Defining stories, narratives, and how to shape them in our communications.

1. THE STORY BEHIND STORYTELLING
AND HOW IT CAN INFORM OUR COMMUNICATIONS
Internal Presentation | January 2013

2. ALMOST ANYTHING CAN BE A STORY

3. BUT NOT EVERYTHING
IS A GOOD STORY
Badlands (1973)

4. A GOOD STORY HAS ONE OF TWO THINGS

5. IT EITHER
PAINTS THE
1 PICTURE IN A
COMPELLING
WAY
Tree of Life (2011)

6. OR IT DRAGS
2 YOU INTO A
COMPELLING
NARRATIVE
Argo (2012)

7. A REALLY
GREAT STORY
DOES BOTH
The Deer Hunter (1978)

8. THERE’S A SCIENCE TO IT.
There’s a scientific reason why these two elements
make for good storytelling…

9. PowerPoint presentations
with bullet points only activate
the language-processing
parts of our brain.
Bullet points only activate two little bullet points in your brain. That’s it.
BROCA’S AREA
WERNICKE’S AREA

10. But when we are told a good story…
When we are told a good story, our whole brain lights
up. It’s our imagination at work.
#Eureka!

11. “ THE READING
PROCESS IS AN
INTERACTION
BETWEEN THE
TEXT AND THE
READER’S
IMAGINATION.”
Wolfgang Iser was one of the first reader-response theorists, and he
argued that our imaginations work on two levels:
1. On the level of the sentence: we imagine the events that are
taking place currently in the text (e.g. on page 20)
2. On the level of the narrative: we imagine how the story will
proceed and anticipate how it will end (e.g. what will happen
next and who might die, etc.)
Turns out he was right.

12. OUR BRAINS CAN RELIVE THE
STORIES WE HEAR…
In terms of brain activity there is very little difference between
experiencing something in real life, reading about it in a book, and
hearing about it in a story.
So…
When we hear “that blueberry pie was delicious” in the context of a
story, our sensory cortex lights up. When we read “John caught the
baseball” in the context of a story, our motor cortex lights up.
Stories are able to activate our imagination on the level of the sentence.
This is why painting a good picture is important.

13. AND THEY RESPOND TO
LARGER NARRATIVES AS WELL…
But stories also activate our imaginations on the level of the narrative. In
his book How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker talks about how our brain
is fascinated with the direction that stories follow. When reading or
listening to a story, we are constantly imagining what characters will do
next, who will die, who will befriend whom.
This is the power of narrative.
Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997)

14. WE ARE
HARDWIRED
TO RECOGNIZE
NARRATIVES
Why do we like stories so much? Some anthropologists believe that we are actually hardwired to like stories.
For thousands of years, stories were the key to survival. They were a mode of communicating vital information in a compressed form (e.g. information
about predators, prey, enemies, etc.) Better storytellers and listeners stood a better chance of surviving in this famously brutish and nasty world.
Narratives helped people tell and remember stories. Our brains are good at recognizing patterns, and narratives are basically story patterns.

15. MORE
ENGAGING
STORYTELLING
MAKES CONTENT…
BETTER
FOR
SHARING
To recap: good storytelling makes information much better for sharing and remembering.
WITH
And it functions on the level of the sentence and narrative.
PEOPLE
MORE
MEMORABLE

16. WE ALWAYS
TALK ABOUT
WHAT MAKES
GOOD TELLING
We almost never talk about what makes a good narrative, or
even what a narrative is in the first place.

17. WHAT MAKES A GOOD NARRATIVE?

18. WHAT IS A NARRATIVE?
First off, what is a narrative? Before we can construct a
good narrative, we need to know what narratives are.

19. Countless genres
Let’s start with what a narrative is not. A narrative is not the genre to which it belongs. There are countless genres. (Upstairs downstairs, fantasy, film
noir, Robinsonade, coming of age, dystopian cyberpunk, spaghetti western.) They can refer to anything from the story’s setting to its period to its tone
to its obscure literary technique. One story can be associated with multiple genres.
Genre doesn’t dig deep enough. It doesn’t tell you how the narrative is constructed; it tells you how it is dressed. For example, a film noir and
spaghetti western can have the same narratives and characters. They can be constructed in exactly the same way. They can be built with the same
building blocks, but still be dressed differently. This doesn’t make them fundamentally different stories.

