Hello friends,

Once again, I’m sitting in my backyard on a beautiful fall day, trying to figure out how I can inspire you to keep fighting the good fight in this crazy little storytelling world of ours.

The truth is, I don’t remember a time when the people around me have been so very tired.

Like, tired to their core. Tired to the very essence of their beings.

Existentially tired.

I was on a call with a group of friends recently and many of them have been struggling with how to make a living in podcasting. They’ve got tons of knowledge. Loads of experience. But they’re just finding it harder and harder to earn actual money doing what they love.

And look, I am a glass-all-the-way-full kind of person, but I have to admit that I was struggling with what to say to them. 

Then, a few days later, I was teaching a storytelling workshop to a group of activists in Latin America. One of them described how hard it was to wake up every day and face the criticisms that were lobbed at indigenous women in her community. She wasn’t just fighting for a cause. She was fighting against misogyny and racism. And she felt like she was fighting this fight all alone.

She was exhausted. She simply had nothing left.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

But it was my job to find the words that would give this woman the motivation she needed to keep telling her story. Keep fighting her fight. Despite – or maybe because of – all the things the community around her was saying.

After that call, I realized that the words I said to her were very similar to the words I was saying to the people of my own community. People who felt discouraged by … everything.

The lack of jobs. The lack of opportunities. The forces that say that responsible, fact-based journalism is somehow a scam. Something not to be trusted.

Believe me. I get it. Yes, I am an optimist. But even I can recognize when things are bleak.

But I keep going back to a cheesy line I wrote for my LinkedIn profile, back when the world felt a little less fraught. And I still know that line to be true, despite its inherent cheesiness.

And the line is simply this:

I believe in the power of a well-told story to change the world.

So, yeah, I’m gonna take a break today from talking about HOW I make stories, and instead I’m going to try to answer the WHY of it all.

Reason #1: To Transport

Okay, so fun fact about me. When I was five, my family moved to the mojave desert in southern California. As an adult, I love visiting them there. It’s the most beautiful, most peaceful place I’ve ever known.

But when I was a kid, I was not a fan. There was nothing to do. The desert was dusty and dirty. And I didn’t have any interest in going outside, where all the snakes and scorpions and cacti were waiting to get me.

To make matters worse, when we arrived in our new home, we no longer owned a TV.

Many years later, when my parents finally purchased a replacement TV, we still lived in the middle of nowhere. The TV reception was half snow, at best. And the neighborhood I grew up in is still too remote to have cable.

So I became a reader. Like an obsessively, voracious reader. 

I loved the feeling of opening up a book and putting the troubles of my everyday life behind me. I forgot about the dust, the dirt, the snakes, the scorpions and the cacti. 

I was transported to a faraway world. A world with problems, to be sure. A book is going to be mighty boring if the main character doesn’t have any problems.

But those problems weren’t MY problems. And getting away from my problems for a while was glorious.

Science tells us that there’s this thing that happens when we see or hear stories. I’m guessing it happens when we read them, too – though I’m not a neuroscientist, so don’t quote me on that.

But people who ARE neuroscientists call this thing “neural coupling.” And in a nutshell, it means that the ACTUAL BRAIN WAVES of the person listening to a story start to mirror the brain waves of the person telling the story. 

W.T.F.?

The science people seem to be having a bit of a debate about what this actually means, but I’m guessing that we’ve all felt it? Or, at least … I know I have! 

It’s that feeling that happens when you’re listening to a story and you forget to worry about what you’re making for dinner tonight, or that pile of clothes sitting in the hamper, or your latest deadline at work. 

Instead, you’re just IN it. Feeling the feelings. Totally caught up in what’s going to happen next.

I still love that feeling. And now…I get to create that feeling for others. I get to craft stories that transport them out of their lives and into another life entirely. 

I get to build scenes that immerse the listener into the moment. I get to choose music and sound design to support that scene. And sometimes, when I really do my job well, I even manage to transport myself. 

Seriously, there’s nothing better than listening to a story you’ve been working on for months, only to discover that you’re no longer questioning whether this edit works or that music is the right choice. Instead, you’re just listening, wholly captured by the moment.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

Reason #2: To Educate

I’ve always said that if I didn’t become a journalist, I would have become a teacher.

When you think about it, journalists have a lot in common with teachers. We learn something and then distill it down to the core truths that our audience needs to know. To understand. To be informed.

