How to Write a Political Narrative

Political narratives drive the ideas that help candidates get elected.

Political narratives are more than mere slogans or campaign promises. They are grand stories that frame political ideas. A good political narrative can sweep a candidate or party into office, while a bad one can doom electoral hopes to failure. Writing a political narrative is no easy task. It is not necessarily a physical story that is written down, but an oral message and back-story that you constantly repeat. It requires that you tap into the hearts of voters, understand their needs and wants and frame your candidate or party as the one to bring about necessary change.

Instructions

1. Use common language to construct a political narrative. Once you have determined what grand message you want to deploy, cast your candidacy as one of the people and for the people. In speeches, campaign material and press releases, avoid academic-sounding words when talking about your candidate's beginnings and goals.

2. Cast yourself or your candidate as an underdog or outsider. This is the narrative that many politicians, including Barack Obama, use to get elected. Write or speak about your candidate's experience outside of the corrupting sphere of the state or national capital, or of city hall. Emphasize your candidate's humble beginnings by speaking about her childhood, what kinds of struggles she had to overcome and how these experiences mean she is in touch with the common person.

3. Cast the opponent as out of touch. This is a very common political narrative that helps candidates get elected. Emphasize in plain terms how career politicians tend to get trapped in a bubble. Show how your opponent, especially if he is an incumbent, comes from privilege and never had to struggle to make ends meet. Contrast this to your candidate's "of-the-people" origins.

4. Provide a back-story or some context to show why change is important. A political narrative is much more persuasive if you can show its historical inevitability. If you are depicting your candidate as an agent of change, show how the same politics have been happening for years, and how your candidate is the only one who can break the mold.

References

• David Boyle: In Search of a Political Narrative
• Solution Focused Politics: Building a Successful Political Narrative