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SHAPE

Give the experience a structure that serves your intent.

What does the learner need to experience?

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Structure determines what learners experience first, what they notice, and what meaning they are prepared to construct.

You do not need a complicated formula. You need a structure that serves your intent.

Two structural options

Field tool: story spine builder

Start with intent. What do I want this story to do? Do not write the moral. Write the learning purpose.

Then walk the spine: normal → disruption → consequences → resolution → new normal.

Intent — what do I want this story to do?

Normal — how things were. “Once upon a time…”

Include only the time, place and people the learner needs.

Disruption — “Until one day…”

Consequence 1 — “Because of that…”

Consequence 2 — “Because of that…”

Resolution — “Until finally…”

New normal — “Ever since then…”

What the learner does NOT need to know:

Treat the prompts as a construction aid, not a script to read aloud.

FIELD TOOL: INTENT

Do not begin by writing “The moral of the story is…”. Instead ask: what meanings might a thoughtful learner construct?

Possible meaning 1

Possible meaning 2

Possible meaning 3

Which question would help learners examine those possibilities?

That question becomes part of the story design.

Field tool: whose story is this?

Identify the person with:

The problem:

The ability to act:

The meaningful choice:

The change:

That person is probably your focal character. It may not be you.

Field tool: change the camera

Retell the story mentally from another person's position.

My version — what did I experience?

Their possible version — what might they have experienced?

What changes when the camera moves?

This exercise can uncover a stronger focal point or a useful alternative version for another audience.

SHAPE: field check

My intent is clear.Learners have enough context, but not too much.Actions drive the story.The protagonist has agency.I know where the change occurs.I have planned a question rather than a moral.

6 still unchecked.

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