--- name: data-story description: Write data findings as a compelling narrative story, Malcolm Gladwell prose, NYT graphics-team visuals, engaging & memorable even for a non-technical audience. --- Write like Malcolm Gladwell. Visualize like the NYT graphics team. Think like a detective who must defend every finding under scrutiny. The goal: a story so well-constructed that readers *feel* the insight before they understand it - and remember it long after. ## 0 - Pick the mode first Before you write, decide what kind of piece this is. The mode sets the order of everything below. - **Long-form** - a reader you must pull along. The discovery arc applies: setup -> complication -> revelation. - **Executive** - a decision-maker who wants the answer. Lead with the finding; put the evidence right under it; skip the slow build. (Pairs with the meeting-response-style skill.) - **Exploratory** - you don't have one finding yet. Don't manufacture a story. Show the patterns and the uncertainty until a finding survives scrutiny. - **Teaching** - a learner building a mental model. Sequence the beats so each one sets up the next. Everything below is written for long-form. In the other modes, keep the craft - hook, concrete examples, one emotion, caveats - but change the order: answer-first for executive, question-open for exploratory, step-by-step for teaching. ## 1 - The Hook The opening must make someone who wasn't planning to read this *stop and keep reading*. A person, a tension, or a mystery does this. - **Human angle**: A specific person, place, or moment that embodies the pattern you're about to reveal. - **Tension**: Something that seems wrong or contradictory - that the data will resolve. - **Mystery**: A question the reader didn't know they wanted answered. A chart can be the hook - but only if it shows the contradiction in a single look. Otherwise, don't open with a chart or a statistic. (In executive mode, the hook *is* the answer.) A strong move is **self-reference**: "Imagine *you're* the customer who just churned" activates simulation in a way third-person never can. Cast abstract forces as agents with goals. Archetypes beat familiar/famous names (less baggage, more projection) for learning, but familiar names are memorable. > ❌ "This report analyzes regional sales performance across Q3." > ✅ "In September, one sales rep in Omaha quietly closed more deals than the entire West Coast team. Nobody had noticed." ## 2 - Story Arc Build through *discovery*, not declaration (long-form mode). Resist the urge to front-load conclusions - the journey earns the finding. Keep your main beats to **<=4** - the brain chunks before it comprehends, and working memory holds roughly four things. 1. **Setup** - Establish the world as everyone assumes it to be. 2. **Complication** - Introduce the anomaly, the crack in conventional wisdom. 3. **Revelation** - The central insight, landed with precision and room to breathe. 4. **Implications** - What this means and what should change. **The tale trap**: a well-structured story *feels* like understanding even when the causal model is wrong. Sequential narrative implies causation automatically. Name the mechanism explicitly - don't let order do the work evidence should do. ## 3 - Integrated Visualizations Charts make patterns / insights undeniable. - Put the chart where the insight lands, inside the prose (not at the end). - Give every chart a **headline that states the finding**: "The Northeast isn't just ahead - it's in a different league" beats "Regional Performance Comparison." - One clear signal per chart. If it needs explaining, redesign or cut it. Use any data-viz and interactions skills available. ## 4 - Concrete Examples & Evidence Abstract patterns become real through specific cases. For every major finding, find *the one example that makes it tangible* - the person, company, or place that best embodies the pattern, or the before/after that shows the mechanism. **Stack anchors in a single sentence** rather than scattering them: "Imagine *you're* standing at the top of the funnel watching 7 in 10 customers quietly disappear before they ever see a price" gives you self-reference + spatial position + scale in one beat. **Plan the fade**: start concrete, then introduce the formal abstraction. The metaphor is a bridge, not a destination - explicitly flag where it stops holding: *"Think of it like a leaky bucket - though unlike buckets, the leak rate changes with customer tenure."* Statistics should flow *within* the prose, not interrupt it: - **Lead with the narrative beat**, follow with the number that proves it. - **Round and contextualize**: "nearly 3 in 4" lands better than "73.2%"; "twice the national average" beats "2.07x". - **Cite comparisons, not absolutes** - the delta is almost always more meaningful than the level. - **One number per beat** - don't cluster statistics. Let each one breathe. ## 5 - "Wait, Really?" Moments Surprising findings need staging. Slow down at the moment of revelation - give it a short paragraph, let it land. - **Set up the assumption first**: state what everyone believes before you overturn it. - **Name the surprise explicitly**: "That's not a rounding error. That's a signal." - **One sharp emotion per story** - fear, surprise, and reward tag memories for keeping, but use surgically: one vivid moment per piece. High emotional arousal narrows cognition, so deploy it at the revelation, not throughout. - **Use contrast**: juxtapose the expected vs. the actual side by side. ## 6 - So What? Embed implications *in the narrative flow* - don't save them for a bullet list at the end. Be specific: "This suggests reallocating onboarding resources to the first 72 hours" beats "investment in early customer experience may be warranted." End on a forward-looking note - what changes, what gets investigated, what gets tried. ## 7 - Caveats Acknowledge limitations *without undermining the story*. The detective doesn't refuse to name a suspect because the case isn't perfect - they state their confidence level and move forward. - Surface the most important caveat *once*, framed as "what we'd want to confirm" rather than "reasons this might be wrong." - Never hide a caveat in a footnote if it materially changes the interpretation. - If the finding is robust under scrutiny, say so. Confidence is earned, not withheld. --- ## Tone Active voice. Present tense. **Rhythm encodes** - parallel structure, alliteration, and consistent beat make key phrases stick long after the data is forgotten. Read every paragraph aloud; if you stumble, rewrite it. > **The test**: would a smart, busy person who didn't ask for this read it to the end? If not, the hook isn't strong enough, the arc isn't clear, or the "so what" isn't earned.