Presented at iMedia Brand Summit Australia,12th Sept, 2018 Gold Coast (AUS).

1. THE FIRST-PERSON ARC: HOW
STORIES AND GAMES CHANGE
WHEN WE PUT OURSELVES INTO
THEM
@christydena
christydena.com
Presented at iMedia Brand Summit Australia, 12th Sept, 2018 Gold Coast (AUS)

3. Nanette

6. Personal? No way.

7. Making personal work:
not commercial
has no audience appeal
not what the client wants
self-indulgent

8. Clients and audiences
not interested in personal work.

9. Clients and audiences
not interested in personal work.

10. No-one needs to hear
about my personal stuff.
That’s self-indulgent.

11. “The agenda is (not self-aggrandisement) […] it is to be
honest. Are you willing to tell your story to reveal how
vulnerable you were, how stupid you were, how arrogant
you were, which means how human you were?”
“We don’t tell stories for people to change their opinion
about us […] We actually tell stories that may shift
something within them, and maybe even
change their opinion of themselves.”
Mark W. Travis
“Write Your Life”

12. “We don’t see a reflection of our humanity in perfection;
we see it in imperfection.”
Dara Marks
“Inside Story”

13. Write “what-you-know-to-be-true-and-valuable-and-
meaningful-and-important-and-worth-living-for.”
“The difference between the scenes one would write
who has experienced heartbreak compared to those
written by one who hasn’t experienced it
will be the difference between good writing
and mediocre writing.”
“Your point of view is transparent.
It tells us how deeply you care about your subject.
Your audience will only go as far as you feel,
not as far as you tell them to feel.”
Peter Dunne
“Emotional Structure”

14. “Memoir is not about you, or me.
It’s about something universal.”
Marion Roach Smith
“The Memoir Project”

17. https://www.design-sprint.com/en/day-5-validate/
Audience Research - where is the reciprocal vulnerability?

18. https://www.design-sprint.com/en/day-5-validate/
Audience Research - where is the reciprocal vulnerability?

19. “The value of your thematic message lies in
the sincerity and the honesty with which you are
willing to expose your own humanity to the rest of us.”
Dara Marks
http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/how-the-lego-movies-surprise-twist-worked.html

21. Joseph Campbell’s
The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949)
Christopher Vogel’s
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (2007)
THE HERO’S JOURNEY / MONOMYTH

22. REFUSAL OF THE CALL

23. MOTIVATION TO CHANGE

24. CHANGE FROM LIFE EVENT CRISIS
Taylor, Edward. W. (2000) Analyzing Research on Transformative Learning Theory. In Mezirow,
J. & Associates (Eds.) Learning as transformation (pp. 285-328).
death of loved one
divorce
lost job
diagnosis of major illness
major accident
…

25. OTHER WAYS TO CHANGE
Contemplation: “integrating circumstances, which are indefinite
periods in which the persons […] consciously or unconsciously
searches for something which is missing in their life; when they
find this missing piece, the transformation process is catalysed”
Clark
Change Stance:
“more like an unfolding evolution rather than a response to a
crisis” Pope
“transformative learning may begin unnoticed, incidentally, and
sometimes even casually, when a new practice is added to old
habits.” Nohl
Clark, C. (1991): Restructuring of Meaning: An Analysis of the Impact of Context on Transformational Learning. Ed.D. dissertation.
University of Georgia.
Clark, C. (1993): Changing Course: Initiating the Transformational Learning Process. In: Flannery, D. University Park: Pennsylvania State
University (Ed.): 34th Annual Adult Education Research Conference Proceedings, (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 368 967),
31-36.
Mezirow, J. (1991): Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Nohl, A.M. (2015): Typical Phases of Transformative Learning: A Practice-Based Model. Adult Education Quarterly, 65, (1), 35-49.
Pope (1996) S. J.: Wanting to Be Something More: Transformations in Ethnically Diverse Working Class Women through the Process of
Education. Ph.D. dissertation, Fielding Institute

26. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’
On Death and Dying (1969)
On Grief and Grieving: Finding the
Meaning of Grief Through the Five
Stages of Loss, (2005)
Dara Marks’
Inside Story: The Power of the
Transformational Arc (2007)

27. TRANSFORMATION ARCS
Transformative learning: “[L]earning that
transforms problematic frames of reference—
sets of fixed assumptions and expectations
(habits of mind, meaning perspectives,
mindsets)—
to make them more inclusive, discriminating,
open, reflective, and emotionally able to
change.”
Jack Mezirow
Mezirow, Jack (2003) Transformative learning as discourse. Journal of Transformative Education, 1(1), 58- 63. doi:10.1177/1541344603252172
Call to Adventure: “The familiar life horizon
has been outgrown; the old concepts,
ideals, and emotional patterns no longer fit;
the time for the passing of a threshold is at
hand.”
Joseph Campbell

28. CALL TO SELF

29. FIRST-PERSON
TRANSFORMATION ARC
Christy Dena, Universe Creation 101
Call to Self
Self-examination
(with feelings of fear,
anger, guilt or shame)
Critical Assessment
of Assumptions
Recognition of others
having discontent &
exploring it too
Exploration of options
for new r/ships, roles, actions
Reintegration
POV Exploration, Dialogue

30. FIRST-PERSON TRANSFORMATIONAL ARC

32. LOOKING FORWARD
TO SEEING YOU
IN THE WORLD