory curbs, but others will require wise discretionary decision making. Since certain kinds of deceptive practices will involve intrusions into matters ordinarily considered private, deception will need to be scrutinized lest enthusiasm for “information” improperly cross moral boundaries. So, for example, the use of phone tapping and bugging devices will ordinarily need the approval of an impartial judge. Other deceptions, such as sting operations, may require supervisory approval, and individual discretionary decisions will need to be defensible in the event that they come up for review. Particularly egregious have been police sting operations in which guilty parties have been manipulated into indefensible deceptive behavior. (Kleinig, 2018, Police Deception, para. 6)
View the source.
2.
On the evening of May 7, 2008, a twenty-three-year-old woman named Rachel Hoffman got into her silver Volvo sedan, put on calming jam-band music, and headed north to a public park in Tallahassee, Florida. A recent graduate of Florida State, she was dressed to blend into a crowd—bluejeans, green-and-white patterned T-shirt, black Reef flip-flops. On the passenger seat beside her was a handbag that contained thirteen thousand dollars in marked bills.
Before she reached the Georgia-peach stands and Tupelo-honey venders on North Meridian Road, she texted her boyfriend. “I just got wired up,” she wrote at 6:34 p.m. “Wish me luck I’m on my way.” (Stillman, 2012, paras. 1-4)
Get the source.
These sources cover the same topic—police sting operations in the United States.
Which is easier to follow? Which one sticks better in your mind?
You probably picked the second one.
That’s because story sticks.
This might seem like an unfair comparison. The first example is from an academic essay. The second is from a piece of investigative journalism that allows author Sarah Stillman to tell stories.
The journalist can use narrative here. How is the academic supposed to do that?
But we’re not saying “always write a story.” We’re saying, “Think like a storyteller”—yes, even if you’re writing an essay, email, or report.
Context Matters
Depending on your writing context, you may be more or less free to use the techniques we will discuss.
For example, the first technique we cover is, “Make it about people doing things.” That means, write sentences showing people doing actions (“Rachel Hoffman got into her silver Volvo sedan…”).
If you’re writing a formal technical report, you can’t generally write about people doing things.
As another example, we’ll discuss how to cut abstract nouns and modifiers.
But what if your subject matter really is abstract?
Or what if you want to use a formal, academic tone to meet your readers’ expectations? Maybe you need to keep some of the abstract words after all.
These are probably some of the factors that influenced John Kleinig’s choices in the first example. He’s a professional academic writing to others in his field. There are ways of writing that his circle of readers expects and understands.
But within these limits, we’ll encourage you to think about how you can nudge all your writing in the direction of story technique.
In short: Maximize “storyteller thinking” wherever possible.
How Does Story Work?
People love story. We’re not here to talk about why. For the possible reasons, check out Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story.
But how does story work its magic?
There are many techniques to consider.
First, we’re not talking about writing novels, short fiction, or drama, or even narrative non-fiction. Story is a given in these genres.
We’re talking about bringing non-narrative writing to life with the secrets of good storytelling.
So, what are the story techniques you can easily apply to non-story (essay, report, blog, email, etc.)?
Here are some:
- Make it about people doing things
- Make it concrete
- Cut abstract nouns and modifiers
- Create questions and suspense
Let’s see these in action in the passage from Sarah Stillman (the second example provided earlier), comparing it against the more abstract writing in the first passage. Then we’ll look at how story technique can work in non-narrative types of writing and speaking.
People Doing Things
“On the evening of May 7, 2008, a twenty-three-year-old woman named Rachel Hoffman got into her silver Volvo sedan, put on calming jam-band music, and headed north to a public park in Tallahassee, Florida” (Stillman, 2012, para.1).
A person taking action:
- What’s the sentence about? Rachel Hoffman, a twenty-three-year-old woman.
- What are the main verbs? Getting in a car, putting on music, heading north.
You can picture this easily.
By contrast, here’s the first sentence of the first example:
“Some parts of the constraints that deception requires will involve regulatory curbs, but others will require wise discretionary decision making” (Kleinig, 2018, Police Deception, para. 6).
- What’s it about? “Some parts of the constraints that deception requires.”
- What are the verbs? “Will involve,” “will require.”
You can’t picture this easily.
To be clear: We’re not saying abstract writing like this is wrong. We’re saying it’s not story-like. It’s always your call as a writer. We want to show you how to turn abstract writing into writing that “sticks” by being story-like. You have to decide when to apply the technique.
Make It Concrete
Use concrete details.
Back to Sarah Stillman’s picture of Rachel Hoffman:
“A recent graduate of Florida State, she was dressed to blend into a crowd—bluejeans, green-and-white patterned T-shirt, black Reef flip-flops. On the passenger seat beside her was a handbag that contained thirteen thousand dollars in marked bills” (Stillman, 2012, para. 1).
It’s made up of concrete things: “bluejeans,” “green-and-white patterned T-shirt,” “black Reef flip-flops,” “passenger seat,” “handbag,” “thirteen thousand dollars in marked bills.”
From the academic passage:
“Since certain kinds of deceptive practices will involve intrusions into matters ordinarily considered private, deception will need to be scrutinized lest enthusiasm for “information” improperly cross moral boundaries” (Kleinig, 2018, Police Deception, para. 6).
It’s made up of abstractions: “deceptive practices,” “intrusions into matters ordinarily considered private,” “enthusiasm for ‘information,’” “moral boundaries.”
