Wendell Berry and the Power of Story

The Power of Story

What makes information interesting to people? As communicators, our power is not only in what we have to say, but how we can engage people and entertain them while we are saying it. One of the greatest ways of keeping an audience engaged is by telling stories. People remember stories. People are changed by stories. Learning how to tell stories to convey your message is an important tool that you can use to complicate other people’s thinking about the world, change minds and be heard. Plus, they are fun.

A good story has:

·    A beginning, middle, and end

·       Conflict and characters

·       Vivid imagery and detail

·       Delight, emotion, humor, beauty
      Personal content- elements your audience can relate to through shared human experiences

          Characters that speak or do things
     

     

     David Foster Wallace
     The View from Mrs. Thompson's

     

      In Class: Write a flash story (roughly 500 words or less) that makes some statement about a place that matters to you. Choose a place you know and that you can describe in detail. Your task is to tell a story that will teach us something about that place. Be as surprising, genuine, funny, and vivid as you can. This can be fiction or non-fiction.

      Free writes work best if you keep your pen moving (or fingers typing) the entire time. After the free write, you will share your stories with a small group. The group will describe what they liked, what they learned about the place, and anything that still confuses them. You will have the rest of class to finalize your story. Make this time count, and finish the story by the end of the class period.  On Thursday, you will turn these in as your last quiz grade. You will also be reading them in class as part of the final class period.

     Homework: Assignment 5 is due posted to Blackboard by end of day 4/26. Please post it as one cohesive word document.