Story–The Common Ground Between Fiction and Nonfiction
By Cynthia Ruchti
In a January 16, 2011 post for Psychology Today, Dr. Pamela B. Rutledge expounded on “The Psychological Power of Storytelling.” She focused on the concept as it relates to changes technology brings to the reading corner.
“Our brains,” Rutledge said, “still respond to content by looking for the story to make sense out of the experience. No matter what the technology, the meaning starts in the brain… The success…rests on the resonance, authenticity, and richness created by the storyteller.”
Sweet words for those of us who create or champion stories.
Story isn’t solely fiction’s domain.
Nonfiction thrives on storytelling. It’s a communicator’s sharpest tool, most soothing salve, and super-charged persuader.
“Stories,” Rutledge says, “are authentic human experiences. (They) leap frog the technology and bring us to the core of experience.”
Story breathes life into nonfiction.
I don’t think I’m alone in this. Facts of history blurred on the textbook pages in high school. But when I heard behind-the-scenes stories of how dates, battles, famines, hostile takeovers, and sacrifices affected the lives of the people involved, history drew me in. I engaged when I heard their stories.
One of the first things agents look for in nonfiction proposals that cross their desks is skillful use of storytelling techniques.
(Story problems in math are another animal entirely, one we won’t feed or entertain here.)
Story sells.
Storytelling sells cars, insurance, potato chips, milk, and genealogical search programs in television ads. Story sells ideas and concepts in books, whether fiction or nonfiction. Memoirists who focus on scenes rather than dates and incidences create compelling reading, because…
The brain responds to story.
“Stories are how we think…how we’re wired,” says Rutledge.
Story illustrates. It explains. Story compels. It completes. Story engages multiple functions of the human brain. And, when done well, the human heart.
What’s your take? Do you skip the storytelling in nonfiction to get to the facts? Or does the storytelling give meaning to the facts and stats?
Rutledge has her theories why story is such a powerful communicator. What are yours?
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I spend a good part of my day workday analyzing data. In essence, I’m listening for the story. Without a story, the data have no value.
*You’re right, Cynthia. It’s all about the story.
Without the story, the data makes no sense! Yes!
Your experience with history textbooks mirrors mine exactly. Without a storyline, facts lack the context, purpose, and emotional impact that give them life. Equipped with this realization, I enjoy teasing out the storyline from the details of a memoir as I ghostwrite. It’s all about continually asking, “Why?”
And, “How does it matter to the reader?”
Thinking of this from a reader perspective, it’s true. Storytelling allows the reader to step inside the book’s/author’s world, to come along for the ride. A good story keeps me engaged for pages.
Am keeping this in mind as I write today. Thank you!
Write strong, Kristi! Let your imagination fly!
Never heard anyone say, “Wow, what a terrific novel! It reads just like a textbook!”
Andrew, this is brilliant! A friend of mine recently released a grammar book that “reads like a novel.” She’d been joking about doing that for years and finally did it! WRITE WITH EXCELLENCE 201 by Joyce K. Ellis.
Laughing, Andrew. Well said!
I once saw someone passing out fliers that said, in essence, you have to believe the Bible is in true because in this long list of verses the Bible says it’s true. I doubt that anyone became a Christian because of reading that. But I became a Christian as a result of reading a novel.
I just finished a book about personality types “The Road Back To You” and he started out each chapter with a story about someone with that chapter’s personality. It was a great way to engage the reader, I especially enjoyed the chapter on his #8 or The Challenger daughter who defended her brother at a dinner party with a furious verbal attack reminiscent of Lizzy and Mr. Darcy.
Great example. I’ll look for that book.
It’s like a parable told by Jesus … the story helps you to remember the facts. This is why I love Beth Moore. Whether she’s speaking or you’re reading her works, she has a story–probably about her family–and she draws you in, gets you laughing or wondering, and then she connects God’s truth. Tears flow. And you know you’ll never be the same because she used her story to bring home an important fact that God needed your heart to hear.
Story is the train track on which truth rides. Story is the basket that holds the leftovers that prove Jesus is more than enough. Story is….
I’ll go out on a limb to say that this essay touches on why we as Christians so often fail in our efforts at evangelism.
* The modern template for spreading the Good News is that of a position paper whose main theses are buttressed by Scriptural ‘footnotes’; the Bible is used as a source of laws, theorems, and corollaries whose inclusion proves our point because they are true.
* Unfortunately, that becomes a circular argument for the skeptic; the proof that Christianity is true is given by its innate truth as expressed in holy writ. The argument has the physical analogy of trying to lift yourself off the ground by tugging on your own hair.
* It’s terribly unfortunate, because the Bible is first and foremost a narrative, a story made up of the interwoven interplay between the base and the Divine. Scripture taken out of context is a cut flower, but the stories are a vibrant and glowing garden.
* The saints of earlier years knew this; in the Middle Ages the stained-glass windows in cathedrals great and chapels small told the stories of the Bible, stories which an illiterate but spiritually switched-on people could measure against their own. And the missionaries who went abroad into the wild told the people they met of the Man named Jesus, and how He lived – much like they did, in a time when life itself was a threat – and who died for His friends, and came back to them like He said He’d do. It’s the story of a Life lost and a Promise kept.
