Class 13 and 14 (April 7 and 9) - Stories and Persuasion

Welcome

Hello everyone. I hope you’re all doing okay. It’s going to be a little bit of a strange week, as for many of you, you are still dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake. So this week’s class is going to be a combination of asynchronous and synchronous.

For this week, all tasks, and all attendance, are all entirely optional. But I thought it might be good to provide you with at least some content, some new ideas, and some things to think about if you would like to explore the topic of storytelling and persuasion a little bit more deeply. Again, I cannot stress enough that there is no obligation at all to attend this week’s classes, or to complete any of the tasks I’m going to adjust. If you would like to say hello, and your Internet is working, I will be in class during class time, and I will be delighted to see you. If you want to work quietly on your own, you can also do that. Or if you have other things that are more important, then please focus on those.

So nothing this week will affect your attendance, your grades, or anything else. But I’m here should you need me.

Suggested task 1: watch the welcome video

I’ve shared a video on Google (details in the email I’ve sent out). Watch if you like for a bit of background.

Suggested task 2: thinking about storytelling and persuasion

Think about your responses to Silent Spring. How did reading it make you feel? (If you have read it… if not, then have a read it you like! The link is here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/06/16/silent-spring-part-1) Did it change your mind or your perspective at all?

Now read Rob Jordan’s piece on Climate Storytelling here: https://sustainability.stanford.edu/news/stranger-fiction-climate-storytelling

Think about Jordan’s argument:

1. What is cli-fi?
2. Have you read any cli-fi, or any other fiction that has changed your view about important issues?
3. What can you find out about contemporary cli-fi?
4. What evidence can you find that storytelling can change our views?

For supplementary reading, you can also try this: https://www.anthroposphere.co.uk/post/lessons-from-silent-spring

Writing Cli-Fi (or other fiction to change the world!)

One way to explore this is to try writing something. Think about an issue you care about. What is this issue? How could you write a fictional story that nevertheless changed people’s views about this? Are there things that storytelling can do to bring about change that other things (for example, academic argument) can’t?

Try to write a fictional story of no more than 1000 words exploring an issue that matters to you. Think about the tricks, literary devices and forms of rhetoric you can use to really persuade your readers that this issue matters. But also think about making it a good story — readers want to be moved, but they don’t want to be lectured to! :D

In the sessions on Monday and Wednesday, if we like, we can spend time writing and sharing stories! But — once again — none of this is obligatory!

All the best,

Will