AUDACIOUSLY SPREADING HOPE THROUGH STORY part 5

A single story can be hopeful or not-so-hopeful. It all depends on where you put the emphasis.

Part 1
Create hope in a story you tell by making sure you know in your heart where the hope is. Feel it first.

Part 2
Create hope by playing with time. Make the time span as long as it needs to be.

Part 3
Create hope in one context by telling a hopeful story about another.

Part 4
Create hope in stories by talking about hope.

5) Create hope in stories by including symbols.

Sherry Turkle: objects carry both ideas and passions. In our
relations to things, thought and feeling are inseparable.

Is there anything that makes a story more memorable, more compelling, more hopeful than a clearly identified symbol of hope? People give meanings to symbols and objects. They recall them time and time again. Any object can be identified as a symbol of hope. A hope symbol evokes the feeling of hope. By association it becomes linked to hope. There are some common hope symbols—angels, candles, butterflies and the like, but any object can be identified as a symbol of hope. All you have to do is mention the object and refer explicitly to hope at the same time. If you want to explain it clearly you can. If the hope symbol appears more than once in the story all the better.