Narratives are central to human experience. Here’s just a sampling of quotes about how important they are.
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” Joan Didion, Writer and Journalist
“Storytelling is our obligation to the next generation. If all we are doing is marketing, we are doing a disservice . . . Give something of meaning to your audience by inspiring, engaging, and educating them with story.” Laura Holloway, Founder & Chief of The Storyteller Agency
“Narrative imagining — story — is the fundamental instrument of thought. Rational capacities depend upon it. It is our chief means of looking into the future, or predicting, of planning, and of explaining.” Mark Turner, Cognitive Scientist and Writer
When you stand up in front of an audience, you want your words to count for something, right? You want them to be moving. Author, professor, and researcher Gary Alan Fine has developed three categories of narratives that we use when we want to move people. While we most often see these used in the context of social movements, they have value anywhere anyone is speaking.
Fine’s 3 moving narrative types are called atrocity tales, war stories, and happy endings. Let’s explore how each type can help us motivate and persuade our audiences.
Atrocity Tale
When a speaker tells an atrocity tale or horror story, he or she is aimed at unsettling the audience. The purpose of this is to stir up emotions like sadness or anger. If you doubt the power of a singular story, trace any social movement back in history and you’ll usually find an inciting narrative. For example, the murder of Emmitt Till provided a powerful inciting narrative that drove the Civil Rights Movement forward.
While these types of narratives are often difficult for an audience to listen to, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be shared. Even though your presentation probably isn’t aimed at stirring up a large social movement to right injustices, you can still make use of atrocity tales. When you ethically use a narrative to unsettle your audience with the purpose of moving them toward better action, it can be a powerful motivator.
War Story
Fine’s second category of moving narratives is war stories. This type of story relies on the universal metaphor of battle to mobilize the troops. A battle narrative is a riff on the typical problem-solution format. Here, you identify an enemy, a conquest, an epic battle, a winner, and a loser. This narrative pattern can inspire the audience to fight.
In a popular TED Talk, George Monbiot outlines a similar narrative which he calls “the restoration story.” He says the pattern goes like this: “Disorder afflicts the land, caused by powerful and nefarious forces working against the interests of humanity. But the hero will revolt against this disorder, fight those powerful forces, against the odds overthrow them and restore harmony to the land.” This type of narrative might be particularly helpful if your company is facing financial hardship. It might be helpful for an audience who feels like underdogs. It might be helpful for anyone who is facing something big or who needs to be reminded that they are heroic.
Happy Ending Story
The final type of moving narrative that Fine outlines is called the happy ending. He says these types of stories are effective as morale boosters because they make use of a powerful motivator: hope. These stories feature success and support and community. A great example of this has been circulating in recent days. Led to offer some hope, John Krasinski produced a short video aimed at sharing what he calls “Some Good News.” In this, he tells happy stories aimed at making everyone feel just a little bit better. These types of stories work particularly well at the end of presentations because they leave the audience on a high note.
To take your presentation to the next level, consider using one of Fine’s 3 types of motivating narratives. An atrocity story, war story, or happy ending story can help you move your audience in a way that statistics and bulleted lists can’t.
Ethos3 is here to help you tell your story, from presentation development to design to delivery. See how we can help.
