What is a story?

Several millennia ago, when the ancient Greeks began to think seriously about matters that they thought they knew and understood, they discovered to their surprise that they did not in fact understand some of the seemingly simplest and most obvious things. Probing the apparently obvious can be an enlightening and sometimes disturbing experience. Socrates made an immortal reputation by puncturing the balloons of complacency of his fellow-citizens and they rewarded him by having him sentenced to death.

One of the apparently obvious things that even in modern times is not so straightforward as it looks at first sight is a story. We all know, or think we know what a story is but when we try to define it, or explain it, then we find our assumptions about it can splinter into a multiplicity of possible meanings.

A start on this journey is to explore definitions of story and narrative

We can also explore different types of story

We can also discover what is a springboard story?

We can also realize that storytelling is not the be-all and end-all of communciation: beyond storytelling lies narrative intelligence.