Seven essential parts of an effective narrative

Seven easy Pieces of a tidy story line
Joseph Siry after George Lakoff

Seven essential parts to an effective narrative.

• Preconditions – what we need to know.

• The buildup – events leading up to the point.

• The main event – what the narrative is about.

• The purpose – what is achieved or its meaning.

• The wind-down – events that end the process.

• The result – the final context of the events (embedding).

• The later consequences – an eventual aftermath.

George Lakoff

"Temporal structure of the narrative"

The Political Mind, 2009.

All references:

Edward R. Murrow, Harvest of Shame

Bullard, environmental justice, ethnicity and race

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