20. A NARRATIVE IS A SHAPE
Let me explain…

21. VIRTUALLY EVERY
NARRATIVE HAS ONE
THING IN COMMON:
A protagonist who is trying to achieve a goal
What does almost every story have in common? A protagonist. And what is that protagonist
doing? Trying to achieve something.
This achievement can be self-improvement… the betterment of society… the betterment of
a relationship… getting a haircut… what’s important is that the achievement of this goal
leaves the character, or the world of the story, somehow better off.
MUST. KILL.
VOLDE-
MORT.
JENNAY!
DON’T
DIE! B
A

22. B
A
THE PLOT TRACES
THE PROTAGONIST’S B
PROGRESS TOWARD
THAT GOAL.
A
And the journey can have different shapes
B
How the character gets from point A to point B, though, can vary. It’s never a
perfectly straight, linear path.
Things can go badly at first, then very well. Or they can go badly for almost
the whole story. If we trace these paths in our heads, we start to recognize
certain narrative arcs again and again. A

23. THE FOUR ARCHETYPAL NARRATIVE ARCS…
Over the years we’ve gravitated towards four archetypal narrative arcs.
“Hero’s Journey” “Growing Up”
epic, adventure, fantasy coming of age, bildungsroman
SUCCESS
SUCCESS
“Hell and Back” “When it rains, it pours”
confessional, memoir comedy, tragedy, horror
SUCCESS
SUCCESS

24. HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR A WHILE…
These narratives have been around for a long time.
EPIC OF GILGAMESH GOETHE’S WILHELM MEISTER’S
15TH CENTURY BC APPRENTICESHIP
1795 AD
ST. AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONE
397 AD 441 BC

25. …AND AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE
And we still see them today.
FINDING NEMO THE SANDLOT
JUNO BRIDESMAIDS

26. A BRIEF HISTORY OF NARRATIVES
HERO’S TRAGEDY +
JOURNEY COMEDY
ANCIENT GREEK (TRAGEDY +
ANCIENT SUMERIAN: 15thc BC ANCIENT GREEK (EPIC): 8th-6thc BC COMEDY): 5th-4th c BC
Epic of Gilgamesh Homer, Hesiod, Sappho Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides,
Aristophones
HELL AND BACK
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: 500-1000 AD NEW CHRISTIAN TEXTS: 1st-4thc AD
EARLY RELIGIOUS: 6th-1st c BC
Epic poem, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Dante, New Testament, St. Augustine’s Confessions,
Confucius, Taoist, Sun Tzu, the Torah
Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight religious autobiographies
DEFOE’S ROBINSON CRUSOE (1719)
GROWING UP
ELIZABETHAN/JACOBEAN ERA: 1558- ENLIGHTENMENT: 1700-1800 AD ROMANTIC ERA: 1800-1837 AD
1625 AD Voltaire, Rousseau, Goethe, Pope, Swift, de Thackeray, Bronte sisters, Dumas, Flaubert,
Jonson, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Cervantes Sade, Cooper, Byron, Hawthorne, Austen, Scott
POSTMODERN ERA: 1940- MODERNIST ERA: 1901-1940 AD
VICTORIAN ERA: 1837-1901 AD
Sartre, Camus, Beckett, Orwell, Mailer, Miller, Kipling, Fitzgerald, Conrad, Joyce,
Dickens, Bronte sisters, Thoreau, Hugo,
Pinter, Bellow, Achebe, O’Neill, Updike, Hemingway, Forster, Lawrence, T.S. Eliot,
Melville, Eliot, Carroll, Hardy, Wilde, James
Barthelme, Pynchon Faulkner, Huxley, Woolf
These narrative arcs developed in different eras, for different reasons.
TODAY -THE HERO’S JOURNEY developed during the earliest years of
Franzen, Coetze, Allende, McEwan, Mitchell, conquest and exploration.
Morrison, Roth, Murakami, Zadie Smith, -TRAGEDY and COMEDY became popular in Ancient Greece, during an
Banville, Carey age of many gruesome, imperialistic wars.
-HELL AND BACK developed shortly after the advent of Christianity
and the confessional autobiography.
-GROWING UP became popular because of our Enlightenment
obsession with education and self-improvement.

