What Writers Need to Learn From This Election

by Joe Bunting

This is an excerpt from an analysis of the perhaps not-so-surprising election results that I wrote on joebunting.com. You can find my full analysis here.

A few days ago, Donald Trump was elected the next President of the United States. As a writer, throughout this election I noticed an essential aspect of the political discourse that could—and ultimately did—lead to Trump’s victory.

I’m not a political expert, but I am a writer. And as a writer, I’ve known for months how storytelling could make all the difference in this election.

Storytelling is vital whether you’re running for political office, writing a best-selling novel, or sharing a great idea with a friend.

What You Can Learn from Trump’s Election Victory

Trump was underfunded, under-supported, and unexpected to win. But this is the power of a good story. A good story can beat the odds.

What can you learn for your project, your organization, your book, or even your political campaign?

1. Know your reader/voter/customer.

Trump, whether through his own instinct or the counsel of his advisors, realized there was a huge, untapped group of the American public that could be activated: the un-colleged white voter in small-town America. (See David Wong of Cracked’s brilliant article on what Trump understood.)

He might not have been born into that group as a wealthy New Yorker, or even have much in common with them on the surface, but he knew them. He might as well have read their diary, he was so able to describe the fears and desires of their subconscious.

If you want to tell a story that builds momentum for your project, your organization, or your political campaign, you need to know your reader/customer/voter better than you know yourself.

2. Focus on the problem, not the solution.

Trump talked constantly about America’s problems, so much that people criticized him for not having any policy ideas. Clinton, on the other hand, talked constantly about her policy solutions. Clearly, Trump was right.

A guideline you can use: For every ten minutes, use eight or nine minutes to talk about problems, and only one or two minutes to explain solutions.

3. Identify the villain(s).

Note: Whoever isn’t for you is against you. Trump started by attacking the Republican elites (Little Marco, Lying Cruz, Low Energy Bush). Then he moved on to Obama, the D.C. elites, and of course Clinton (Corrupt Hillary). Finally, he settled on the “biased” media who were “rigging” the system.

Hillary, to an extent, made a villain out of Trump, but she was hampered by her connection to the status quo to expand her network of villains beyond him.

Who are the villains in your story? Who are the people who aren’t for you and are therefore against you? And when you finally defeat those villains, which new villain can you find that will unite your former enemies toward a new cause?

This might be an uncomfortable way to live, but it’s an incredibly effective way to run a campaign.

If you do this, it doesn’t matter what negative things people say about you. Even if your flanks are unprotected, like a blitzkrieg, you’ll already be circling behind them to finish them off.

Big Problems Make For Great Stories

I wrote about Trump’s storytelling strategies in more detail in this post. If you’d like to delve deeper into his effective storytelling, I invite you to head on over and tell me what you think:

Why Donald Trump Won the Election: A Writer’s Perspective

And whatever your views of this election, I hope you’ll practice telling great stories.

What do you think writers can learn from this election? Let us know in the comments section, but please no lobbying for one side or the other.

PRACTICE

Write a brief story about the United States of America using the three storytelling techniques above.

Write for fifteen minutes. When your time is up, post your story in the comments section for feedback. And if you post, please be sure to give feedback to your fellow writers.

Happy writing!

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