A storytelling workshop collaboration with Melissa Cunningham (Office of Patient Experience), Alex Fox (School of Public Health), and Patricia F. Anderson (Taubman Health Sciences Library). The focus of the workshop was on tools and strategies for telling patient and healthcare stories.

1. OPE Storytelling Workshop
Journeys in Health Care

2. Creating the arc of a story
Hook, line & sinker
Alex Fox

3. Who am I?

4. Who am I?
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

5. Who am I?
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

6. Who am I?
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

7. My Life in Three Circles
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE
The Sweet
Spot

8. Context
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

9. Open Your Minds
Silent Brainstorming: Your Focal Point
1. Imagine a scene. Where might this story begin for you? Is there a
particularly challenging moment that carries significance? What about a
moment of triumph?
2. What is the result? Where are you now? Some of the best stories are
written from back to front.
3. What about where you began? What does your life look like before
this journey began?

10. A Story in Three Circles
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE
The Sweet
Spot

11. Missing Pieces
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

12. Missing Pieces
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

13. The Sweet Spot
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE
The Sweet
Spot

14. Recurring Themes & Characters
Who or What has always been there?
1. Who are the people? Who has lived this story with you?
Who might this story affect?
2. What are the main topics? Have events fallen into
categories? This is the connective tissue between scenes.
3. Where have you been? Could be physical places or
metaphorical (emotions, state of being, etc.).
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

15. My Introduction
Hello, my name is Alex, and I’ve seen better
days. I actually introduced myself that way
once. I’m pretty sure I didn’t say more than
two words the entire time. It was fun, or
maybe just fine. After a few, I got
comfortable, and things got easier. Today, I
don’t have to go to group therapy.
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

16. In Reverse
Today, I don’t have to go to group therapy.
After a few, I got comfortable, and things got
easier. It was fun, or maybe just fine. I’m
pretty sure I didn’t say more than two words
the entire time. I actually introduced myself
that way once. Hello, my name is Alex, and
I’ve seen better days.
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

17. Starting in the Middle
I’m pretty sure I didn’t say more than two
words the entire time. It was fun, or maybe
just fine. After a few more, I got comfortable,
and things got easier. Today, I don’t have to
go to group therapy. Hello, my name is Alex,
and I’ve seen better days. I actually
introduced myself that way once.
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

18. Intro Minus One
I actually introduced myself that way once.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t say more than two
words the entire time. It was fun, or maybe
just fine. After a few, I got comfortable, and
things got easier. Today, I don’t have to go to
group therapy.
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

19. One Sentence Intro
Today, I don’t have to
go to group therapy.
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

20. 3 Rules
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

21. Takeaway Points
1. Engagement + Development + Settlement = Balance. You
can shift between any of the three, but you need each in equal
proportions for your story to have meaning.
2. Order Matters. You can totally reshape a story using the same
content with order alone. What you say last is what the audience
will remember.
3. Have a Plan. Everyone needs something different, but everyone
needs something. Script and/or have a plan that works for you.
OFFICE OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE

22. Storytelling
Means Making Choices
PF Anderson, Taubman Health Sciences
Libraries, @pfanderson

23. Conversation With My ASD Son On Telling Stories
DS: I want you to always tell me the whole truth.
Me: I know. Me, too. But do you understand that all
stories represent choices about how to tell the story.
DS: No! That’s lying! If you don’t tell me everything
that happened, then you aren’t telling me the truth.
Me: Sweetie, even if I tried to write down everything
that happened as it happened, that would take longer
than the actual events. There are going to be details
I forget. There just isn’t time for me to tell you
everything. I literally CAN’T tell you the WHOLE
truth!
Image Credit: @okashido
https://twitter.com/Okashido/status/1046152747635167233

24. The Medium is the Message

25. The Medium is the Message (Wrinkle In Time)

26. The Medium is the Message
(Wrinkle In Time)
Book to film comparisons:
● How many kids? “Meg is the oldest of four
Murry children, not two. Sandy and
Dennys… were omitted from the film.”
● How are they related? “in the book,
Charles Wallace is the biological son of
Murrys, while in … the film, we learn
Charles Wallace is adopted.”
● Where do they live? What is their
context? “cast the Murrys not as a white
family in Connecticut… but as a
multi-racial family living in California”
● What gender? What relationships? “In the
book, the Happy Medium is a jolly woman.
The film swapped the character's gender &
… there's some playful romantic tension …
which is also new.”