27. HERO’S JOURNEY
Narrative archetype that can be traced back to the very first
recorded stories: Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, Beowulf. These stories
feature a protagonist who faces a virtually insurmountable goal and
must overcome several obstacles on the way to achieving that goal.
Genres that typically have this narrative structure are: the epic, the
mystery, adventure, fantasy and sometimes the action movie.
Finding Nemo The Lord of the Rings Kill Bill
Protagonist: Nemo Protagonist: Frodo Protagonist: The Bride
Goal: finding his father Goal: protecting the ring/ vanquishing Goal: killing Bill
Challenge: jellyfish, dentist’s office, Sauron Challenge: Bill’s death squad
fishing net Challenge: Nazgul, Watcher in the
Water, orcs, etc.

28. HELL AND BACK
Narrative archetype that has its roots in early confessional and
autobiographical literature. It follows a character along a two-step
journey: first away from success, then back toward success. (In
early religious texts, this was seen as a wandering away from God
and pilgrimage back to God.) It is frequently used to tell stories of
survival and self-discovery. Genres associated with this type of
narrative are: autobiography, memoir, war story and travelogue.
Juno 127 Hours Saving Private Ryan
Protagonist: Juno MacGuff Protagonist: Aron Ralston Protagonist: Captain John Miller
Goal: self-discovery Goal: survival Goal: saving Private Ryan
Challenge: her pregnancy/society Challenge: the boulder on his arm Challenge: WWII

29. GROWING UP
The coming-of-age story is an enduring narrative that speaks to our
potential for growth and improvement. It usually follows a younger
person as he or she matures in some way. This maturity can be
educational, emotional, financial or even artistic. Because the maturation
and self-discovery processes are internal (inside the protagonist’s head),
she is not always aware of her progress. Genres associated with this
type of narrative are: bildungsroman, early American rags-to-riches,
western and even the modern high-school drama.
The Sandlot Almost Famous My Girl
Protagonist: Scotty Smalls Protagonist: William Miller Protagonist: Vada Sultenfuss
Goal: gaining acceptance among friends Goal: becoming a respected music writer Goal: coming to terms w/ her mother’s death
Challenge: new kid in town Challenge: only teenager in the group Challenge: her father, adolescence, TJ’s death

30. WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS
Narrative archetype on which many comedies and tragedies are
based. At the beginning of the story, our protagonist is going about life
as usual. If anything, life is good (he finds a stash of money, she finds
out she’s the maid of honor). As the story progresses, however, the
protagonist faces a series of challenges, one harder than the other,
almost to the point where she loses hope and gives up. In the case of
tragedy, things often end badly (with everyone dying). In the case of
comedy, there is usually a happy ending that restores normalcy in the
world. Genres associated with this type of narrative are: comedy,
tragedy, horror and thriller (in all their various forms).
Bridesmaids Halloween No Country for Old Men
Protagonist: Annie Walker Protagonist: Laurie Strode Protagonist: Llewelyn Moss
Goal: doing something successfully Goal: surviving the night Goal: running off with the money he found
Challenge: Helen, Todd, financial Challenge: Michael Myers Challenge: Anton Chiqurh and gangsters
constraints

31. MANY KINDS OF PLOTS CAN BE
CONSTRUCTED FROM THESE ARCHETYPES
HERO’S HELL WHEN IT RAINS,
GROWING UP
JOURNEY AND BACK IT POURS
Homeward Bound Revenge Plot Stranded on a Beach Escape
Vigilante Justice Comeback Kid The Outsider End of the World
Unlikely Hero Second Chance Find Yourself Survive the Night
Classic Underdog Unjust Accusation On the Road Big Brother
Reclaiming the Throne Courtroom Drama Whodunit? Disaster
Many kinds of plots can be built on these narrative models. (Plots are the series of events
that make a story. You can have different plots that still follow the same narrative arc.)

