STORYTELLING AS A TOOL IN WRITING

“Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables” (Matthew 13:34 NLT).

INTRODUCTION

I think our writers will continue to lose their original voices if they neglect the use of storytelling.

What have you ever done that is now not a story? Life is full of challenges that when we want to recall them, we have no option but to utilise storytelling, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, professionally or unprofessionally.

If you ask a pastor to give you a report of his last revival programme, he will tell you stories of the stages of preparation to the last minute of the programme. A teacher will tell you stories of the last set of students he or she taught. A doctor, in reporting his last surgery, shares a story of how it was done.

Since life is full of stories, there is then the need to utilise storytelling effectively as a method of communicating ideas and values from one generation to another.

Jesus used different stories as parables in preaching/teaching to explain heavenly truth: the story of the two Sons (Mathew 21:28-32), the story of the evil farmers (Mathew 21: 33-46), the story of the Great feast (Mathew 22-1-14), the story of the farmer scattering seed (Mark 4:1-20), the story of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), the story of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7), the story of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-18), the story of the unforgiving debtor (Mathew 18:21-35), the story of the prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) etc.

HOW TO USE STORIES

Stories are meant to shed more light on your message for effective understanding. The following are the ways to maximise stories:

–             Use them deliberately.

–             Make sure any story you use is connected to the theme of your message.

–             Love the stories you are using and ensure that they will help you achieve your goal.

–             Make them short, because long stories create a lack of interest.

–             Clarify if the story is fiction or nonfiction.

–             Always emphasise lessons from a story after using it.

–             Give credit to the right person who owns the story.

–             Use simple sentences and language.

–             Create and maintain suspense.

–             Don’t use many stories at a time because people can get tired of them.

–             Make sure your readers don’t see you as a comedian.

CONCLUSION

We need storytelling in writing.

Pusonnam Yiri

Author Development Consultant