Storytelling: Fiction, Fact, or…?
Storytelling is getting a bad rap these days. Many parties have been knowingly presenting fiction as fact, contributing to an already heady mix of blurred lines and alternate realities. Their practice is pushing people to apply childhood labels of “telling stories,” which was a polite way to call someone a liar.
Without getting too additionally political, these narratives
are often untruths yet sometimes something else. They’re usually not stories in
the truest sense because they’re short on arc and growth and long on agenda.
But they do accomplish something important: highlighting how storytelling is
not binary.
Instead, it offers multiple opportunities. You can create
something entirely new. You can create something new that’s rooted in the
familiar. You can portray something exactly as it appears. You can add a
creative spin on what exists in reality to make something not quite fictional
but not strictly factual.
Not to get too philosophical, but reality differs for each
of us. It’s tempered and shaped by our own experiences and perspectives. If you
want to tell a story effectively, you need to know from the outset what type of
story you're telling. You also have an obligation to make clear to your
audience just what it is you’re delivering. (This is a matter of ethics
as well as common courtesy.)
Fiction.
If you're writing a short story, (screen)play,
novel, etc. your audience assumes that while what you write may be influenced
by the real world, its purpose is to entertain and perhaps encourage questions
about the real world, not to represent it as fact. Genre is key to consider. The
job of speculative fiction is to do just that—speculate about what might or
could be based on some combination of past and current events and the author’s
imagination. Yet just because a work feels eerily reminiscent of real-world happenings
doesn’t mean it’s a playbook or endorsement for what’s happening IRL. Which
means you also don’t have permission to make up a story that parallels real
life and present it as anything other than the product of your imagination.
Nonfiction.
If you're writing an article, blog post, success
story, essay, or book on business principles, leadership, best industry
practices, etc., your readers assume that you are relaying information,
statistics, and experience that reflect real life. Whether your goal is to
inform, educate, or inspire, people are connecting to the truth in your story
to show them something that they can apply or learn from in their own lives.
This also holds true for case studies, white papers, announcements, etc. There
is a significant difference between changing names to protect identities and
changing an example or description of an event that never happened or didn't
happen remotely in the way you say it did.
Creative nonfiction.
If you’re writing a memoir or career
recollections, brand story, personal essay, op-ed, etc., you’re more likely to
create a piece that’s a combination of representing the real world and elements
of your choosing. For example, relaying dialogue that may not be fully
remembered exactly as depicted but is still representative of the parties
involved and the correct sequence of events and outcome. This is an example where
there is more likely to be forgiveness for the fudging of actual events or
conversations in the interest of delivering a real-life message—as long as you
are upfront about the limits of your recollection and/or the creative license
you’ve taken to reach.
Misrepresenting the nature of your tale and/or taking facts
out of context (whether partially or completely) makes you an unreliable
narrator. It may work for your immediate purposes, but in our 24/7 hyper
connected world someone will always come with the receipts.
If you don't want to lose engagement—or worse, the trust of
your audience—you need to frame your story properly, write it authentically,
and share it appropriately.
Image © Elena Mozhvilo courtesy Unsplash