27. Elements
Essence
Action

28. Elements

29. Story Elements & Choices: Hook, Line, Sinker
● Beginning
○ Hook
○ first
● Middle
○ Line
○ Attempts / main events
○ Next
● End
○ Sinker
○ Then
● Postscript
○ Resolution
○ Last
Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/437038713/in/album-72157594360457977/

30. Story Elements & Choices: Three-Act Structure
Act I - Setup: Exposition,
Inciting Incident, Plot Point
One
Act II - Confrontation:
Rising Action, Midpoint, Plot
Point Two
Act III - Resolution: Pre
Climax, Climax, Denouement
IMAGE SOURCE: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tension_of_three_act_structure.png

31. Story Elements & Choices: The 6 Ws
● What
● Why
● Who
● When
● Where
● How
Image Credit:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/4383376875/

32. Story Elements & Choices: Hero’s Journey (Campbell)
● Ordinary World
● Call to Adventure
● Refusal of the Call
● Meeting the Mentor
● Crossing the Threshold
● Tests, Allies, Enemies
● Approach to the Innermost
Cave
● Ordeal
● Reward (Seizing the Sword)
● The Road Back
● Resurrection
IMAGE SOURCE:
https://www.yourheroicjourney.com/rethinking-campbell-whe
n-stages-are-not-stages/

33. Story Elements & Choices:
Story Circle (Vogler)
● A character is in a zone
of comfort,
● But they want something.
● They enter an unfamiliar
situation,
● Adapt to it,
● Get what they wanted,
● Pay a heavy price for it,
● Then return to their
familiar situation,
● Having changed.
IMAGE SOURCE:
http://www.tlu.ee/~rajaleid/montaazh/
Hero%27s%20Journey%20Arch.pdf

34. Story Elements & Choices: Seven-Point Story Structure (Wells
via Star Trek RPG)
● The Hook
● Plot Point 1
● Pinch Point 1
● Midpoint
● Pinch Point 2
● Plot Point 2
● Resolution
IMAGE SOURCES: Dan Wells on Story Structure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmiqQ9NpPE&list=PLC430F6A783A88697

35. Story Elements & Choices:
Story Mapping
● Characters
○ main characters
○ supporting characters)
● Setting
● Problem
● Solution
IMAGE SOURCE: Story Map 2: https://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/storymap2_eng.pdf

36. Essence

37. Take-away (Moral of the Story)
If your story could change
something or someone, what
would you want that to be?
IMAGE SOURCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop%27s_Fables#/media/File:Crane_title.jpg

38. Focusing
Find the constraints that
help you tell your story.
Twist it. Turn it. Shorten
it. Make a haiku or sonnet.
Whatever works for you.
Example:
Walking the Dog Sonnet:
<https://rosefirerising.wordpress.com/2018/04/26/
walking-the-dog-sonnet/>

39. 6 Word Stories
http://www.sixwordstories.net

40. 6 Word Stories
Examples:
“No, you can’t ride the
shark.”
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/348175359/in/album-72157594360457977/

41. 6 Word Stories
Examples:
“Coming here: blood in the
streets.”
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/263011239/in/album-72157594360457977/

42. 6 Word Stories
Examples:
“The Blues have many rooms.
Now hiring.”
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/443251215/in/album-72157594360457977/

43. 6 Word Memoirs
https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com

44. 6 Word Memoirs
https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/3326633071

45. 6 Word Memoirs
https://www.sixwordmemoirs.c
om
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/288600874/in/album-72157594360457977/

46. 6 Word Memoirs
https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com
IMAGE SOURCE:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/2533932979/i
n/photolist-4RV4ZD

47. 1-2 Words:
Breathe. Stop.
IMAGE SOURCES:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/263026052/ |
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69145729@N00/8098696
314/

48. 1-2 Words: Welcome, Closed
IMAGE SOURCES: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/36097460264/ | https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/433491027/in/album-72157594360457977/

49. 1-2 Words:
Create
IMAGE SOURCE:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/35610
9855/

50. Action

51. Story Setting (Where: 2 minutes)

52. Story Setting (Where: 2 minutes)
What are the locations where the story happens?
● Does the story move from place to place?
● How many different places?
● Are there locations that are clearly essential to the
story?
● Can you combine some of the places into a single
location? (Ie. coffee shop and restaurant and friend’s house could
become one place where you talk to friends.)
● What are the main locations?
○ Clinic, home, job, …
○ Can you simplify these? For home, what is more important — the
kitchen, living room, bedroom …

53. Story Setting (When: 2 minutes)

54. Story Setting (When: 2 minutes)
How long does your story take? Minutes, hours, days, weeks,
months, years, generations?
● What are the most important events in the story? Do they
happen around the same time, or are they spread out over a
span of time? Is there one event that stands out as most
important?
● Does the story make more sense sequentially, or does it
feel like it needs to bounce from one pivot event to
another?
● Can you compress some of the events into a single point in
time? (Ie. many emails written to friends over a few weeks could become
one email or conversation with one friend.)

