There’s an undying story about Britain that goes like this: in 1940, uncomplaining Brits saved the world from Hitler. Then they lived happily and conservatively until their country was taken over by Brussels and swamped by immigrants. This story of paradise lost gets retold at every British election. The novel twist of the coming election, on May 7, is that the story will be told most effectively not by the Conservatives but by the anti-immigrant UK Independence party.
Anyone with anything to sell needs a story. That’s because people use stories to make sense of an incomprehensible world. Stories rather than facts win elections, sway policy makers and convince investors or donors to hand over money. Recently, I spent a day brainstorming about storytelling techniques with two film-makers and a Hollywood producer, to help out a charitable foundation that needs to promote its causes. Here are some pointers we came up with.
The first thing to grasp: the person you’re trying to persuade is bored with you already. She doesn’t care about your tedious concerns. For instance: at times during the British election campaign of 2005, zero per cent of voters surveyed by Conservative pollster Michael Ashcroft had heard about his party’s promises of choice in schools. The Tories had policies but no story. They were like those speakers at conferences clicking through slides full of diagrams.