The Narrative Home began as a fun side project: creating a single digital home for the conferences, publications, organizations and resources at the intersection of narrative study and communications practice. But, it’s become something more.

I began studying narrative — along with so many of my peers — in response to the rise of storytelling in communications practice over the last 20 years. Communications practitioners found themselves suddenly expected to produce stories in response to changes in the media — not because stories are a better way to communicate, but because they are a better way to gain an audience’s attention. Today, storytelling is firmly situated within communications practice — for better or worse — but it has taken place before practitioners have developed research-based practice standards and guidelines.

The field of narrative study is rich with knowledge that can benefit communications practice — but the worlds of study and production rarely meet. Part of the reason is that — when it comes to “narrative” — scholars and communications practitioners are usually talking about different things. This is evident when looking for definitions of “narrative” and “story” — the words are used differently in narrative study and communications practice. It’s even more evident in ethical discussions; “ethical storytelling” means different things to scholars and practitioners.

And so here we are — scholars and producers — on either side of the narrative text.

Mieke Bal’s Introduction to Narratology began with a statement of intention that I’m borrowing for The Narrative Home: this website is meant not to hold the truth of the narrative ecosystem of the storytelling boom, but rather to make it accessible and discussable — particularly between those who produce narrative texts in the storytelling boom, and those who study them.

I hope this to be a helpful resource, not only as an aggregation of content and links, but also as a way to discover and access work that shares your interests — but on the other side of the narrative text to where you sit — in the hope of making discussions easier.

Fiona Ramsey
No Lip Service