Story in Storytelling

Over the past decades, the study of storytelling has garnered increased attention from both communication practitioners and researchers. The application of storytelling across various domains continues to expand, as evidenced by the growing volume of scholarly articles and publications on this communication phenomenon. This work provides a comprehensive examination of the concept of story within storytelling, presenting for the first time an integrated analysis. Based on an analysis of diverse definitions from practitioners and scholars, a general definition is proposed: “a story is an emotionally charged compilation of facts that hold specific value for the audience.” The author explores the potential of stories to influence audiences, emphasizing their capacity to inform, educate, unite, persuade, engage, entertain, inspire, and motivate. The paper categorizes stories according to their documentary and hyperbolic nature, their communicative context (socio-cultural, business, family, friendly, personal), demonstration methods (verbal, non-verbal, creolized; analog and digital), and the platforms used (cross-media and trans-media). A review of classical and contemporary approaches, models, and techniques for story creation is provided, alongside various requirements and principles for producing high-quality stories. The paper also investigates aspects of evaluating storytelling effectiveness, highlighting additional factors such as context and narrator actions that influence communication quality. Finally, common errors in story creation are identified and discussed.

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