Worksheet: Crafting Your Story

Objectives:

Create the building blocks of your story
Analyze the opposition’s story
Understand how your story mirrors the opposition </aside>

Time Required: 30 minutes

Resources Needed: Pen and paper

Audience Setting: Individual, Organization, or Coalition

Step 1: Take a moment to reflect on a challenge you faced, as an individual, an organization, or even as a community.

What was the challenge? Example: A local apartment building was not meeting building standards, leaving residents in sub-standard living conditions. This caused health issues and stress for residents.

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Now imagine you are telling this story as an epic adventure. Who is the hero? You? An organization? A loved one? Example: The residents of the apartment building

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What are the hero’s values? Example: housing as a human right, dignity, community, collective action

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In the grand scheme of the story, name the systemic root that caused the challenge as a villain. Who is the villain? Example: A greedy landlord who refused to make necessary repairs to the building.

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What choice or action did the hero take? Example: The residents went on a rent strike until their demands were met. They went to the press and eventually caught the attention of a city council member.

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What was the outcome? What is the moral of the story? Example: Between the lost rent profits and the city council member’s political pressure, the landlord was forced to make building repairs, restoring dignity to the community that lived there.

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Step 2: Tie all the story components together!

EXAMPLE: The living conditions at a local apartment building were substandard and unsanitary due to a greedy landlord refusing to make necessary repairs. This resulted in several residents experiencing poor health and suffering. The residents banded together and refused to pay rent until repairs were made. They contacted the press and gained the attention of their city council member. She applied political pressure. The public pressure and lost profits forced the landlord to cave and make the necessary repairs, restoring dignity for the residents and through collective action, ensuring that there were humane and sanitary living conditions for all of the residents.

Your turn!

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The villains of your story are the heroes of their own stories. Think about who holds power. What is their narrative? How are you being villainized in their stories? And how does your truth challenge theirs?

Step 3: Do the same exercise as above, but from your villain’s perspective.

What was the challenge? Example: Tenants of an apartment building made outrageous demands of a landlord, which would have cut into his profits on the building.

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Now imagine you are telling this story as an epic adventure. Who is the hero? You? An organization? Example: The landlord

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What are the hero’s values? Example: Profits

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In the grand scheme of the story, name the systemic root that caused the challenge as a villain. Who is the villain? Example: Greedy tenants who were not grateful for the housing that was provided for them.

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