See a photo of David, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.
Q&A with David Kennedy, Questions 3 and 4:
Q: The storytelling movement seems to be growing explosively. Why now? What is it about this moment in human history and culture that makes storytelling so resonant with so many people right now?
A: Think about it. Stories are how we communicate and how we’ve always communicated. Cave paintings came about as one of the first ways humans told their stories and the Internet is no different from that. One of my colleagues, Paul Wagner, calls Wikipedia society’s digital cave paintings. So in a sense, we’ve come full circle. Stories work.
They resonate because they are part of us, and our history. There’s a tremendous amount of information available today, thanks to the web. So people grasp the things that truly mean something to them. Most of the time, that’s a story. Stories have characters, emotion, twist and turns. More importantly, a good story gives us context, more meaning than most forms of communication.
Q: If you could share just one piece of advice or wisdom about story/storytelling/narrative with readers, what would it be?
A: Embrace your own story. Without it, your are lost. If you are lost, you can’t tell stories very well at all.
And realize your story is a process. Trust it. Sometimes, you won’t have a clue as to where your own plot is headed, but hey, isn’t that fun? I think it’s glorious. Because there are never any right or wrong words in YOUR story. The only thing that matters is what you take away from each twist and turn.