Give your content a competitive edge by letting the experts do the talking.

By William Dunkerley

Journalist Galina Sapozhnikova took an interesting tack in writing her book, The Lithuanian Conspiracy and the Soviet Collapse. The technique she used is worth emulating in periodical publishing. Here's what she did:

Her book title uniquely provides insights into the various color revolutions that notably swept through former Soviet space in the late '90s and into the present century. She didn't deliver what some might consider a tedious narrative. Instead she worked from a series of interviews with people who had relevant firsthand knowledge and experience. The result is storytelling by way of interviews.

Editors Only columnist Peter Jacobi has long been a proponent of using storytelling in our publications. Behind the journalistic technique is also a lot of psychological substantiation for storytelling.

Writing in Psychology Today, Dr. Pamela B. Rutledge offers several psychological factors behind the power of storytelling:

--"Stories have always been a primal form of communication. They are timeless links to ancient traditions, legends, archetypes, myths, and symbols. They connect us to a larger self and universal truths.

--"Stories are about collaboration and connection. They transcend generations, they engage us through emotions, and they connect us to others. Through stories we share passions, sadness, hardships and joys. We share meaning and purpose. Stories are the common ground that allows people to communicate, overcoming our defenses and our differences. Stories allow us to understand ourselves better and to find our commonality with others.

--"Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Call them schemas, scripts, cognitive maps, mental models, metaphors, or narratives. Stories are how we explain how things work, how we make decisions, how we justify our decisions, how we persuade others, how we understand our place in the world, create our identities, and define and teach social values.

--"Stories provide order. Humans seek certainty and narrative structure is familiar, predictable, and comforting. Within the context of the story arc we can withstand intense emotions because we know that resolution follows the conflict. We can experience with a safety net.

--"Stories are how we are wired. Stores take place in the imagination. To the human brain, imagined experiences are processed the same as real experiences. Stories create genuine emotions, presence (the sense of being somewhere), and behavioral responses.

--"Stories are the pathway to engaging our right brain and triggering our imagination. By engaging our imagination, we become participants in the narrative. We can step out of our own shoes, see differently, and increase our empathy for others. Through imagination, we tap into creativity that is the foundation of innovation, self-discovery and change."

Sapozhnikova skillfully wove her interviews into a coherent story, a mosaic. She didn't approach the interviews with a canned list of questions. Instead, her interviews were spontaneous conversations between her and the interview subjects.

A lot of interviews we see in today's magazines and newspapers focus on the interviewee. By contrast, Sapozhnikova's focus is on the theme of her book.

As her story progresses, she presents interviews with more than one person on a single point. As a result, readers are able to see for themselves the various discrepancies and patterns that emerge. That means Sapozhnikova's approach is not only storytelling but investigative journalism too.

In the online world our content constantly faces competition from endless other sources. To be noticed and remembered we have to make ourselves stand out. The use of storytelling by way of interviews can give some of your content an edge up.

William Dunkerley is principal of William Dunkerley Publishing Consultants, www.publishinghelp.com.

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