Narrative and change go together like a horse and carriage

One of the themes that we look at is the relation between narrative and change. Any decent film has its main character experience a character arc, because without that, there can be no plot. “From zero to hero” or Casablanca’s beginning of a beautiful relationship there is always change. The same is true for writing a proposal or a blog. Persuasive writing always has some intention of change woven into it.

This is also the motor that gives the writing life. This gap between what the audience expects and what they are hoping for is the basis for the storyline for text. So Martin Luther King spoke to people who expected suppression of African Americans but hoped one day not to have it. This gap between reality and vision is the gap that drives his speaking. Narrative and change is a two way thing, because one can bring about the other.

Rather like a chicken and egg, electricity and magnetism, this is cause creating effect then creating further cause. For example, major changes in someone’s situation like a birth or a death, a win or a failure, are very difficult not to discuss; owning up to these, and communicating them, often sets in motion its own round of change. Once you’re really clear about the change you want, writing is so much easier to do.