What writers can learn from Lincoln
Can Abraham Lincoln help businesses write better? I think so.
Lincoln was a master storyteller. As a young lawyer he used entertaining stories and jokes to support a point of law. As president he used carefully chosen narratives to instruct, prod, guide and lead. So it's no surprise that when it came time to draft the Gettysburg Address, he followed an ancient four-part model of storytelling:
His tale begins in 1776 with the founding of a nation. He began with an elegantly compact "once upon a time."
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
But "suddenly," something happened to the promises of 1776:
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." He didn't need to overstate the drama of a civil war. He had only to remind listeners that the tragedy put the nation's very existence in doubt.
Lincoln resists despair. "Fortunately," he instead offers determination: "...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ..."
Can a civil war have a "happily ever after" ending? Lincoln offered that hope:
"... that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Two things are certain about this speech:
• He probably didn't consciously have "once upon a time, suddenly, fortunately, and happily ever after" in his head as he drafted the text.
• Still, he understood the powerful sequence underlying all stories, from the scene setter to the sudden change of circumstances, to the resolution leading to the transformation.
Business writing is so often inadequate not because people can't write, but because many people don't see the power of storytelling as a simple organizing model for writing. Fortunately, Lincoln did.
Want to improve writing in your company? If you'd like to learn more about how better writing can improve your company's performance, send me an e-mail. I'd love to talk about how I can help.
Lincoln was a master storyteller. As a young lawyer he used entertaining stories and jokes to support a point of law. As president he used carefully chosen narratives to instruct, prod, guide and lead. So it's no surprise that when it came time to draft the Gettysburg Address, he followed an ancient four-part model of storytelling:
- An opener ("Once upon a time")
- A dramatic turn in the narrative ("Suddenly")
- A resolution to the conflict ("Fortunately")
- An ending ("Happily ever after)
His tale begins in 1776 with the founding of a nation. He began with an elegantly compact "once upon a time."
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
But "suddenly," something happened to the promises of 1776:
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." He didn't need to overstate the drama of a civil war. He had only to remind listeners that the tragedy put the nation's very existence in doubt.
Lincoln resists despair. "Fortunately," he instead offers determination: "...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ..."
Can a civil war have a "happily ever after" ending? Lincoln offered that hope:
"... that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Two things are certain about this speech:
• He probably didn't consciously have "once upon a time, suddenly, fortunately, and happily ever after" in his head as he drafted the text.
• Still, he understood the powerful sequence underlying all stories, from the scene setter to the sudden change of circumstances, to the resolution leading to the transformation.
Business writing is so often inadequate not because people can't write, but because many people don't see the power of storytelling as a simple organizing model for writing. Fortunately, Lincoln did.
Want to improve writing in your company? If you'd like to learn more about how better writing can improve your company's performance, send me an e-mail. I'd love to talk about how I can help.
Comments