Knowledge is stories.
Roger C. Schank,
"Tell Me A Story:
A New Look at Real and Artificial Memory"
At the very heart of stories and Storytelling – right up there with Focus – is Structure.
Fortunately, just about every good story shares the same structure. It’s the same in all cultures, all tribes, all languages. Always has been. Presumably, always will be.
That’s because human minds everywhere work in pretty much the same way. As far as we know, they always have. Probably always will.
Storytelling structure is not nearly as simplistic as having a beginning, a middle and an end. A piece of string has a beginning, a middle and an end. Life, too, has a beginning, a middle and an end but, for most of us anyway, not a helluva lot of structure.
Storytelling certainly isn’t starting with the latest, the most interesting fact, and letting the story dribble away in declining interest until the allotted time is over.
That’s what most newspapers do most of the time. They do it so if you’re in a hurry you can just read the first few paragraphs, get the main points of the story and fast-forward to the next story.
Unfortunately, that’s also what a lot of otherwise respectable TV and Radio Newsrooms do.
Unlike newspapers, however, broadcasters have no excuse. Viewers and listeners can’t fast-forward a live newscast.
The structure of classic Storytelling looks like this:
Context – (Comes first. Is part of every good story). Context is the information, both factual and emotional, which sets the scene and makes the story understandable and accessible as it unfolds. It’s that information which places the story in a recognizable situation within which it can be processed, followed, evaluated, understood and even retained. The context handles most of the housekeeping, introduces the emotional mood, the characters and the situation. It provides the necessary hard facts and emotional shadings which will enable the viewer to follow and take part in the story.
Foreshadowing – (Comes second. Is part of most good stories). Foreshadowing is a hint, a tease, a clue, that there’s to be an unexpected, perhaps surprising, outcome to the story. That there’s going to be storytelling, rather than just a random collection of facts. It’s the hook that keeps the viewer watching, a signal that the expected resolution may not happen. Foreshadowing heightens interest and gives the viewer an early hint about the Focus of the story without giving away its resolution.
Dramatic Unfolding – (Is the main part of every good story.) Dramatic unfolding is the body of the story told as it happens. The Dramatic Unfolding develops the action and builds interest, conflict and tension. It is almost always told chronologically about someone on a quest, a journey, having to overcome obstacles to reach a desired goal. In drama (and often in good journalism), it consists of good news followed by bad news, followed by good news and so on.
Climax – (Comes near or at the end. Is part of every good story.) The climax is the outcome, the point, the resolution and culmination of the story. The end of the search, the journey. The reaching or not reaching of the desired goal.
Denouement – (Comes at the end. Is part of some good stories.) Denouement is the wrapping up of the story. The tying up of any loose ends.
Good Storytellers take the viewer on a journey of discovery. That’s why the classic structure is so important.
The more classically structured the story:
- The more the viewer takes part in it, is involved.
- The more likely it is that the viewer will move from mere sympathy to empathy – actually experiencing the emotions and thoughts of the people in the story. Joining them in the journey.
- The more the viewer wants and needs to know how the story turns out.
- The more information is retained by the viewer.
All of this is not to suggest for a moment that journalists manipulate and distort every story to fit a predetermined structure.
It means that when you’re shooting the story and putting it together you should keep the classic Storytelling structure firmly in mind
It’s a very ancient, very elemental and very powerful structure.
And it works.
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Last Revision: March 17, 2002
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