Jedi Know the Difference Between Linear Time and Linear Narratives (Matthew David)

An important rule of storytelling: embedded in the present you’ll find the seeds of the future.

Linear time. One thing happens, then another, then another. Simple, right? And of course, the 3 common chronological markers of linear time are: past, present, and future.

Now, ideally, you’d use the concept of linear time to create linear narratives that are easy for audiences to follow. This is exactly what we coach our scientist, engineering, and physician students to do.

And sure, they do it…but wow, do they take it too literally, meaning their thinking starts here:

AND = Past and Present

BUT = Present

THEREFORE = Future

And ends up here:

Past Setup AND Present Setup BUT Present Problem THEREFORE Future Solution

So close. That’s certainly how linear time works, but that’s not how linear narratives do. The major difference is in the AND.

In linear narratives, the setup does contain the concrete past and/or present, but it also contains embedded within it an idea of the future. A goal. An aspiration.

Take this guy:

Just a simple country boy on the family farm, staring out at the binary sunset.

Luke is standing in the present, but he’s yearning for the future. A future in which he’s going to the Academy, training to become a pilot, exploring the galaxy, and doing something greater with his life than toiling away on the farm. We know this because he explicitly lays out this vision in a conversation with his family.

We coach our students to explicitly lay out their future too. What would developing this new tuberculosis diagnostic tool get us? What would passing this new wildlife conservation policy into law achieve? What would the potential results be of implementing this new airplane fire safety feature?

So here’s what we coach ABT participants toward:

Past/Present Setup AND Future Aspiration BUT Present Problem THEREFORE Future Solution

Without an understanding that something in the future is worth aspiring too, why go on the narrative journey at all?