Overview

“Throughout our days, we are drawn to stories again and again, from our first ‘once upon a time’ to our last ‘happily ever after’…We are bombarded by stories, morning, noon, and night. It is no wonder we are attracted to story as a metaphor for our lives since stories feature so centrally in them. Something about the feel and flow, their structure and style, seems to resonate with the deepest features of our being”(Randall, p. 83).

Storytelling is compelling whether you are the teller or the receiver of the story. There are commonalities in stories. There are beginnings, middles, and ends. There are characters. There are story archs. There are lessons to be learned.

In this module, we will explore storytelling from a variety of angles including the principles of telling a good story, ethical considerations in storytelling, and the sharing of personal identities in the stories we share about ourselves.

Principles and Practices of Storytelling

“The best stories evoke wonder” (Stanton).

In the TedTalk by filmmaker Andrew Stanton, shares his perspectives on what makes a great story.  Among the key elements he discusses are the concepts of making the audience care, evoking wonder, and using what you know to tell your stories. 

Stanton shares not only the personal story of his life, but he also tells it backwards from what brought him to the Ted stage to the circumstances of the beginning of his life. He weaves many threads of his personal story, scenes from his movies, lessons learned from storytelling, creating not only a wonderful presentation, but he also lays the foundation of what I want you to consider about storytelling as you explore the questions of:

·         What stories do you want to tell?

·         What stories of you own experiences will your share?

·         What stories will you create this term for you final projects?

Setting, characters, narrative arcs, emotions, compelling themes are just some of the elements that are part of storytelling.  In different contexts and mediums, these and other elements are combined to build a story. As part of this course you will be creating a story for your UN Strategic Development Goal project. As you read through and view the materials in each of the modules, reflect upon what stories or storytelling elements speak the loudest to you. Consider your UN SDG and what you want to highlight in your final project to tell the story of your partner organization/NGO. Take notes as you are learning about storytelling to aid you in planning and executing of the final project and all the other assignments along the way.

While Stanton’s talk and the next resource focus on filmmaking, you can think beyond film in the stories you will create here as well as in your personal and even future professional lives. I will highlight the more universal components as they relate to storytelling versus those that specifically relate to storytelling as part of filmmaking or animation. 

Learning from Pixar in a Box

I encourage you to look at more elements in this “Pixar in a Box” content, but I have highlighted some specific lesson content and activities listed under the unit titles below.

Unit: The art of storytelling

·         VIEW – Your favorite stories (you do not have to do the activity on your 3 favorite films)

·         COMPLETE - Lesson 1 – We are all storytellers

o   Activity 1 – Expressing memories

·         VIEW – Advice from storytellers

Unit: Introduction to character

·         VIEW – Advice on characters

Unit: Introduction to structure

·         VIEW – Introduction to structure

·         VIEW – Story spine

·         VIEW – Theme

·         VIEW – Advice on story structure

Digital Storytelling

Building on what you learned from the videos from “Pixar in a Box” which focused on the universal elements of storytelling as they relate to animation and fiction, there are different things to think about when telling stories based on real people and events. Here are two resources that will help you better frame your understand by telling these stories in the format of digital storytelling:

•  What is a digital story?

• 7 things you should know about digital storytelling

 These two sites are great resources for examples of different kinds of digital storytelling:

• • • StoryCenter – an organization that promotes healing, growth, and social change by creating spaces for listening to and sharing stories. 

    • StoryCorps – an organization dedicated to sharing and preserving stories to build connections between people and “create a more just and compassionate world”.

Ethics in Storytelling

The Story Center provides a great resource on ethical practice when gathering stories from others using a participatory approach. While you might not be using a participatory approach and gathering stories directly from others, understanding the principles laid out in the resource guide are important for any kind of storytelling, including your own stories. There are many different organizations that share information about ethics in storytelling including the YWCA, the Freedom Story, and Working Narratives.

In all cases, it is vital to understand and follow ethical principles. 

