Story telling

We have been telling stories since the beginning of time. From the earliest cave drawings to movies, books, and scientific articles stories entertained, educated, and connected people from all eras and places. Storytelling conveys complex ideas and emotions in a way that engages the listener and evokes a powerful response. Stories are more effective than essays.

Stories evoke empathy and understanding. A well-told story transports us into the world of the characters where we can feel their emotions and live their experiences. Stories help us understand perspectives that are different from our own. The stories of people from different backgrounds and cultures give us a deeper understanding of their world, which can help us build bridges and connect on a deeper level.

Stories are powerful tools for education. They help us understand complex topics in a way that is engaging and memorable. Stories simplify complex ideas and make them more relatable. By presenting information in a story format, we more easily remember ideas and we more easily connect them to a larger context.

Storytelling is also a tool for healing and personal growth. Many people tell stories to process their own experiences and emotions. Journaling, talking to a therapist, and trading adventures around the campfire, help people work through difficult emotions and find meaning in experience. Listening to the stories of others helps us find comfort and inspiration in our own struggles.

Stories inspire action and create change. Stories have motivated people throughout history to fight for social justice, environmental causes, and political change. Stories of people who have overcome adversity or fought against injustice inspire us to take action ourselves. Stories help us build a sense of community and collective action that can drive meaningful change.

Elements of a story

All stories must have 5 elements (this isn’t written in stone) and it starts with the title:

1. Setting: Time and place in which the story takes place, atmosphere and realism.
2. Plot: Clear and compelling; see below
3. Character: Believable and relatable, with their own motives, personalities, and drama.
4. Theme: The underlying message or meaning of the story. It should be consistent throughout the story.
5. Point of view: First person, third person, etc.).

The Plot

This is the more important part for our purposes. Here I show how each part of standard storytelling also describes the parts we use in scientific writing: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion (IMRaD).

A plot has five main parts:

1. Opener: The beginning of the story. The author introduces the characters and setting, and sets the stage for the conflict. For example, the protagonist is living some kind of ‘normal life’ but has a greater desire or goal. The Introduction corresponds to this part.
2. Incident: The author introduces the main problem or conflict that the protagonist will have to face. Some kind of “catalyst”, an event, an episode, sets the rest in motion, forcing the protagonist out of their comfort zone. This is the part of the Introduction where we introduce the problem and hypothesis.
3. Crisis: The conflict of the story becomes more intense. The protagonist pursues their goal and is tested along the way. “Tested?” That corresponds to the Methods.
4. Climax: The highest point of action in the story. The conflict has reached its limit and something must change that will impact the rest of the story. This obviously is the Results section, especially the key result.
5. Ending: The end of the story in which the reader learns what becomes of the protagonist and other characters as a result of the climax. The protagonist a) gets what they want, b) doesn’t get what they want, or c) doesn’t get what they want, but realizes that they have something that’s more important. This is the Discussion and Conclusion part.

This structure dates to the Greece of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides.