Tim_11_I

I am posting this early since I have to get the book back to Brian.
I had to borrow The Story Factor in order to read the last chapter. (The edition that I have only has 10 chapters.) Thanks Brian!
In chapter 11 Simmons kind of pulls back the curtain and reveals what she has learned since the original book was published. She has learned how the book has been received through her lectures and presentations. She also lets the reader know they’ve been had. You can’t categorize all stories into just 6 types.
But the more important lesson I learned was that you can’t begin with the results you are looking for and then craft a story. You need to work backwards. Find a story you want to tell and then craft the lesson out of it. It was interesting that Simmons says if you can’t find a story that suits your purpose, maybe your desired outcome needs to be changed. It might be time to re-examin the purpose.
I also noticed that the language seemed to change in this last chapter. She is no longer writing in conversational style or almost colloquial terms, but instead takes a more analytical tone to her words. It’s as if she suddenly turned academic and after putting out the book she needs to prove that she is the expert.
The best illustration of this is a sentence I had to read about three times to understand, “Practice trusting retrospective coherence curbs the urge to cling to limiting recipes of false clarity.”
It may be the author is talking in the tongues of the storytelling religion. But I found it to be out of character related to the rest of the book.
I also think she is trying to justify her writing by trying to tie it all together. I don’t think it necessarily works, but I see what she is trying to do.
I guess the best validation though is that our program is included in the reference section in the back of the book. I wonder if any student would admit they learned of our program from reading this?