Storytelling - a framework

Klingenthal Online 2021

Storytelling - a framework

by Lena Christin Ohm

What to expect

The psychology of storytelling

Ingredients of storytelling

Different narratives

Basic Plots

How to communicate

Discussion

The psychology of storytelling

Reasons why it's easier to remember a story

Why is (digital) storytelling so effective?

Because it relies on visual stimuli

Because it activates our limbic system

Because it creates identification

Our brains can process pictures faster than texts, they are easier to understand and to be kept in mind. They provoke emotions and can be remembered easily.

Stories make it easy to relate to and form a connection to things that someone has experienced themselves.

The limbic system is the home of our emotions and the part that connects it with our memory and makes memories. Evolutionarily speaking, our brains focussed on and specialized in telling, understanding and remembering stories.

Ingredients of storytelling

A fact or a message aren't a story

What a story needs

1. A protagonist,
2. a goal that he or she aims for
3. and a conflict that's standing in his or her way

Every story has a moral that the narrator wants to convey.

Christian Riedel

Different narratives

A well-known story told differently

VIDEOS

Mrs. Doubtfire as a horror-movie

Top Gun as a homo-erotic romance

BASIC PLOTS

Searching for the similarities in all stories

BASIC PLOTS (according to Christopher Booker)

1. Overcoming the monster
2. Rags to riches
3. The quest
4. Voyage and return
5. Comedy
6. Tragedy
7. Rebirth

BASIC PATTERNS (according to Christopher Booker)

1. Anticipation
2. Dream
3. Frustration
4. Nightmare
5. Miraculous Escape/Redemption/Achievement of the Prize or (in the case of Tragedy) the Hero's Destruction

How to communicate

Different approaches: The Golden Circle or the metaphor

In my opinion, understanding who your target audience is, and what they want, and writing to them (and only them!) is the most important component of being successful as an author.

John Locke

Oodi is what you want it to be

Oodi is a library in Finland's capital Helsinki. But at the same time, Oodi is more than library, more than a place to store books. It is the favorite place for a lot of people. Why? Because the designers didn't ask what a library actually IS, they designed a place a library CAN be for its users. They started with WHY!

The golden Circle (according to Simon Sinek)

Why?

What?

How?

Why are you doing what you are doing? What do you believe in? What is your fundamental purpose?

How are you doing what you are doing? What are your value propositions or your unique selling points?

What are you doing?

7 steps to find a metaphor for your project

Each person finds possible metaphors.

Finding

People build small groups to collect all the metaphors the people have thought about.

Collecting

The three strongest metaphors are chosen.

Choosing

Step-by-step, the main stages of the project will be translated in those three metaphors.

Translating

7 steps to find a metaphor for your project

The metaphors will be presented to the colleagues. Which one do they like best?

Learning

The whole project will be translated into the strongest metaphor.

Optimizing

High quality pictures and videos are used in order to present the project.

Presenting

DISCUSSION

Practical Uses

Why do we still need religion in public education?

1. Choose your target audience (children, parents, teachers, or politicians)
2. Identify your vision
3. Develop your message (Golden Circle) and then either tell your story through one of the basic plots or through a visual (metaphor).
4. Make an elevator pitch

Why do we still need religion in public education?

1. Choose your target audience (children, parents, teachers, or politicians)
2. Identify your vision
3. Develop your message (Golden Circle) and then either tell your story through one of the basic plots or through a visual (metaphor).
4. Make an elevator pitch

Thank you

for your attention