‍

Have you heard people use "story" and "narrative" interchangably? Maybe you've wondered if there's any distinction... or maybe you've assumed they are the same? 

In fact, there's an important difference.

I share this not to be persnickity about words, but because I want you to appreciate how the difference impacts advocacy. Let’s start with a very short version of a story:

“A young girl escapes a war-torn country with nothing but a backpack, and years later, she’s a doctor, helping refugees like herself.”

That's a story. Perhaps you felt something reading it—in only a sentence, maybe your emotions changed slightly? An image of the girl maybe came to mind? Perhaps you thought, "I want to know more about her."

That’s a tiny sample of the magic of story. Humans are the only species to tell stories and thus the only species to be able to connect with a fellow human through words, images, and sounds alone. (Dogs, for example, have no equivalent to The Last of Us or Mission Impossible Final Reckoning.)

But our stories live within a much bigger frame: narrative. Narrative is the larger lens through which we see and interpret stories; narrative is the meaning we make from stories.

What is a Story?

As we cover in Storytelling 101, story is:

• A sequence of events
• Told with a beginning, middle, and end
• Involving a character
• Who faces a challenge...
• and experiences change.

A story is concrete and, told well, relatable. A story invites us into someone else's world.

Told well, stories build empathy.

Told well, stories build trust.

Told well, stories help people see other people not as statistics, but as fellow human beings.

Told well, stories make problems real and, in advocacy, encourage solutions.

What is a Narrative?

In short, narrative is bigger - MUCH bigger. You can think of narrative as the water that story swims in.

If a story is the star, narrative is the constellation.

If a story is a brick, narrative is the house.

If story is the tree, narrative the forest.

Put less tangibly, narrative is the overarching framework that gives stories meaning.

Narrative is a deeper (and often invisible) pattern that helps us understand why something matters, what’s at stake, and what we should believe or do as a result. Where a story might say, “This family has no place to live other than their car,” a narrative says, “Our system is making it next to impossible for many people to find safe, healthy, and affordable housing—and that needs to change.”

Narratives shape our sense of what’s normal, what’s possible, and what’s right.

Why Does This Distinction Matter?

Too often in advocacy, we stop at stories. We gather them, share them, feature them in visits to the Hill, videos made for policymakers to (hopefully) see, and in fundraising emails.

And don't get me wrong, stories are powerful.

But without recognizing our larger narrative, we risk only touching hearts, without changing minds—or laws, policies, and systems.

Even worse, if we aren't careful, individual stories can reinforce harmful narratives. As just one example, stories about “exceptional” people can unintentionally suggest that if someone just tries hard enough, they too can beat the odds. That assumption implies the conditions they are facing and the systems involved aren't the problem.

So if we want real change, we have to recognize the larger narrative context surrounding our stories.

What Does This Look Like in Practice?

Let’s say your organization works on issues of health and environment. You might tell the story of a single father whose daughters have asthma made worse by nearby refineries. Ideally you share this story in a way that the people you need to reach understand the struggles the family is facing, care about them as people, and want to find a solution.

But you don’t stop there. Why? More often than not, the solution lies within the larger narrative.

While possibly invisible to the people you're trying to reach, YOU need to see the larger picture. You need to frame the story within a narrative, whether that's one of corporate accountability, the historic shutting out of people based on race and class, and/or the need for community-led solutions.

In advocacy, you aren't telling stories just to evoke empathy or sympathy; you are telling stories to fuel understanding and action.

By understanding the distinction, you can appreciate the role of both story and narrative in your work. You can see that stories change people while narratives change culture. And you can be clear that a story can be shared in a fraction of the time it takes to "change the narrative."

In the world of advocacy, understanding the difference between story and narrative can be key to changing hearts and minds - and laws, policies, and systems.

- Piper Hendricks, CEO

(Photo of trees in a forest by Ingemar Johnsson)