55. Story Characters (5 minutes)

56. Story Characters (5 minutes)
Who are the people in the story?
● Does the story move from place to place?
● How many different places?
● Are there locations that are clearly essential to the
story?
● Can you combine some of the places into a single
location? (Ie. coffee shop and restaurant and friend’s house could
become one place where you talk to friends.)
● What are the main locations?
○ Clinic, home, job, …
○ Can you simplify these? For home, what is more important — the
kitchen, living room, bedroom …

57. Your thoughts?

58. Resources
Story Map 2: https://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/storymap2_eng.pdf
Other graphic organizers:
http://www.shbooval.qld.edu.au/learning/Documents/Reading%20graphic%20organisers.pdf
Reedsy:
● Story Structure: Three Models for Your Book https://blog.reedsy.com/story-structure/
● The Dan Harmon Story Circle: What Authors Can Learn from Rick and Morty
https://blog.reedsy.com/dan-harmon-story-circle/
● How to Write a Novel Using The Three Act Structure
https://blog.reedsy.com/three-act-structure/
Dan Wells. Story Structure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmiqQ9NpPE&list=PLC430F6A783A88697
McCloud, Scott. Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels.

59. Editing scene by scene:
It’s all in the details!
Melissa Cunningham

60. Breaking through!
Stories are a series of scenes strung together like beads on a wire,
with narrative summary adding texture and color between.
Beginning a story is more like a launch. What is going to launch
those who listen to your story into the scene. - Writer’s Digest
Image by Randy Merrill, Rocket Launch Sequence

61. Turning images into scenes

62. Bird by Bird
“Thirty years ago my brother, ten years old at the time, was trying
to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write.
It was due the next day. He was at the kitchen table close to tears,
surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on
birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task. My father sat beside
him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by
bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'”
- Anne Lamott

63. Health Story Collaborative
Living with cancer
By Marie Pechet
STORY: Health Story Collaborative
AUDIO: Sound Cloud
IMAGE SOURCE: Common Health Site

64. What images did Marie start with?
What other images did she turn into scenes?
From those images, what sensory details do you remember?
What points of dialogue did Marie include?
Any anecdotes?

65. Spice it up with some senses
What did you:
Hear?
See?
Feel?
Smell?
Taste?
IMAGE SOURCE: Cheezburger.com

66. We are complex beings.
Every day, we contend with internal,
external, relationship, and spiritual conflicts.
Layer facts with how you felt.
“It’s really not what transpired that makes a good
story,” says Margot Leitman. “It’s about how you felt
about what transpired.”
- Margot Leitman, Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide You’ll Ever Need
IMAGE SOURCE: Pixabay.com

67. Details are the difference between good stuff and
great stuff — Stephen Brewster.
IMAGE SOURCE: Dennis Gingerich Posts

68. Details in their various forms
Concrete details:
A. The bull ran toward me.
B. The angry black bull charged me.
S ( ):
A. My car is red.
B. I drive a candy-apple red car.
Adding details through dialogue:
A. He didn’t think he was going to make it.
B. He said, “I don’t think I am going to make it, man.”

69. Emotive Writing – What Stories Give You the “Feels”?
John Steinbeck: Grapes of
Wrath (book cover)

70. BEST story ending ever!
For a minute Rose of Sharon sat still in the whispering barn. Then she hoisted
her tired body up and drew the comforter around her. She moved slowly to the
corner and stood looking down at the wasted face, into the wide, frightened
eyes. Then slowly she lay down beside him. He shook his head slowly from side
to side. Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast.
“You got to,” she said. She squirmed closer and pulled his head close. “There!”
she said. “There.” Her hand moved behind his head and supported it. Her
fingers moved gently in his hair. She looked up and across the barn, and her
lips came together and smiled mysteriously.

71. Remember Oral Storytelling is:
Not just oral.
Not a pitch, comedy special or rant.
Timing, pauses, and sometimes even silence.
About tone.
Memorized (write notes & then lose the notes).
Takes Practice.

72. IMAGE SOURCE: celebquote.com

73. Thank You
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/443240885