Storytelling I: Foundations of Narrative

1. 01 Your Brain on Story Why the mind grips a story: attention, transportation, and the cost of assuming your audience knows what you know Stanford 2 Peer institution 28 min
2. 02 Jennifer Aaker: Harnessing the Power of Stories Story versus data: why narrative persuades, and why the two work best together Stanford Graduate School of Business 2 Peer institution 20 min
3. 03 50. Telling Good Stories: How to Use the Elements of Narrative to Keep Listeners Engaged The working elements of narrative: situation, suspense, surprise, and characters an audience can inhabit Stanford Graduate School of Business 2 Peer institution 18 min
4. 04 A Conversation with Scott McCloud (Radcliffe Institute) The story spine, practically: which moments you show, which you leave out, and the work the audience does in between Harvard University 1 Ivy League 28 min
5. 05 Harvard Thinking: How to Tell a Story Craft from practitioners: how character, want, and obstacle generate a story — and how revision finds it Harvard University 1 Ivy League 33 min
6. 06 What Makes a Universal Story? Stakes that travel: turning specific personal material into a story strangers care about Harvard Radcliffe Institute 1 Ivy League 57 min
7. 07 Practicum · working creator How to Write Short Films that WORK. The story spine under real constraints: a working short-film maker outlines from the ending backwards, keeps only the moments that earn it, and trusts the audience to close the gaps (Lecture 4's selection of moments; Lecture 5's character-wants-something-with-something-in-the-way) Standard Story Company P Practitioner 10 min

Every course reserves one practicum seat, listed last and marked P. It is filled by someone who has shipped the work — here, Standard Story Company — because the university lectures establish why something works and the practicum shows it being done under real constraints.