Identity in Storytelling

Finally, a vital part of personal storytelling is sharing key elements of not only personal experience but also contextualizing the importance of the story in highlighting the lesson to be learned or the purpose of the story you want to tell. Thinking about stories in this way brings us to the concept of establishing an identity or sharing the things you identify with in the stories you share with others.

In this TedTalk video, America Ferrera tells her story about achieving her dream of becoming an actor. She focuses both on her own story, including personal details, her goals, and struggles. She also talks about the larger societal influences that impacted her ability to not only break into and achieve success in acting, but she also eloquently shares “who we see thriving in the world teaches us how to think about our own value, how to dream about our own futures”(Ferrera). It is important to be upfront and open about who you are as you begin to interact with other stories in other cultures and societies. 

References 

Bunting, Joe. "5 Elements of Storytelling." N.p., 26 June 2012. Web. 13 June 2020.

Randall, William Lowell. The Stories We Are: An Essay on Self-creation. Toronto, Canada: U of Toronto, 2014. Print.

Overview

“Throughout our days, we are drawn to stories again and again, from our first ‘once upon a time’ to our last ‘happily ever after’…We are bombarded by stories, morning, noon, and night. It is no wonder we are attracted to story as a metaphor for our lives since stories feature so centrally in them. Something about the feel and flow, their structure and style, seems to resonate with the deepest features of our being”(Randall, p. 83).

Storytelling is compelling whether you are the teller or the receiver of the story. There are commonalities in stories. There are beginnings, middles, and ends. There are characters. There are story archs. There are lessons to be learned.

In this module, we will explore storytelling from a variety of angles including the principles of telling a good story, ethical considerations in storytelling, and the sharing of personal identities in the stories we share about ourselves.

Principles and Practices of Storytelling

“The best stories evoke wonder” (Stanton).

In the TedTalk by filmmaker Andrew Stanton, shares his perspectives on what makes a great story.  Among the key elements he discusses are the concepts of making the audience care, evoking wonder, and using what you know to tell your stories. 

Stanton shares not only the personal story of his life, but he also tells it backwards from what brought him to the Ted stage to the circumstances of the beginning of his life. He weaves many threads of his personal story, scenes from his movies, lessons learned from storytelling, creating not only a wonderful presentation, but he also lays the foundation of what I want you to consider about storytelling as you explore the questions of:

·         What stories do you want to tell?

·         What stories of you own experiences will your share?

·         What stories will you create this term for you final projects?

Setting, characters, narrative arcs, emotions, compelling themes are just some of the elements that are part of storytelling.  In different contexts and mediums, these and other elements are combined to build a story. As part of this course you will be creating a story for your UN Strategic Development Goal project. As you read through and view the materials in each of the modules, reflect upon what stories or storytelling elements speak the loudest to you. Consider your UN SDG and what you want to highlight in your final project to tell the story of your partner organization/NGO. Take notes as you are learning about storytelling to aid you in planning and executing of the final project and all the other assignments along the way.

While Stanton’s talk and the next resource focus on filmmaking, you can think beyond film in the stories you will create here as well as in your personal and even future professional lives. I will highlight the more universal components as they relate to storytelling versus those that specifically relate to storytelling as part of filmmaking or animation. 

Learning from Pixar in a Box

I encourage you to look at more elements in this “Pixar in a Box” content, but I have highlighted some specific lesson content and activities listed under the unit titles below.

Unit: The art of storytelling

·         VIEW – Your favorite stories (you do not have to do the activity on your 3 favorite films)

·         COMPLETE - Lesson 1 – We are all storytellers

o   Activity 1 – Expressing memories

·         VIEW – Advice from storytellers

Unit: Introduction to character

·         VIEW – Advice on characters

Unit: Introduction to structure

·         VIEW – Introduction to structure

·         VIEW – Story spine

·         VIEW – Theme

·         VIEW – Advice on story structure

Digital Storytelling

Building on what you learned from the videos from “Pixar in a Box” which focused on the universal elements of storytelling as they relate to animation and fiction, there are different things to think about when telling stories based on real people and events. Here are two resources that will help you better frame your understand by telling these stories in the format of digital storytelling:

•  What is a digital story?

