To make a point, tell a story
Last night, I was chatting with my friends Kip and Bob, and the topic veered to the weather. Specifically, to the temperature.
We’re in the middle of a “wind chill warning” (that’s what the National Weather Service calls it) because of sub-zero temperatures coupled with high winds.
I mentioned that I thought the sub-zero conditions wouldn’t actually be all that bad if it weren’t for the wind. “One year, when I was in college, my brother and I went to Colorado during Christmas break” I said. “We ended up staying at a place high in the Rockies, at almost, but not quite, Pike’s Peak altitude. And it was cold—well below zero a lot of the time, but it wasn’t windy, and the air was dry. You obviously didn’t want to just stand around outside, but it wasn’t all that bad when we were outside.”
Kip (who happens to be the meteorologist for one of the local television stations) agreed, and said “Yeah, one time I was ice fishing on Lake of the Woods, and it got down to -30 during the night.” (He was staying in an ice house, in case you’re wondering.)
“My pickup wouldn’t start in the morning, because it was just too darn cold, but there wasn’t any wind. It was dead still. So there I was, trying to fix my pickup, not wearing a coat, but just an insulated flannel shirt, and it didn’t feel all that bad.”
Bob then chimed in with his story. “The coldest I have ever been in my life was when I was in Washington, D.C. in December. It wasn’t that cold, but it rained every day, and the cold just cuts to the bone when you’re damp.”
Nobody talked about the physics of what happens when you combine cold with wind, or with humidity. We didn’t need to. We told our stories, and we understood each other. (Yeah, I’m using a story about some guys telling stories to illustrate the utility and power of stories. A meta-story, if you will.)
Notice that these stories weren’t deep, dramatic, or drawn out. A story doesn’t need to be a big thing, scripted by a Pulitzer Prize winner.
We use stories all the time in our conversations with each other. Why not add them to your writing?
Roy Jacobsen
in Growing as a writer
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