32. A CLOSER LOOK AT PLOT
HERO’S HELL WHEN IT RAINS,
GROWING UP
JOURNEY AND BACK IT POURS
Homeward Bound Revenge Plot Stranded on a Beach Escape
Vigilante Justice Comeback Kid The Outsider End of the World
Unlikely Hero Second Chance Find Yourself Survive the Night
Classic Underdog Unjust Accusation On the Road Big Brother
Reclaiming the Throne Courtroom Drama Whodunit? Disaster
You’re far away from home, and there
Someone has wronged you, hurt you, You’re shipwrecked, deserted, all alone Maybe you’ve done something wrong,
are many obstacles (known and
made your life miserable. Sure, you’re in a faraway place. To survive and return or maybe you haven’t… what matters is
unknown) in your way. To get home,
down… but you’re not out. The story home, you must build a temporary that 500 government droids are chasing
you must keep the faith and keep
isn’t over until you get your retribution. shelter and learn basic life skills. you and you must get away.
fighting.
Homeward Bound (1993) Gladiator (2000) Cast Away (2000) Minority Report (2002)

33. A CLOSER LOOK AT PLOT
HERO’S HELL WHEN IT RAINS,
GROWING UP
JOURNEY AND BACK IT POURS
Homeward Bound Revenge Plot Stranded on a Beach Escape
Vigilante Justice Comeback Kid The Outsider End of the World
Unlikely Hero Second Chance Find Yourself Survive the Night
Classic Underdog Unjust Accusation On the Road Big Brother
Reclaiming the Throne Courtroom Drama Whodunit? Disaster
There are bad guys on the loose, and You’re down but you’re not out. You’ve You’re not one of the cool kids. People
A huge tidal wave is coming. Martians
you (yes, you!) need to step up and suffered a harsh loss, but there’s still a are skeptical and resentful of you. To
are circling the White House. You need
restore peace in the world. To get to the glimmer of hope. You must believe in establish yourself in this world, you
to survive this event and help those
boss, you must go through a number of the dream and fight hard to get back in must assert yourself and show your
around you survive.
smaller foes. shape. worth.
Batman (2001) Rocky II (1979) Never Been Kissed (1999) Independence Day (1996)

34. A CLOSER LOOK AT PLOT
HERO’S HELL WHEN IT RAINS,
GROWING UP IT POURS
JOURNEY AND BACK
Homeward Bound Revenge Plot Stranded on a Beach Escape
Vigilante Justice Comeback Kid The Outsider End of the World
Unlikely Hero Second Chance Find Yourself Survive the Night
Classic Underdog Unjust Accusation On the Road Big Brother
Reclaiming the Throne Courtroom Drama Whodunit? Disaster
You’ve lost your way and you don’t even
You’ve messed up, and you’re A killer is on the loose, hiding in the
You’re not a typical hero type (strong, know it. You’re conceited, pretentious, or
miserable. But you’re determined to set shadows. People are dropping left
confident, determined), but you’ve maybe you mistreat the people around
things right. To make amends, you must and right. Your goal is to look out for
been thrust into the role. Now only you you. To become a better person, you first
re-earn the trust of those closest to you yourself. Avoid the killer and come
can save the world and set things right. need to find yourself and acknowledge
and show them what you’re worth. out on the other side.
flaws.
The Lord of the Rings (2001) High Fidelity (2000) Groundhog Day (1993) Friday the 13th (1980)

35. A CLOSER LOOK AT PLOT
HERO’S HELL WHEN IT RAINS,
GROWING UP
JOURNEY AND BACK IT POURS
Homeward Bound Revenge Plot Stranded on a Beach Escape
Vigilante Justice Comeback Kid The Outsider End of the World
Unlikely Hero Second Chance Find Yourself Survive the Night
Classic Underdog Unjust Accusation On the Road Big Brother
Reclaiming the Throne Courtroom Drama Whodunit? Disaster
One moment you’re a fairly well liked You lacking something in your life, you It’s sometime in the future. You’re living
David vs. Goliath. Rocky vs. Drago. It’s
member of society; the next moment have an urge to explore the world. in a fascist, totalitarian state run by
an age old premise. You don’t have all
you’re a pariah (deservedly or not). You Whatever it is, you take to the road and sophisticated computers. Computers
the skills or might, but you’re able to
must swing the scales of public opinion drive off into the sunset. Along the road, that can track your every move. It’s your
defeat a stronger opponent due to
in your favor and show people who you you meet new friends, see new places, job to overturn this government and
sheer intelligence or will power.
really are. and meditate on the meaning of life. destroy the computers.
The Fighter (2010) Mean Girls (2004) On the Road (2012) 1984 (1984)

