WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD? TELL STORIES

This article appeared in Intercollegiate Review (Spring 2016). Weblink

by Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D.

You can change the world any number of ways. Revolution works if you have a large disgruntled populace. But revelation only works if you're related to God. Art had its place a few hundred years back, until pigment fell out of vogue. Scientific discoveries, industrial inventions and information technology are possibilities if your world is large and clumsy. If you're void of talent but like to talk, you might try reality television or politics. Or, if you have a large uninformed voting block at your command, you can try tyranny.

Yes, there are many ways to change the world. But my favorite is STORYTELLING. Yes, that's right—capitalized and italicized. Telling stories does not require political credentials, large outlays of cash, or a standing army. It does, however, require imagination, perseverance, and a good editor. You can learn to tell stories...and tell them well...by spending just ten minutes a night tucking-in your children, nieces, nephews or charges you may be babysitting. Amazingly, while you sit there in the semi-darkness comfortably in your pajama's, you can conjure up earth shattering revolts, epiphanies of revelation, splattering paint, quantum quarks, and other worldly places where fish walk about on their tail-fins and men and women levitate by flapping their ears lobes. Think of the possibilities.   

Granted, if you can't think of the possibilities storytelling is probably not for you. (See the options in paragraph 1.) But if, when thinking of the possibilities, your mind starts to snort adrenalin what comes next will interest you. I'm going to give you a preview on how to tell successful stories that can change the world. But first, here are a few examples of storytellers and stories that actually did it.[1]

·       Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852), is credited with inflaming passions that brought on the most terrible war in our history.

·       In response to Stowe's Cabin, Tomas Dixon wrote The Clansman (1905), which was adapted by D.W. Griffith in the motion picture epic The Birth of a Nation (1915). Together the two are infamously credited with the revival of the KKK and the Jim Crow south.

·       The Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (1843), is perhaps best known for influencing Western Civilization's celebration of Christmas.

·       The Bible, by a host of men inspired by God and canonized in Carthage (396 AD), is the best selling story book of all time, with its "history-bending" tales that continually challenge society to change, vanquish fear, and embrace hope.

·       And television sitcoms like Will & Grace are credited with advancing liberal views toward homosexuality and non-traditional families.

Such stories have the capacity to change attitudes and values because of a few storytelling secrets that you too can apply. The purpose of these is to entice your reader (or audience) to emotionally identify with, and intellectually engage, the story's main characters. The result is a simulation of reality where the audience participates and learns with the characters about how to live happily and peaceable within the natural laws of the universe. Here's an abbreviated list of the natural laws of successful storytelling.

1.     Your hero (or protagonist) must be imperfect. Audiences like characters that are like them—with flaws.  

2.     Your hero must have a goal that is noble, visible, and requires sacrifice to achieve. Perilous stakes heighten suspense and intrigue.

3.     Your hero must passionately and proactively pursue the goal. Audiences find passive, indolent heroes boring.

4.     The villain (or antagonist) who obstructs the hero, in the goal's pursuit, must appear to be ubiquitous, more powerful, and more resourceful than your hero. The audience will root for the underdog.

5.     Undergirding the story must be a conflict of values that drive the hero and villain to make decisions that lead to actions, which create the drama. Moral values drive all decisions that, in turn, motivate action. When the values of characters conflict, the visible action is explosive.

6.     The consequences of the characters' actions must always follow natural law. While values, decisions and actions are under the control of your character, the consequences of the action are dictated by natural law. As soon as you discard natural law the audience will discard your story.

7.     You are, however, allowed to disregard natural law one time—in formulating the story's impossible hook. Aristotle tells playwrights to devise a story's physical premise on an impossible probability rather than a possible improbability. David beheading Goliath works better than Goliath inviting David to dinner.

8.     The hero's dogged pursuit of the goal must be thwarted until story's mid-point (the Moment of Grace) when the hero recognizes the need to fix his or her inner flaw. After the hero pays attention to redeeming his flaw, progress toward the goal accelerates...along with the obstacles thrown in the path by the antagonist. Thus, the hero's outer journey, which we see on screen, becomes a metaphor for the real story—the hero's inner transformation.

We can tell children not to touch the hot stove, but they may not change their behavior until their fingers are singed. Experience may be the best teacher, but who needs the pain? Storytelling, on the other hand, can emotionally engage an audience through a simulation of reality. That's how stories can change behavior and the world.

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You can request a free bookmark that lists 18 Secrets of Successful Storytelling and read more about how to do it at Dr. Williams' website, blog, and on-line training, accessible at http://www.moralpreise.com.

Copyright © 2016, Stanley D. Williams. All Rights Reserved.

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[1] My thanks to Jonathan Gottschall who saved me the research in his The Story Telling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).