Narrative Structure in Storytelling

Narrative Structure in Storytelling is an immersive five weeks in the art of crafting stories for different media. Students will deconstruct, analyze, tear apart and re-shape stories in an effort to understand how good stories come to be.

Each week the course will focus on a different medium, from narrative writing, to documentary film, to podcasts, to advertising messages and more, and identify the core components of storytelling and how that medium uses them well (think characters, leads, arc, plot, audio, etc.). Students will look at what all stories have in common as well as how mediums differ along with core tenets and when to break the rules.

By the end of the five weeks, students should have a strong understanding of how to take a large body of information, organize it and then create meaningful, gripping narratives across mediums. Guest speakers may include NPR reporters, documentary filmmakers, digital editors, advertising creatives and long-form writers. Assignments include heavy reading, watching and listening to the year’s best works, weekly story analyses, writing short narratives and possibly editing and reimagining stories across mediums.