Journal May 2026 Release_Full Edition - Flipbook - Page 72
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Energizing verbs
“Find the action in a sentence and express it in a verb.”
– Deirdre McCloskey, Economical Writing
Stories require energy to keep the plot from stalling. And verbs supply texts with a
story accelerant. They are the energy a reader’s meaning-making mind uses to
build the plot's momentum. If we’re asking questions that help do the work of
storying lived experience, then our questions should help to keep a story alive. If a
narrative therapist is helping a person tell interesting stories about their life, then
the verbs we use in our questions do the work of energizing the momentum of
the story’s progression.
I’ve been told I ask “loaded questions” in family therapy. At best, I suspect this
has something to do with asking questions that are seen as influential in the
conversation; at worst, I might be a little too interested in what I’ve given priority
to, though I could be wrong about this. It’s my belief, however, that every
question is a loaded question. But I use the term loaded in a different way than
what might be considered conventional. In my view, a loaded question is a
question that primes the person being asked to (a) experience a gap in their
knowledge about what they believe they “know,” (b) arouses suspense or surprise
in them upon their review of what’s been asked about, and (c) inspires them to
take authorial action to resolve the gap the question curates. I’m of the strong
inclination that our questions should not shy away from the dramatic. In fact, I
believe a good storytelling question is filled to the brim with the potential to
curate narrative tension. And the verbs we choose in our questions help to
slingshot a person’s imagination into the space where answers are just waiting to
be developed.
Putting it all together in therapy
I’d like to tell you a story about a friend of mine. Will is a teacher for a local high
school and is in his mid-thirties. He’s happily married and has a 4-year-old
daughter. And though she can be a handful, he’s head over heels in love with her.
Animative Descriptions and Vivifying Discovery: Inviting Clients Into The Marvel Of Their Understory
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, May 2026 Release, p. 52-79.
www.journalnft.com