• 7 things you should know about digital storytelling

 These two sites are great resources for examples of different kinds of digital storytelling:

• • • StoryCenter – an organization that promotes healing, growth, and social change by creating spaces for listening to and sharing stories. 

    • StoryCorps – an organization dedicated to sharing and preserving stories to build connections between people and “create a more just and compassionate world”.

Ethics in Storytelling

The Story Center provides a great resource on ethical practice when gathering stories from others using a participatory approach. While you might not be using a participatory approach and gathering stories directly from others, understanding the principles laid out in the resource guide are important for any kind of storytelling, including your own stories. There are many different organizations that share information about ethics in storytelling including the YWCA, the Freedom Story, and Working Narratives.

In all cases, it is vital to understand and follow ethical principles. 

Identity in Storytelling

Finally, a vital part of personal storytelling is sharing key elements of not only personal experience but also contextualizing the importance of the story in highlighting the lesson to be learned or the purpose of the story you want to tell. Thinking about stories in this way brings us to the concept of establishing an identity or sharing the things you identify with in the stories you share with others.

In this TedTalk video, America Ferrera tells her story about achieving her dream of becoming an actor. She focuses both on her own story, including personal details, her goals, and struggles. She also talks about the larger societal influences that impacted her ability to not only break into and achieve success in acting, but she also eloquently shares “who we see thriving in the world teaches us how to think about our own value, how to dream about our own futures”(Ferrera). It is important to be upfront and open about who you are as you begin to interact with other stories in other cultures and societies. 

References 

Bunting, Joe. "5 Elements of Storytelling." N.p., 26 June 2012. Web. 13 June 2020.

Randall, William Lowell. The Stories We Are: An Essay on Self-creation. Toronto, Canada: U of Toronto, 2014. Print.

Creative Nonfiction is a flexible and rich format of creative writing.  There are many elements (setting, plot, scene development, character, dialogue, and imagery) as well as sub-genres (memoir, biography, autobiography, narrative, personal essay, literary journalism, travel writing, and even poetry).  

No matter what elements or sub-genres an author uses when writing creative nonfiction, there are two VITAL ELEMENTS to which authors need to adhere: 

• FACTS– creative nonfiction is first and foremost based on FACT (nonfiction).  You are writing about real people, real places and real events. The elements around the facts such as character and scene development can take creative twists, dialogue can be generated, but the facts of an event, location, people, etc. need to be accurate/fact-based/plausible. You can change names of people and locations to protect privacy, but the important details should remain. You can extrapolate  information or interpolate the thoughts or private conversations that could have occurred in the space and time among the person/people about whom you are writing.

• RESEARCH – To be sure that your writing is based on facts, research is absolutely necessary when writing creative nonfiction.  The SUNY Empire College Library is 1005 online and has a great set of resources related to primary source research, such as conducting or reviewing interviews or personal experience as well as research of primary sources, such as gathering information from books, magazines, and newspapers, etc.

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In writing creative nonfiction, you are using the storytelling elements from fiction to create a compelling story incorporating the factual information you’ve researched. You can play around with different points of view (1st person vs. 3rd person), changing narrators (observer vs. protagonist). Your own life events are also fair game for creative nonfiction. Audience is also an especially important part of creative nonfiction. Be sure that you know who you are writing for - who is your intended audience? Who do you anticipate your readers might be? While you won't be focusing on the "what-if" sometimes fanciful aspects of fiction writing, the foundation for your ideas for writing creative nonfiction come from "what-has" happened experiences and interests of real people (including yourself). Your goal in creative nonfiction writing is to share with your audience, interesting experiences, lessons learned, new understandings, and compelling stories. The third component to highlight is that if you are writing from your own experiences, or trying to represent someone else's story through creative nonfiction, you have to be ethical.  Accuracy from your research, reviewing documents, any audio or videos, or from working with your own or someone else's memories is important. You can include reflections of your own or others' potential biases and motives as part of what you create.

