The Power of Narrative 2020

One of the recurring choices we make as storytellers -- in podcasting as much as in any other medium -- is how much knowledge to assume on the part of the people consuming our work. These choices are essential to achieving two related goals: making sure you're telling your audience a story they can understand, and making sure you're telling them a story that will surprise them. The challenge, of course, is that if you're lucky, your audience will be made up of all kinds of people, and they'll be bringing a range of expertise to whatever you're putting in front of them. In this talk, I'll describe my approach to meeting this challenge, using examples from Slow Burn and Fiasco that illustrate the delicate work of providing enough context -- but not too much -- while building a narrative that is flexible enough to welcome experts and total neophytes without alienating either.