Rosalva's home in Columbia floods every year, creating hazardous living conditions. Stories hit home more when they include human characters and not just forces of nature. Photo: © Scott Wallace / World Bank

"In my book “Science v. Story: Narrative Strategies for Science Communicators, I explore how to use stories to talk in a compelling way about controversial science topics, including vaccination. To me, stories contain characters, action, sequence, scope, a storyteller, and content to varying degrees. By this definition, a story could be a book, a news article, a social media post, or even a conversation with a friend.

"While researching my book, I found that stories about science tend to be broad and abstract. On the other hand, science-skeptical stories tend to be specific and concrete. By borrowing some of the strategies of science-skeptical stories, I argue that evidence-backed stories about science can better compete with misinformation." - Emma Frances Bloomfield

ARTICLE: Storytelling Strategies Make Communication About Science More Compelling