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Below are some elements from fiction writing that you might want to consider if you choose to use creative nonfiction storytelling as part of your project:

• Scenes - Use scenes to build your story. Scenes allow you to show your readers the story, instead of just telling them what happened. Scenes have characters, events and dialogue to move the story along as well as highlight any key points you want to make.

• Dialogue - Strong dialogue is key to any work of creative nonfiction. It's okay to use quotes, even if you don't have a full transcript of what was said, you can extrapolate details and interpolate dialogue between characters in your story within reason and guided by your research. The purpose of the dialogue is to add details and provide insight.

• Character development - Just like in fiction, a well-developed central character is necessary to carry the story.  You might have few facts about a real person that who you want to write about, but you can make inferences, educated guesses, about the likelihood of them doing or saying something in order to get across the larger point of your story.

• Story arch - A good story has a well thought out beginning, middle, and end. Even though it's nonfiction, think about where the story should start, and where to stop for a satisfying ending. Be sure to outline the story developing it with known facts and fleshed out with the details from your research and presented with the tone, emotion and imagery you wish to convey.

• Point of view - Often in creative nonfiction, the author's presence is felt in the story. While you may not actually be in the narrative, you can be part of the story through your unique writing voice or notes to the reader. 

• Authenticity - Although you utilize literary devices used in fiction, you need to remember that it's nonfiction—you must tell the truth. Check your facts and never exaggerate or over embellish to improve the story.  “Truth is stranger than fiction” is the old adage, and in writing creative nonfiction, it is a rally cry.

• Imagery – is the use of language invoking the senses - sight, smell, taste, touch, and/or hearing. The purpose of including sensory detail is to vividly recreate the experience for your audience. 

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Sub-genres of creative nonfiction Include: 

• Explanation/Exposition – you focus on the details to explain a personal experience, event, or topic to your audience. 

Memoir -  you are including personal experience, emotions, reflections, memories, and opinions. A memoir is a firsthand, personal account focusing on a specific experience, event, or situation. It is not intended to be a litany of events or a complete chronological retelling of your life. You are picking and choosing significant elements to shape your story with scenes, story archs, character development, etc. that draw your readers into the memoir.

Autobiography and biography - like memoir, autobiographies and biographies are based on true events in a person's life.  Unlike memoir, these genres focus on the chronology and entirety of a person’s life than the more thematic or singular focus of an event or series of events highlighted in the genre of memoir.

• Essay format - Creative nonfiction is often written in essay format versus poetic formats including the extremes of journalistic and personal essays.

• Literary journalism - the facts are premiere in this genre,  exploring the W questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how) related to particular person, topic, or event using literary techniques versus traditional journalism approaches to a topic.  In this genre, facts are conveyed, but it also incorporates techniques and literary devices (imagery, scene, story arch, character development, etc.) and includes opinions/discussion of bias versus the traditional journalistic "neutral" stance.

• Personal essays & speeches - a wide range of styles can happen in this genre ranging from experiences to expressing personal opinions. Creative nonfiction speeches are typically performed rather than read.

Outside of personal experience and events, creative nonfiction can also be used when dealing with any topical material, such as food or travel writing, self-development, art, or history, using the literary angles of scene, story, imagery, and evocative language.

Here is a great link to the course guide from a The Great Courses series, Writing Creative Nonfiction by Professor Tilar J. Mazzeo from Colby College.  This guide might help flesh out some ideas for you with some writing prompts as well as sections on strategies for how to think about shaping your voice, develop dialogue, etc. 

Videos on Creative Nonfiction

• What is Creative Non-Fiction? from the Writer's Workshop 

• Introduction to Creative Nonfiction by Heather Gemmen Wilson

• How to Write Creative Nonfiction

• How Can Creative Nonfiction Be Creative?