How to write a great volunteer story

People are wired for stories, and stories about volunteers are some of the most heartfelt, says author Amanda Ashby.

Amanda – a published author, with experience in the community and voluntary sector – showed how to apply writing techniques to great volunteer storytelling in a recent webinar.

“Community organisations have good stories and characters. Writing is not scary, and when we’re telling stories about beautiful human beings, it’s lovely.”

A story simply is: a character, going on an external journey, that leads to an internal transformation.

The character at the beginning changes throughout the story. And the writer wants the reader to feel those emotional changes.

Character goal, motivation and conflict

Three elements make a character:

Goal – a measurable external goal

Motivation – the backstory, why they want the goal. Shared beliefs and needs can help the audience recognise motivation.

Conflict – there is no story without conflict. Conflict is anything that stops them from achieving the goal, internal or external. The bigger the conflict, the more powerful the story. Conflict is not negative, it is any challenge to be overcome.

These elements can be applied to volunteer stories.

Amanda gave an example:

Meet Joe. He’s the man who refused to give up his dream to help keep the doors open at his local health clinic, in honour of his beloved mother.

If you’re interviewing a volunteer, ask them about the things that made volunteering difficult, or what they had to do to overcome a challenge, or “What’s the funniest thing that’s happened while you’re volunteering”.

Tips on character:

• Stories are about people going through external experiences and having internal transformations
• keep the person at the heart of the narrative
• look for universal experiences that your  audience can relate to
•  show transformations by focusing on Goal, Motivation and Conflict

The Elevator pitch

For every story, try to write an elevator pitch – simply a 25-word blurb to describe your story.

Focus on:

• The character, use Goal, Motivation, Conflict
• create the ‘voice’ (or the organisation’s tone)
• who is the audience and what do you want them to do?

This will keep you focused on the heart of the story.

The example about Joe above is a great elevator pitch.

You can use it on social media, at a meeting, pitch to media, and as the start of your story.

Writing it up

You can apply a story structure in the road characters travel as they come up against obstacles. Amanda showed ideas for the different acts of a story and explained how understanding the structure can help you decide how to tell your own stories.

Tips for writing:

• Dirty drafts
• Try different formats, play with how you tell the stories.
• Brain dump your ideas, don’t edit as you go.
• Ask someone else to read your work.

“Forget about your fifth grade English teacher and her rules. We’re all writers and storytellers. Develop your voice and if writing for the community, lean into the humanity.”

Amanda will be giving a workshop on storytelling at the Volunteering New Zealand Conference on 16 October.

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