I love learning new things. I’m really curious about the world and how it works. And there’s always a new layer to uncover. So yeah, I tell stories because it gives me a chance to learn things I might not have otherwise known. And it gives me a chance to scratch that educator itch. 

It’s a win-win!

Reason #3: To Inspire

So I’m gonna tell you about the one time something I worked on went viral – in a good way.

(Yes, there was that time when the current U.S. President’s son tweeted that a story I helped edit was “fake news.” But I was blissfully out of the country at that moment, so I missed it.)

This is when I was at NPR’s Only A Game. And one Friday – our busiest day – one of our former producers came over with a pitch. 

He told us about his friend, a reporter who had recently lost her father to cancer. For years before he died, her father had been telling her about his friendship with a Hall of Fame basketball player named Charles Barkley (IYKYK). And this woman hadn’t really understood the depths of her dad’s unlikely friendship until Sir Charles – as my husband likes to call him – showed up to her father’s funeral. 

The producer hadn’t even gotten halfway through the pitch when we were, like, yes…100% yes. The fact that it was a Friday and we were very busy might have had something to do with our quick response. But also…this was a great story. We felt it in our bones.

A few months later, the story was finally finished. In many places, the show aired at 7am on Saturday mornings. But we would put the show to bed, update the website and send out the podcast on Friday nights. And then we’d generally sleep through the actual airing.

That next morning, I woke up early and checked Twitter. Back then, that was kinda my routine. Wake up, make sure the President’s son hasn’t called us “fake news” again, and then go back to sleep.

But this particular morning, I opened my Twitter app and started scrolling. Re-tweet after re-tweet after re-tweet. Some of the names I recognized. Comedian Seth Myers. Actress Alyssa Milano. Broadcaster Soledad O’Brien. When my husband woke up a couple hours later, I was still scrolling.

That weekend, our story was the most re-tweeted story by members of Congress. Both sides of the aisle. In agreement that this friendship was something worth celebrating.

Can you imagine that?

Anyway, all of this is to say that stories have an incredible ability to inspire us. To uplift us. To move us. To unite us.

In times like these, we could all use more of that, no?

Reason #4: To Change Minds

Okay, now this is the big one. This is the reason why I do what I do. Even when it’s hard. Even when gigs are difficult to come by and I’m wondering how I’m going to pay my bills.

Stories have been scientifically proven to change people’s minds.

For realz.

Okay, I’m not going to cite actual studies. Because, well, I’m no longer sitting in the backyard, watching the world go by. Instead, it's been a week or two and I’m sitting at my desk -- desperately trying to finish this newsletter on a Friday afternoon. 

And, let's be honest, I have better places to be tonight. 

But there are a few different scientific studies that speak to this. Google it. You’ll see…

The one that I’m most familiar with concerns election canvassers. You know, those people who come knocking on your door and try to get you to change your vote? 

So this study followed two groups of canvassers. The first group knocked on people’s doors and talked about the issues. Showed them facts and figures. Briefed them on the candidate’s positions. Told them why they should vote a certain way.

The other group skipped all of that. They knocked on people’s doors and said, “I’ve been personally affected by this issue, and I’d like to share my story.”

Group 2 was much more successful. Shockingly successful. It actually worked!

Facts and figures are a great way to speak to the people who already agree with you. Data makes them feel validated. Makes them feel like they’ve chosen the right side.

But facts and figures don’t actually change people’s minds. They feel too easy to cherry pick. Too easy to manipulate. 

But stories…stories can actually change people’s opinions.

So…think about everything we’ve said a well-told story can do. 

It can transport. And that neural coupling doesn’t just make the listener feel connected to the story. It makes them feel like they’re part of it. Like it matters to them.

It can educate. It’s the ultimate “show, don’t tell.” So the person being educated doesn’t feel like they’re being yelled at or subjected to a lecture. They feel like they’re going along for the ride.

It can inspire. And when people hear an inspiring story, they want to share it with other people. It spreads. It grows.

And it can change minds. It can actually get people to re-think their position on something and see it from someone else’s point of view.

And if you can change minds, you can change the world.

So, my friends, keep fighting the good fight, in all its forms. If journalism is no longer your thing, that’s fine! No judgments here. But there are lots of ways to tell stories, and lots of venues to tell them in.

I’ve found mine. I hope you’ve found yours.

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Karen