36. A CLOSER LOOK AT PLOT
HERO’S HELL WHEN IT RAINS,
GROWING UP
JOURNEY AND BACK IT POURS
Homeward Bound Revenge Plot Stranded on a Beach Escape
Vigilante Justice Comeback Kid The Outsider End of the World
Unlikely Hero Second Chance Find Yourself Survive the Night
Classic Underdog Unjust Accusation On the Road Big Brother
Reclaiming the Throne Courtroom Drama Whodunit? Disaster
You’ve been charged with first degree
You were the king that everybody loved. A man is dead. His wife is missing. And It’s not quite the end of the world, but
murder, you’re awaiting trial in a
But now you’re hiding in a dark cellar, his mistress isn’t talking. It’s a mystery, it’s dangerous nonetheless. Tornado,
holding cell, but you didn’t do it. To get
powerless. For the sake of the crown, and it’s your job to figure out what plane crash, sinking boat… to survive
a not guilty verdict, you must convince a
your legacy, and your people, you must happened. Little by little, you’re going you need to have your wits about you
jury of your peers that the evidence
take back the throne. to find clues and get to the facts. and luck on your side.
against you doesn’t hold water.
Star Wars I (1977) A Few Good Men (2000) National Treasure (2004) Titanic (1997)

37. YOU CAN ALSO COMBINE AND MASH-UP
THESE STORYTELLING ELEMENTS.
“Comeback Kid” boxing story (Rocky II) “Escape” story (Minority Report)
+ +
downward-spiraling “when it rains it upward-trending, adolescent “growing up”
pours” narrative narrative
Million Dollar Baby (2004) Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
The goal is not necessarily to choose a narrative and plot combination that is conventional.
It’s to play around with these narrative and plot combinations.
Some of the most interesting, experimental stories mix and mash-up these
storytelling elements. That’s what makes them innovative.

38. AN ENDLESS ARRAY OF STORIES CAN BE
CONSTRUCTED FROM THESE ARCHETYPES
Narrative
HERO’S HELL WHEN IT RAINS,
GROWING UP
JOURNEY AND BACK IT POURS
Common Plots
Homeward Bound Revenge Plot Stranded on a Beach Escape
Vigilante Justice Comeback Kid The Outsider End of the World
Unlikely Hero Second Chance Find Yourself Survive the Night
Classic Underdog Unjust Accusation On the Road Big Brother
Reclaiming the Throne Courtroom Drama Whodunit? Disaster
Setting
Period
Tone

39. Narratives aren’t just theoretical. The author must construct them from the ground up, with a number of
different storytelling tools. Keeping with film as an example medium, these tools are…

40. THE SCRIPT
(Blocking out the plot points)
Almost Famous (2000)

41. SET DESIGN
(Privileged, sheltered life)

42. CASTING
(He’s just a boy)
Almost Famous (2000)

43. WARDROBE
(He’s all grown up!)
Almost Famous (2000)

44. IT’S NOT ABOUT FOLLOWING A MODEL
This is a storytelling model I encountered last year in a similar
presentation. His argument was that all stories have the Hero’s
Journey structure, and that we need to craft all of our stories this
way. (False. Wrong.)
The takeaway: storytelling isn’t about following a strict model.
It’s about understanding the narrative tools at your disposal
and using them.

45. IT’S ABOUT BEING CREATIVE WITH THE
INGREDIENTS IN FRONT OF YOU

46. THESE
NARRATIVES
HAVE INFORMED
ADVERTISING
FOR YEARS…

47. HELL AND
GROWING UP
BACK
Imported from Detroit Frank Reardon Can’t Use Kayak
Places us In the middle of a “Hell and Back” narrative. References “Coming of Age” conventions to tell the story of why
Kayak.com was founded. The story of Kayak starts years after
the story of Frank ended.
HELL AND
WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS
BACK
Don’t Have a Grandson with a Dog Collar Replay
Series of comedic spots that spiral downward quickly, dramatizing what Turns fifteen years of disappointment and unfinished business into
can happen to you when you don’t have DirecTV. There is no hope from a two-part “Hell and Back” narrative. By organizing a rematch, two
teams create an opportunity to redeem themselves.
the very beginning, just (funny) misery.