And this, Andrew, is why EVERYONE stops to read your comments. This is so rich. May I quote you?
O Cynthia, I am very honoured, and
feel free to Quote Away;
you’ll etch in stone what I wrote in sand;
you’ve just made my day.
Your final paragraph reminds me of a mosaic I saw in Istanbul on the ceiling of a church-turned-mosque. It portrayed, if I recall correctly, scenes both from the Old Testament and Jesus’ life. I was fascinated by it.
Oh, that the books we write would stir that kind of fascination!
You are so right, Andrew. I’ve seen some of those windows ~ they captivate
those who really look at them. Also the paintings put in churches for the same reason. They’re huge so all in the pews could “read” the stories.
I think storytelling is essential in nonfiction. As I prepare to homeschool my kiddos in the next few years, I plan to go with history books that have stories. It’s an approach that weaves stories with facts and I would’ve done so much better with that in school.
I think storytelling awakens our mind and helps the facts come to life.
Great application of the principle, CJ. Blessings on your efforts.
I would have to agree with the idea that story draws minds in. The nonfiction I like best to read has story in it. Unbroken, the story of the women who were taken captive in Afghanistan (can’t remember the title right now). The real life things, and behind-the-scenes aspects always draw me in. Books that don’t have story for my mind to follow and ponder are really hard for me to stay with.
Story is truth’s piece of Velcro.
I love that! I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a famous saying for all writers. May I quote you?
Sure, Janet. You may quote me. 🙂
Whether story telling is appropriate depends on the type of nonfiction.
History and devotional-yes. History is story at its core, and devotionals feed our emotions as well as our intellect.
Apologetics-maybe, but not too much and not too manipulative.
Scientific works-no. These should be dispassionate, and injecting story draws in emotional overtones that can interfere with the objective analysis of the information.
And even in scientific works, it depends on the audience. For children, science with story incorporated is an attention-getter. For today’s “scrolling and screen-driven” audience, what we know is that story will make them linger long enough for us to present or persuade. Story, in my opinion, isn’t “dumbing down” if done well, but rather issues an invitation to consider.
Good point, Cynthia! I should have made the distinction between popular science and the professional journal articles and books I read as a working scientist.
*Story can be very helpful for the general audience, as can humor. When I’m writing the articles for my Roman history site, I try to include anecdotes and humor as well as historical facts and perspective.
So true Cynthia. Think about sitting through a sermon or teaching at church. You might be getting sleepy, your thoughts might be wandering, then the pastor/teacher launches into a story about his kids, or something that happened last week, and what happens? You’re suddenly not sleepy any longer but engaged. Some of my favorite writing on how the brain is wired to respond to story is Lisa Cron’s books. I’ve read Wired For Story (and highly recommend it) and am reading Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere). I have high hopes that this is going to greatly improve my storytelling skills.
Great resources, Lori. Thank you.
When I was reading The Empire of the Summer Moon, SC Gwynne actually got me feeling all weepy for all the poor Comanches who rode across the Southwest leaving death and ruin in their wake…until he mentioned that they were masters of torture and took very few prisoners, and God help those prisoners. And yet, he took a period of extreme brutality and told it through the eyes of many witnesses. Absolutely incredible storytelling of a terrifying time and place in history.
How terrifying? Settlers were instructed to carry a six-shooter and if a man even suspected that Comanche soldiers were coming, to shoot his children, then his wife, and pray that a bullet was left for him, because death was better than captivity.
Spine chilling history!
Now, that’s high impact storytelling.
This is the main reason I write and read historical fiction. The facts, the dates, the fashion are interesting, but it is discovering the people’s stories within those details that brings so much joy.
And why readers love reading it.
When I teach Sunday school (4th/5th grade), the kids are all over the place – boys wrestling, girls braiding each other’s hair. But the second I say, “When I was your age…” all wiggling ceases. They know a story is coming!
Jesus used parables for a reason.
Great insight, Sarah. Or the infamous, “Once upon a time…”
So nice to hear this backed up by science, as my intention is to wrap truths inside story. Seems I knew this on some (primal?) level since early on. As a child biographies were my favorite books. But history class? Not so much ~ until a college professor connected those dates and uprisings and laws to story, to human beings. I even have a character in a novel commenting that though she lives in an historic city, she never thought about the events of old that happened right where she walked. I had a similar thought as I strolled Princes Street in Edinburgh, peering up at Edinburgh Castle. By shifting my gaze about 15 degrees upward, I experienced culture shock!
Keep looking up!
I think it depends on the type of non-fiction that’s being written – and, of course, how well the story is folded into the overall message. I have read many, many books that attempted to include story and I remembered the story – but then I didn’t remember the “lesson” that was supposed to be learnt from it. Unfortunately, many people don’t know how to use stories well.
You have a point. Story that draws attention to itself rather than to the takeaway for the reader or the premise missed its mark.
“Story” is a core principle to the postmodern mind. If we ever hope to connect with postmodern society, we must become masters at story. The key, at that point, is that the story must lead the reader/hearer to truth, because, unfortunately, every other world philosophy and agenda is also attempting to capitalize on story. As Cynthia stated so succinctly above, “Story is the train track upon which truth rides.”
Appreciate your comment, Damon.
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