As I noted in mid-January, Mashable recently held a story contest to mark the huge expansion of the character limit of Facebook status updates to 63,206 characters. The site announced the winner this week: We received a range of responses, including prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and even someone who used … Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2012
Q and A with a Story Guru: Amy Zalman: ‘Narrative’ Is an Overused Buzzword
See a photo of Amy Zalman, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3. Q&A with Amy Zalman, Question 4: Q: To what extent do you think “storytelling” has become an overused buzzword? Do you find yourself annoyed when things are labeled as “storytelling” that really … Continue reading
Q and A with a Story Guru: Amy Zalman: Afghan Civilian Casualties Are Far More than Characters in the Story of a War
See a photo of Amy Zalman, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2. Q&A with Amy Zalman, Question 3: Q: Why do you feel it’s important “to gain a holistic view of our own stories, those of others, and those that drive public events and perceptions” and … Continue reading
Q and A with a Story Guru: Amy Zalman: Stories Produce Social Reality
See a photo of Amy Zalman, her bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A. Q&A with Amy Zalman, Question 2: Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/ narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it? A: My love of words and stories has … Continue reading
Q and A with a Story Guru: Amy Zalman: Strategic Narrative Is Emergent Strand of International-Relations Research
I am beyond intrigued with the niche of storytelling/narrative that Dr. Amy Zalman practices — strategic narrative. Her firm “advance[s] the practice of narrative to solve complex problems among people, cultures and organizations.” I felt it would be helpful to kick off this Q&A with Dr. Zalman’s explanation of strategic … Continue reading
A Diverse Collection of Free Storytelling Stuff
Periodically I like to do a roundup of storytelling goodies from the generous world of applied storytelling. Fans, students, and practitioners in this field can build a nice little library of white papers, ebooks, tools, checklists, online videos, and much more without spending a dime. It would be fun to … Continue reading
Be Selective When Choosing Stories to Tell in Cover Letters
Anna Marie Trester is a sociolinguist who recently made the point in her eponymous blog that as researchers, she and her colleagues bring special skills to crafting resumes and cover letters. I was pleased to note her support for telling stories in cover letters. Here’s what she said in her … Continue reading
Stories to Instill Pride in New Employees
During my PhD program, I tried to latch onto the term “organizational entry” to describe, in part, my field of research. Organizational entry is the term used in academia to cover there activities surrounding bringing new employees into an organization. Though the term is much more commonly applied to what … Continue reading
Competition, Community, Generosity … and their Relationship with Storytelling
In a thoughtful and thought-provoking blog post, Storytelling: Community through… Competition?, Katie Knutson talks about how, even in competitive settings, storytellers generate a strong sense of community. Knutson recalls that despite the “fiercely competitive” storytelling category in her high-school forensics contests, a sense of community persisted in that category as … Continue reading
Bones to Pick with ‘About’ Pages — Storied or Not — and an Example of a Good One
I had two occasions in the last couple of months to see the “About” pages of many Web sites and blogs. In the first, I had a few dozen story practitioners that I wanted to invite to participate in my Q&A series. In the second, I visited many sites and … Continue reading