48. HELL AND
GROWING UP
BACK
Back to the Start Walk Around the World
2-minute branded entertainment that tells the Hell-and-Back story of Tells the coming-of-age story of Johnnie Walker, his rise from
America’s farm industry. local farm boy to respected businessman. This story gives depth
to the brand and informs everything that they do.
GROWING UP HERO’S JOURNEY
NIKE+ FUELBAND Small Business Saturday
Nike+ FUELBAND gives you the ability to write your own story of self- A once-a-year event, a nationwide movement. Though not an ad
improvement in real time. It tracks your movement throughout the day per se, this project rallies people and businesses against the big
bad corporations that dominate the holiday buying season.
and charts your incremental progress. Perhaps this narrativization of
your life will help motivate you to achieve your goal.

49. GROWING UP HELL AND BACK
Kenny Powers MFCEO The Taste of Coolness
Viral campaign announcing the new CEO-ship of comic A lagging Romanian chocolate brand fakes an American takeover,
“sportsman” Kenny Powers. Step by step, he transforms K complete with heavy-handed propagandist advertising. The
Swiss from a standard, corporate shoemaker into a loud and enemy has come ashore, and it’s up to Romanians to fight back.
boisterous sports company.
HELL AND BACK WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS
Braddock, PA Getaway Stockholm
Levi’s didn’t just make an ad about a recovering town, they donated Games can have narratives too. This game puts you in the middle
money and resources to help it recover. They invested in shaping of a Bourne Identity-style “escape” story. It’s capture the flag, and
the last person with the car wins.
the second half of the archetypal “Hell and Back” narrative.

50. HERO’S JOURNEY GROWING UP
The Girl Who Could Fly Raise Our Flag
A precocious, intrepid fifth-grader wants to make a video of Fundraising campaign for the US Olympic Committee. Every
herself flying for class. The process is a lot of work, but it all donation buys a stitch that goes into the American flag. The flag
comes together in the end. is a representation of all the hard work that went into preparing
our athletes for competition.
GROWING UP WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS
SCREW*D 7th Wheel
Interactive reality show about a hapless, helpless, non-DIY guy who Three couples (and Matt) head out on a lovely weekend getaway.
is placed in various uncomfortable situations… from which he must They go to the beach; they go canoeing; and they go sightseeing
– and Matt has to suffer through the whole thing on his own.
use his Craftsmen tools to escape.

51. …EVEN WHEN THE STORIES
AREN’T TOLD IN FULL
Big Brother
Apple: 1984
Doesn’t set Apple on a Hero’s
Journey, it lands the final blow. It
launches Apple into a new
post-dystopian world.
When you only have :30 or :60 seconds to work with, it’s hard to tell a
whole story from start to finish. But it’s easier to tell a scene in
that story. The rest of the story is implied. If you don’t have time
to tell the fully story, it’s worth thinking about how you can tell a
scene and imply the rest of the story.

52. STORYTELLING EXERCISE #1
Step 1 Select your character (e.g. a precocious fifth-grader,
an average Joe, your brand)
Step 2 Decide what her goal is (e.g. learning how to fly,
becoming president, solving global warming)
List out the obstacles in her way (e.g. the skeptics
Step 3 and nonbelievers, blue-collar upbringing, a corrupt
government)
“Hero’s Journey”
SUCCESS
Decide what narrative arc best tells the story of her epic, adventure, fantasy
Step 4 progress (e.g. Hero’s Journey, Hell and Back,
Growing Up, When it Rains it Pours)
Write the story accordingly, bringing out plot points to
Step 5 shape the narrative and mark its inflection points (e.g.
green screen, recess, Eliza Jones)

53. STORYTELLING EXERCISE #2
Step 1 List out the potential characters and stakeholders
connected to your brand (e.g. your employees, your
heroes, your customers)
Step 2 Decide what their respective goals are (e.g. learning
new skills, traveling outside the city more often,
feeling a sense of national pride)
Map out all the obstacles in their way (e.g. stifling
Step 3 bureaucracy, lack of adventurous friends, the global
recession and austerity measures)
“Hell and Back”
SUCCESS
Try writing their “ideal” story a few different ways (e.g. confessional, memoir
Step 4 Hero’s Journey, Hell and Back, Growing Up, When it
Rains it Pours)
Brainstorm ways to help them or encourage them to
Step 5 overcome these obstacles (e.g. a mobile game, an
online forum, a Washington protest, a fake American
takeover of the brand)

54. THE END
(AND A NEW BEGINNING)