audience through our stories. If we create something with twists and turns,
the audience will be on the edge of their seats. This is because the change in
direction creates a sense of wanting to know what happens after. We
naturally want to know what happens after in stories anyway, but when you
make it hard to predict what that upcoming moment is going to be, the body
reacts by producing more adrenaline. People’s hearts beat a little bit faster,
their breath catches in their chest, and their attention narrows its focus onto
the story. You use the processes of the brain to hook them onto what you
have written. Likewise, this can be used to make people feel a depth of love
that is lacking in typical day-to-day activities. You can do this by writing
about love, but that isn’t the only way. That story about the mistreated puppy
that the animal shelter wrote. If it ends with that dog being adopted into a
loving family, then it is a surefire bet that the reader’s mind is pumping out
lots of oxytocin (the love hormone). These emotions, regardless of whether
they are anticipation, love, or relief, all help readers to recollect the stories at
a later date.
All of these are powerful neurological components that are triggered by
storytelling. But they lead to a big question that we should consider. Just why
exactly is it that storytelling is able to affect the human brain this much? For
that, we need to turn our attention backward in time.