There are no rules in storytelling, but if you’re not sure where to start, here are some suggestions:
Put yourself in the story. It's important that you're telling your story, and not somebody else's.
Be descriptive. Give sensory details. What’s your opening scene? What did you see, hear, feel, taste? Bring us into the room.
Think about stakes. In the story, what do you stand to gain or lose?
Think about structure. Consider roughly organizing your story into a beginning, middle, and end. Stories often begin with an “inciting incident,” or an event that sets the story into motion.
Show us your humanity. Don't be afraid to show flaws and doubts. Nobody wants to hear a story about how you’re perfect!
Don’t read off a script. Tap into your intuition and spontaneity — like you’re telling the story to a friend over the phone.
Be yourself. Speak in your own voice, and avoid a performative singsongy tone. If you’re shy, be shy! If you’re funny, be funny!
If you decide to include patients as characters, a good rule of thumb is that your characters should not be able to recognize themselves in your story. Some ways to achieve this: don't include names or dates, consider changing key characteristics (e.g. change a scarf to a backpack, change lung cancer to colon cancer), and don't make diseases too recognizable (e.g. lymphangioleiomyomatosis should be changed to "lung disease"). Alternatively, you can obtain a patient's written permission to use HIPAA-protected information in your story. For a quick review of this issue, check out this article.
