The Science of Storytelling – Will Storr – Review

Why is storytelling important? Let me answer the question by picturing a couple of scenes, one is a nobel laureate scientist who calling a long list of statistical data that validates the effectiveness of his solution for problem like Malaria. On the other side, let’s remember Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech, of the two the latter captures our imagination, the reason lies in the power of storytelling. The three-pound mass of complex organ that lies within our hard skull relates to stories but plain data falls flat.   

Given the importance of stories, Will Storr has tried to provide a broad framework for creating a captivating novel or a film. Beyond plot, character, struggle and victory, what are the factors that captures the attention of a bibliophile or an avid movie fan. One of the factors that Will Storr discussed in depth was to consistently provide only parts of information which would leave the audience guessing, till the very end.  

In an experiment two groups of participants were confronted with grid of squares game on digital screens and each participant needed to open up a minimum of five squares. While the first group had picture of an entire animal open up with each square block, the second group had only a partial portion of an animal being disclosed. It was noticed that majority of the second group participants opened up many more blocks beyond the minimum threshold of five while the first group were not inclined to push beyond the mandatory five blocks.

The inference from the experiment is that the human minds are inclined to fulfill information gaps when curiosity is evoked at the right measure. On the other hand, revealing complete answers upfront in plain form fails to hold the attention. Loewenstein in his research paper on psychology of curiosity defines fours ways to invoke the same

(i)                  Pose a question or a puzzle

(ii)                Expose the reader to a sequence of events with an anticipated but unknown resolution

(iii)               Violation of expectation that triggers the search for answers

(iv)               Knowledge of possession of key information by someone else.

Another central theme to powerful stories is the creation of hero and villain. However, who are these characters at a fundamental level. We have witnessed that during a fight between the said characters, the damage is created by both but why do we perceive one as a hero and the other as villain. The explanation provided draws us back to our tribal neural connections, wherein communities were built by selfless acts of many while selfish acts proved counterproductive for the group at large. Hence a selfless act is celebrated as heroism while selfish ones are seen as villainous. Brian scans reveal that mere anticipation of punishment for selfish individual brings a sense of pleasure, now we know why many movies ended with a victory for the protagonist.   

The need for stimulus at frequent intervals was another interesting factor to keep the viewer engaged. In an experiment when men and women were put inside flotation tanks with their eyes and ears closed, the only external stimuli possible was an electric shock that the participants can give themselves. Surprisingly, it was noticed that within 4 hours, 67% of males and 25% of females chose to give themselves a shock on the need for an external stimulus, the researchers claim that the stimulus is as deep as the want for food and water. 

Flaws in character is another knot of building up interesting storylines, the origins of the flaw could potentially be planted during the first two decades of a protagonist timeline. But the impact is deep since the brain is in it’s heightened state of plasticity during formative years while the neural models are still being formed.

Will Storr provides a structure for an engaging storyline and key elements that are essential in the narrative. Frankly, as I write down a review, am getting an impression that maybe I need a few more rounds of reading to completely get the full context of his three act or five act storytelling process.

Good read nevertheless!