Gamestorming Workshop: The Uses of Story - DRS Chicago, June 2015

THE USES OF STORY

TWO POSSIBLY SURPRISING EXAMPLES

MARRIAGE

MEDICINE

THE ART OF LYING

T. C. Boyle

Q: Have you ever told a lie that gets as big and as potentially disastrous as the one Lonnie tells in the book? !

A: "I make my living telling lies. Everything I do is a lie. It's an artistic lie, a story, an invention. That's how I live. The reason that we make art and love art is because the real world is out of control, utterly random and there's absolutely no purpose to human life. So what we do is we create our own scenario in our own world. When asked this question about why my characters suffer so much, it's because I'm the god of my own world and by god they're going to suffer! That's my pleasure."

––T. C. Boyle

TWO STORIES

MINE“Jimmy and the Vanishing Cream”

YOURS “Strangers on a Plane”

TWO MORE STORIES

MINE“Mark Twain, My Mother Is Eternally Grateful”

YOURS“How I Came Here and Why I Stayed”

9 REASONS WHY WE NEED STORIES

1. WE DELIGHT IN STORIES.

2. STORIES CREATE COMMUNITY.

3. STORIES HELP US SEE THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHER PEOPLE.

4. STORIES HELP US SEE THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR ACTIONS.

5. STORIES EDUCATE OUR DESIRES.

6. STORIES HELP US DWELL IN PLACE.

7. STORIES HELP US DWELL IN TIME.

8. STORIES HELP US DEAL WITH SUFFERING LOSS AND DEATH.

9. STORIES TEACH US HOW TO BE HUMAN.

LASTLY, HOW TO MAKE SHAPELY STORIES

STORY VERSUS PLOT

CAUSE AND EFFECT

HOW AND WHY

STORIES ARE INEVITABLE IN RETROSPECT

INFORMATION

DATA

TRUTH

INSIGHT

"Movies are real life with the boring parts cut out."

––Alfred Hitchcock

THE END