What is Story?
An FAQ with Dr. Troy Hiduke Campbell
In this FAQ, Dr. Campbell concisely answers the questions he gets asked the most about story like “What is Story?”
Troy Hiduke Campbell is the chief scientist at On Your Feet, a behavioral science PhD, former Disney Imagineer, marketing professor, and founder of Hiduke House
At the bottom of the page, there are links to the deeper dives into the science, theory, and models referenced in this FAQ.
1. What is story?
Story is the word “because.”
Great storytellers, from Pixar, to the creators of “South Park,” to leading academics, such as the author of Narrative, Porter Abbott, and the world’s leading comics professor, Dr. Katherine Kelp-Stebbins, all roughly define story as events causing characters to change.
Story is a series of moments linked by the word “because” — see the next question for the most classic example.
2. What is the easiest way to tell a good story?
Use the story spine.
Formalized by the improviser Ken Adams and later popularized by the studio Pixar, this story form presents a fill-in-the blank structure that is widely useful for most stories.
“Once upon a time there was a __________. Every day, they __________. One day things change when, __________. Because of that, __________. And because of that, __________. Until finally __________. And since that day, everything has been __________.”
3. Why should I use storytelling?
Story is the way the brain most easily processes and remembers information.
Some scholars have gone as far as to say that humans’ ability to think in cause-and-effect logic and process events narratively is the most distinct component of human cognition.
4. What does story do?
Story creates meaning.
Words and ideas alone do not have much meaning. The stories behind them create the meaning.
The reason something happens (the backstory, the cause) imbues the idea, product, event, or character with meaning.
5. When is story important?
Always.
In every moment of life, you are listening to, telling, or living a story.
Gaining a better understanding of how story works could not be more important to understanding and engaging with everything.
6. How should I start a story?
Start your story with a portal.
The brain needs to know what to focus on, so portal into your story by giving enough direction to let your audience know why and how they should be paying attention and what to expect — even if what you want to do is subvert that expectation later.
A portal transitions your audience in the right mindset, builds some anticipation, and let’s them know what type of narrative you are telling.
7. How do I tell a big story?
Tell a big core story through many narratives.
Be Nike or Apple who use the form “Multi-Narrative Storytelling” in their advertisements when they tell many different narratives that are conceptually united around their one core story of “Just Do It” or “Think Different.”
Don’t try to find one perfect long epic story, instead have a core and tell many narratives that give more meaning to the core story than any one single narrative ever could.
8. How do I tell a story in a business situation?
Use Goal -> Insight -> Action.
This three part structure really is perfect for sales, data, strategy, design, and most everything in business.
In this form, the goals are calls to action, motivations, and reasons for being. They establish what needs to be done. The insights are ideas and discoveries (and often data) that guide and enable the action. They serve as the authority and the clarity. And, finally, the action is how one should or could use the insight to accomplish the goal. The actions make the insights real and useful in a goal-directed way. Without all three, a business story feels lacking.
9. How do I tell a great story about change?
Give it a sense of destiny.
In the greatest stories of all time the characters change into who they already were “always meant to be.” We love seeing these Destiny Narrative types of stories in theaters, reading about them in books, and we are persuaded by these type stories that frame our change as changing to be “more of who we already are” and being more of our “true selves.”
Psychologically, this form resolves the conflict between people's desire to positively change and to authentically stay the same, and is thus immensely popular among fiction writers (who tell stories of “the kid who always had a magic inside them”), change leaders (who argue “we were meant for this change”), and marketers (who make arguments like “release your inner goddess” or “discover your creative side”)
10. Where can I learn more?
At Hiduke House.
Hiduke House is my home for “scientific mind, artistic heart” approaches to topics like storytelling.
There, you can learn more about all the story templates and story theory mentioned in this FAQ with these resources:
