The power of storytelling in public relations: Introducing the 20 master plots

• Provides a detailed overview of principles of narrative theory in public relations.
• Identifies the “20 master plots” used by storytellers for millennia.
• Reviews emplotment, narrative theory, and Burkean identification and form.
• Provides examples of plot use in activist, for-profit, and nonprofit settings.
• Includes a table summarizing the 20 master plots.

Storytelling has been part of human activity for thousands of years. Stories have the power to inform, persuade, elicit emotional responses, build support for coalitions and initiatives, and build civil society. This essay describes the 20 master story plots used throughout history, as well as the rhetorical, persuasive, and message design skills used to create compelling stories. The master plots and narrative techniques are advanced as important communication and academic skills to teach storytelling to professionals, and to explain narrative theory to public relations scholars. Emplotment, narrative theory, and Burkean identification and form, are contextualized as narrative tools, along with “master plots” from the professional writing literature.