Some Important Notes for Transformational Storytelling

This post serves as part II of The Powerful Role of Transformation in Storytelling. It’s helpful to read that post first as it deals directly with:

• What transformation in storytelling is and why it’s important
• The science behind storytelling and what the transformation story does for your reader
• An recent example of transformation from my own life (slightly embarrassing but apt)
• A nuanced way to look at different aspects of transformation
• The steps to take to illustrate transformation in your story in an effective and satisfying way

In addition, the lessons that follow draw on the transformation story I told at the beginning of the previous post.

“Show; Don’t Tell” in Action

As in any good storytelling, the reader will be drawn in more fully when you illustrate your point and invite them to draw their own conclusions, which you’ve guided them toward by planting strategic seeds along the way. If you write dogmatically (telling), your readers will grow bored and disengage.

For example, naming an emotion that a character is experiencing generally bores a reader. Labeling someone as angry, sad or even enraged doesn’t offer a specific experience. But if you show that emotion through the character’s dialogue, body language, voice changes or other specific details, your reader gets to draw the conclusion and the reading experience is much more meaningful and real for them. Your transformation story can show the transformation and change in that person’s emotional range or flexibility throughout the story. Research also shows that evoking emotion improves both memory and learning.

Maybe a leader lashes out at one of his remaining team members, after his two other members quit. He hears the anger in his voice and realizes he’s really angry at himself, blaming himself for their quitting. This leads to the realization that the way he expresses anger and projects onto his team members may be part of the problem. Instead of spelling out this discomfort and self-insight dogmatically, you might employ a dialogue between the manager and the team member, along with the manager’s internal dialogue, to show the transformation, rather than tell about it.

You can also illustrate transformation with details or data. Saying that the organization’s income improved doesn’t bring information to life. Saying that income doubled from x to y makes the transformation real for readers. Then take it one step further—what does that doubling of income mean for the organization? Share what the increased income made possible: “We now had the funds to reward our high achievers with a significant bonus.”

The Role of Scene in Transformational Storytelling

Telling a reader that a team manager became more and more belligerent is boring; painting a scene of one specific interaction that illustrates the point is much more engaging. Think in terms of scenes. A scene is set in a specific time and place and something happens.

I remember editing a memoir that began with a generalization about how the author always went to the nightclubs in Dubai, and that he and his co-workers drank a lot and partied all night. Ho hum. The writing doesn’t bring a picture to mind. By helping the writer bring a particular partying scene to life, the memoir pulled the reader in as if they were in a Dubai nightclub themselves, on a particular night.

Start with a specific time and place, letting the scene unfold with people’s specific actions, body language, dialogue, and senses in that moment in time. You can generalize at the end by sharing that similar scenes unfolded for the next three months, for example. Or you might show transformation with a new scene three months later that shows a change in how they spent their time.

Incorporating various senses in your story also brings a scene to life and helps make the transformation more real. For example, a transformation that created a healthier and sustainable physical environment might incorporate the smells of the carpets and furniture, before and after the transformation. Two of the most underrated techniques in storytelling are drawing on smells and accessing tastes because they trigger personal memories for the reader. Your reader can smell the scent of a cup of coffee or the stench of a dumpster just by reading about it. Use sensory triggers to pull your reader in.

How to Not Get Lost in Flashbacks When Illustrating Transformation

Recall from the previous blog post, where I shared a personal transformation story that in my breakout session, one participant shared that she was writing a memoir and wanted to use flashbacks to show a character’s transformation. She expressed concern that readers would get lost with too many flashbacks. She’s right that this is a common problem with flashbacks and you do not want to confuse your readers! When you confuse, you lose! Yet flashbacks can provide an effective way to show the “before” in your story.

In answer to her question, I explained the concept of the “reading present” (or narrative present)—the timeframe from the start of the story to the end of it. Flashbacks can take place within a chapter but avoid putting a flashback within another flashback. Return to the reading present after a flashback. Then, later, you can take the reader to another flashback from the timeframe of the reading present. But don’t overdo your flashbacks. Remember the maxim: Less is more.

Moreover, don’t make a flashback so long that the reader forgets they are in a flashback, but don’t make the flashback super short, either! Provide just enough flashback to give the reader context, but not so much they find themselves in a different story and timeline altogether.

For more on writing flashbacks without confusing readers, read this excellent article on writing flashbacks from my colleague Stuart Horwitz, who taught me everything I know about flashbacks (writing them, that is!) a couple of decades ago.

Your Turn: Write a Story of Transformation

The above are just a few proven techniques that can bring your nonfiction to life. To help you further, you can return to the exercise in the previous post, which I share below.  Try this exercise and see how it enhances your storytelling.

Answer the following questions:

1.  What’s the inciting incident (problem, challenge, crisis or obstacle)?
2.  What’s the “before” situation (internally/externally for the client, you or organization)? Note: When you actually write the story, you may decide to introduce the “before” situation prior to the inciting incident. Alternatively, you can start with the inciting incident (or challenge) and backtrack to the “before” situation.
3.  What is the “after” picture—the results achieved at the end of the story, which can be both internal and external (or pick one)?
4.  List the steps taken and the results in each step—the mini-transformations.
5.  What’s the final big transformation—internally, externally or both? For example, there may be an internal change for the character, such as increased confidence, and an external change—the tools presented resulted in funding for new basketball and pickleball courts in a neighborhood where teens who’d been cooped up indoors now had space to play outdoors, get exercise and learn new skills. Consequently, their grades improved and they got in less trouble.
6.  How will your transformation story resonate with your particular audience and what they are specifically looking for?

Your turn. What questions do you have about transformation and its role in storytelling? Did you try the exercise? What did you discover? Share your questions, insights or challenges in the comments below and I will respond!