Glossary
What does “narrative” actually mean?
Most people use “narrative” and “story” interchangeably — everyone knows what a story is, and many people use “narrative” to describe a story.
However, on this website the process of creating a story is distinct from the end result of the story itself — whether it’s a story in a book or in your mind. “Narrative” describes the entire practice and use of mental simulation, and “story” describes the end product. Learn more about terminology on The Narrative Home.
Today, terminology relating to narrative is used differently by different groups, whether they are concerned simply with the text, whether they are concerned with both the text and its production, or whether they are concerned with the text, its production and its use and impact in the real world.
No Lip Service is concerned with the text, its production, and its use and impact in the real world — and needs language that distinguishes between all narrative processes and products involved in the complete lifecycle of a story. Stories About What We Do begin in your mind — you have to think it before you write it — and end in the mind of your audience; this glossary includes words and definitions that make it possible to describe and differentiate each step along the way. Other organizations may use different definitions.
Narrative is a process where information is organized to be more useful.
A story is the product of narrative: information organized into a more useful format.
The narrator is the person driving the narrative process.
Glossary
Borrowing from Mieke Bal: these definitions “are meant not to hold the truth of their object but rather to make it accessible, and discussable.”
Communication
Embodied simulation
Ethical storytelling
Narrative affect
Narrative effect
Narrative text
Narrator
Performance
Organizational communications
Simulation learning
Narrative
Story
Story-model
Strategic storytelling
Text
The act of sending information.
Impact storytelling
Mental simulation
Narration
The act of narrative; the act of organizing information to be more useful. The product of narration is a story. (You could think of information without information as “raw data”).
A process where information is organized to be more useful.
Narrative is a biological process: it happens in your brain and is also called “narrative cognition”. Narrative is how we cope with the amounts of information we receive about the world; it’s often referred to as how we “make sense” of the world. Narrative is not learned, it is a natural skill.
The product of narrative is a story, which can exist solely in the mind or can be represented through storytelling. The representation is often called a “narrative text” or story; sometimes a narrative text is simply referred to as a “narrative” which causes confusion between the text and the process to arrive at the text.
A story is the product of narrative: information organized in such a way that it is more useful. Stories are communicated with a text — such as a book, movie or play — and are also known as a “narrative text”.
Storytelling to achieve an objective, such as shift public opinion or motivate action. Strategic storytelling is a common communications practice in organizations.
Something that holds information. A text can be a book, a podcast episode, a poem.
Impact storytelling is the communications practice of telling stories about real people — narrated by an organization — that describe the human impact of that organization’s work, for the benefit of that organization. Impact stories are typically told by nonprofit, NGO or social change organizations as part of their fundraising, marketing and publicity efforts.
Ethical storytelling is the effort to reduce harm that could be caused by telling impact stories.
The action of simulating events in your mind. Essentially, it’s the same process in your brain as when you imagine something, but “imagine” usually means to simulate something without any stimulus (e.g. without seeing or hearing anything) whereas simulation is always happening with or without stimulus.
You know that feeling when you’re “in a book” and you feel what’s happening as though it’s happening to you? That’s “embodied simulation”: you are simulating the events of the story in your own mind, and your body is responding as though they are happening to you.
Ethical storytelling is a practice within impact storytelling that adheres to policies and practices designed to prevent harm caused by the impact of the story collection or telling (publication) processes.
There are no formal industry standards yet, however there are common practices. Learn more at Tell Ethical Stories.
Organizational communications that includes storytelling.
The emotional impact of a story on the audience, such as catharsis or fear. (Different to “narrative effect”.)
A change observed in the audience in response to a story. For example, changing an opinion or participating in a collaborative effort.
A text produced to represent the product of narration. (A text that contains information, that has been organized to be more useful.) Also commonly referred to as a “story”.
The person — or entity — driving the narrative process. In organizational storytelling, the narrator is the organization (the narrative process is performed by people working for the organization).
The work of shifting public opinion on a social issue. Narrative change is typically part of a social change strategy, and is primarily the work of communications and public relations.
An area of organizational communications that produces stories about people, narrated and published by the organization, in service to the organization. All organizational storytelling is both “strategic storytelling” and “instrumentalized storytelling”.
Organizational storytelling presents unique ethical concerns as a real person’s story is narrated by an organization that also benefits from telling their story.
An action before an audience, with the objective of meeting audience expectations.
Communications produced and distributed on behalf of an organization and its spokespeople. Also “corporate communications” or “comms” familiarly.
Simulation learning is a natural method of human learning, by imagining an action and its most probable outcome. Simulation learning is a natural skill, it is not taught.