Report cover - title reads 'How Do Other Fields Think About Narrative'. Frameworks Institute logo bottom left.

How Do Other Fields Think About Narrative? Lessons for Narrative Change Practitioners

Introduction

This report offers eight lessons about narrative—provided by luminaries in marketing and advertising, entertainment media/narrative arts, psychoanalysis, and technology—which can be applied to enrich narrative change work.

Contents

Introduction 3
Eight Lessons 5
1: Empathy 5
2: Momentum 7
3: Complexity 9
4: Experience 12
5: Participation 14
6: Attention 17
7: Aspiration 18
8: Distance 19
References 21
About FrameWorks 22

8 Lessons

See the full report to learn more about the 8 lessons. Each lesson looks at the two following elements –

  • What does this mean for narrative change work?
  • How to put this into practice

The 8 Lessons discovered about narrative are:

  1. Empathy
    Create relatable and authentic characters to generate empathy and engagement.
  2. Momentum
    Create narrative momentum with actionable stories that inspire engagement.
  3. Complexity
    Engage the complexity of issues before challenging people’s beliefs.
  4. Experience
    Create a shared experience among an audience to foster a feeling of belonging.
  5. Participation
    Target early adopters who can help spread the narrative.
  6. Attention
    Don’t forget to grab your audience’s attention.
  7. Aspiration
    Paint an aspirational vision of “what could be” to overcome fatalism and mobilize people.
  8. Distance
    Create distance between people’s beliefs and identity to enable self-preservation.

Excerpts

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