Preparing for my second to the last writing class of the summer, I came across another term I hadn’t heard of before, but that totally makes sense. Narrative transportation theory suggests that the more immersed a reader or viewer becomes in a story, the more empathic and receptive they become to its point of view.
Our bodies and brains naturally limit the amount of attention we pay to things, because the more attention we pay to something, the higher the metabolic cost is. But the longer we pay attention, the more our breathing, heart rates, and hormone levels rise. In short, the longer and more attention we pay to a story, the stronger the emotions we feel and the more we care.
And what is the best way to capture and hold a reader’s or viewer’s attention? By creating and increasing tension. It’s an escalating circle. The stronger the tension, the longer the reader reads. The longer the reader reads, the more they connect with and care about the story. The more they care about the story, the stronger the emotions they feel. And the stronger their emotions, the longer they . . . You get the idea.
What does this mean for an author? Figure out what your reader wants to happen, what they are afraid of happening. Then use those expectations to create tension by building up to the ultimate resolution. Clearly you can’t build the tension constantly or you will burn the reader out. But by adding multiple storylines you can relieve the tension on smaller storylines as a payoff to the reader, while still keeping them hooked on the big ones until the end.
As a side note, if you want to convince someone of your point of view, posting facts or articles that support your side, arguing, insulting, or disparaging the other person’s point of view are less effective in winning them over than sharing stories that can they can connect emotionally with.
Here are a few links for further reading.
Wikipedia: Transportation Theory
How Stories Change the Brain by Paul J Zak
Narrative Transportation: What It Is and Why Every Storyteller Needs to Know It
by Patrick Moreau
2 Comments
Nice post. Dave Farland teaches a little about how you can use neurolinguistic programming to accomplish this with the K-A-V cycle. I’m not good at it yet, but I’m working on it.
Interesting research and theory. The trick, of course, is applying it well in actual stories. Looking forward to learning more about it in class.