Cut Abstract Nouns and Modifiers
1. Cut Abstract Nouns
Abstract nouns are concepts, things you can’t picture easily: “decision,” “information,” “capitalism,” “judgment,” “prominence.” They often end in -ion, -ism, -ment, -ence.
If you look at Sarah Stillman’s story of Rachel Hoffman, there are no abstract nouns:
“On the evening of May 7, 2008, a twenty-three-year-old woman named Rachel Hoffman got into her silver Volvo sedan, put on calming jam-band music, and headed north to a public park in Tallahassee, Florida” (Stillman, 2012, para. 1).
The other passage is built out of abstract nouns. Here are a few:
“Some parts of the constraints that deception requires will involve regulatory curbs, but others will require wise discretionary decision making. Since certain kinds of deceptive practices will involve intrusions into matters ordinarily considered private, deception will need to be scrutinized lest enthusiasm for “information” improperly cross moral boundaries” (Kleinig, 2018, Police Deception, para. 6).
Tip
Abstract nouns sometimes guide you to the “people doing things” in your prose. Think about “deception,” “intrusion,” and “decision”:
- A person deceives
- A person intrudes
- A person decides
Person – Action.
2. Cut Abstract Modifiers
The difference between “discretionary decision making” and a “green-and-white patterned T-shirt” is that you can picture a green and white T-shirt; you can’t picture “discretionary decision making.”
Modifiers in Sarah Stillman’s piece help you to see what’s happening:
“a twenty-three-year-old woman named Rachel Hoffman got into her silver Volvo sedan, put on calming jam-band music, and headed north to a public park in Tallahassee, Florida. A recent graduate of Florida State, she was dressed to blend into a crowd—bluejeans, green-and-white patterned T-shirt, black Reef flip-flops” (Stillman, 2012, para. 1).
Abstract modifiers don’t help you to visualize:
“Some parts of the constraints that deception requires will involve regulatory curbs, but others will require wise discretionary decision making. Since certain kinds of deceptive practices will involve intrusions into matters ordinarily considered private […] So, for example, the use of phone tapping and bugging devices will ordinarily need the approval of an impartial judge. Other deceptions, such as sting operations, may require supervisory approval, and individual discretionary decisions will need to be defensible in the event that they come up for review. Particularly egregious have been police sting operations in which guilty parties have been manipulated into indefensible deceptive behavior” (Kleinig, 2018, Police Deception, para. 6).
Create Questions and Suspense
The passage from Sarah Stillman makes us want to know more about who Rachel is and what’s going on. As soon as we’re shown a situation (rather than told information), we hunger to know what it’s about.
Of course, you don’t want to confuse people.
But you do want to spark their curiosity.
When you tell people things, they tune out.
When you offer a puzzle, a hint, a question, they want to know more.
An Aside: Inject Story
Sometimes you can tell a small story to open a longer non-narrative piece, or you can insert a story somewhere in your non-narrative.
Watch the first minute and a half of this speech by Michael Pollan, where he tells a really short, descriptive story to explain how he discovered the main question of his talk:
Thinking Like a Storyteller
If you’re not writing a story, don’t write a story!
Don’t even inject a brief story, if it’s not appropriate.
Instead, the point is to think like a storyteller.
What if we do this with our first example?
Compare the original with a more “story-like” version. We’ve reinterpreted the first part (everything labelled section 1), and left the second part (section 2) for you as an exercise below.
1 “Some parts of the constraints that deception requires will involve regulatory curbs, but others will require wise discretionary decision making. Since certain kinds of deceptive practices will involve intrusions into matters ordinarily considered private, deception will need to be scrutinized lest enthusiasm for “information” improperly cross moral boundaries. So, for example, the use of phone tapping and bugging devices will ordinarily need the approval of an impartial judge. 2 Other deceptions, such as sting operations, may require supervisory approval, and individual discretionary decisions will need to be defensible in the event that they come up for review. Particularly egregious have been police sting operations in which guilty parties have been manipulated into indefensible deceptive behavior” (Kleinig, 2018, Police Deception, para. 6).
Police sometimes need to deceive people to enforce the law, for example in a sting operation. We regulate this practice to a degree. We also rely on individual oversight in specific cases. And since investigators sometimes invade others’ privacy, like when they listen in on private conversations, such oversight provides an important moral check. That’s why a judge must approve a wiretap, or a supervisor must permit a sting.
Here we applied the strategies of “people doing things” and “cutting abstract nouns and modifiers.”
| ACTOR | ACTION |
|---|---|
| Police | Sometimes need to deceive people |
| We | Regulate |
| We | Rely on |
| Investigators | Sometimes invade others’ privacy |
| They | Listen in |
| A judge | Must approve |
| A supervisor | Must permit |
Try It!
Even when you’re not writing a story, storytelling techniques can help you write prose that sticks in the reader’s mind:
- Make your writing about people doing things (Who does what?)
- Fill your writing with concrete details and precise language wherever possible
- Generate puzzles and suspense where you can
You can also inject small stories into non-narrative pieces, for example, by opening an essay with a brief story.
References
See Thinking Like a Story Teller References
Nouns that refer to concepts (“truth,” “beauty”) rather than specific, concrete things (“car”).
Words or groups of words that modify our understanding of a noun. For example, in the phrase “The red car,” “red” is an adjective modifying the noun “car.”
