Stuck with creating your story? Try ABT Template!
We, humans, have natural instinct of telling stories. Science communication of the research studies through stories should be made in a way that could be understood in one reading and without putting a lot of scientific words in it. Keeping it simple is the key. But do you think you can ace the narration skill in one go? Ummm.. Not always! Because it requires a lot of creativity, art and expertise to become a good storyteller especially when you are communicating a complex piece of information. It’s basically a trial and error process with a better practice.
So, what is the quick fix to declutter your brain and getting started to write your story? There comes the significance of ABT which means And, But, Therefore. It was introduced by Randy Olsen in his book TEDMED talk. It helps in not only communicating your stories but also your ideas to the audience in a very effective way. So what is ABT all about? ABT narrative is basically the idea of shrinking a narrative thread down to a single sentence using three connector words: And, But, Therefore. It is the core of storytelling, logic, reason, argument and the scientific method. They mean the following:
- And is an agreement (Set up),
- But is a contradiction (Problem) and
- Therefore is the consequence (Solution and action).
A good narrative form will have the optimal amount of narrative content especially ABT template and a bad narrative form will have too many And And And or But But But in it. All and all we can say that the ABT narrative template is for those who are just beginning to write their stories. It may become your first step to declutter too much information and helps them to concise the information as well as communicate what really wants to be communicated to the audience. So next time you are stuck to start your story? Try the ABT narrative template.
