DESCRIPTION
“The emotional curve” method is a framework for crafting narratives by deliberately designing the emotional journey of the protagonist and audience: starting from a baseline, through conflict or challenge (emotional drop or rise), reaching a peak (climax), and then moving toward resolution or transformation.
It frames how people feel over time, not just what happens, giving your story more resonance, empathy and memorability. In business storytelling (presentations, brand stories, change communications), applying an emotional curve means you guide your audience not only with facts but with emotional rhythm: you pull them down (problem), lift them up (solution), and leave them fulfilled (impact). It enables you to connect, persuade and stick.
ORIGIN
The idea traces back to narrative theorists like Kurt Vonnegut who sketched “story shapes” (emotional rise & fall) in the 20th century movie industry.
A major empirical study “The emotional arcs of stories are dominated by six basic shapes” (2016) by researchers at the Computational Story Lab (University of Vermont) identified six dominant emotional arc shapes in literature.
So while not a single person “invented” it as a business method, it’s grounded in narrative theory and data-driven research.
USED BY
Storytellers and movie makers, when i comes to build a classic and simple emotional arc people listen to…
Approximately needed time
- Step 1: 2 hours
- Step 2: 1 hours
- Step 3: 1 hours
- Step 4: 1 hours
- Step 5: 2 hours
- TOTAL: 7 hours
METHOD
MATERIAL YOU COULD NEED: A whiteboard for an emotional curve
- X-axis: story & time
- Y-axis: emotional valence: from low to high
…and templates or worksheets to capture: “Protagonist feels… at beginning”, “Then feels… when conflict hits”, “Feels… at climax”, “Finally feels… after resolution”.
STEPS
EMOTIONAL BASELINE AND PROTAGONIST SITUATION
You need to know where the emotional journey starts and what the protagonist or audience feels before change begins. Without that baseline, the emotional shifts won’t register.
Define who the protagonist is (could be a company, product, service, user, team member) and how they currently feel or what the normal state is and outline their status quo: comfortable, complacent, hopeful, uncertain. Capture one or two key emotions to label the starting point (e.g., “frustrated”, “hopeful but blocked”, “optimistic”).
Example: A company is doing well but sense of growth stalled and protagonist feels “restless optimism”.
EMOTIONAL DROP AND TRIGGER
Conflict or tension is what shifts emotion. The emotional drop is what creates momentum and audience investment.
Identify the event or challenge that disrupts baseline (market shift, internal issue, customer complaint). Map how that event changes emotions: from baseline to more negative or jarring state (fear, frustration, confusion). Specify how long or how deep the emotional dip is, and what stakes are involved.
Example: A new competitor emerges. Product delays. Team feels “anxious and under threat”.
RISE & PEAK
The rise or peak is where things shift: discovery, decision, breakthrough. It’s the emotional high-point that audiences respond to.
Identify the turning point: decision taken, innovation implemented, new strategy started and how emotions shift: from the drop to hope, excitement, relief.
Determine the apex moment: what is the highest emotional state (e.g., “empowered”, “victorious”, “relieved”).
Example: The team launches the new product and customer feedback is strong. Team feels “energized and confident” for the future.
FALLING ACTION AND RESOLUTION
Closure matters and allows emotions to transition to a steady state, reflection, learning. Without it, story ends too abruptly or without meaning.
Show what follows the peak is how the changes settle in, what emotions emerge (e.g., proud, satisfied, ready for next challenge).
Outline lessons learned, new normal, ongoing emotional state. Consider wrap-up: how audience (reader, stakeholder) should feel at the end.
Example: Product becomes standard and the team adapts new culture and value as “proud, empowered, forward-looking” becomes stronger and stronger.
REFINE AND INTEGRATE
A good emotional curve only works if it’s visible in your narrative and felt by your audience. Refinement ensures pacing, clarity, and alignment between emotion and message.
Draw the emotional curve on your story timeline to visualize peaks and dips and ensure the right balance. Edit narrative to emphasize emotional transitions by using language and tone that reflect emotional states.
Test with sample audience: does the emotional flow feel natural? Are dips too long or peaks weak?
Example: You run story slides and note the climax slide doesn’t feel emotionally strong and then you revise wording and visuals to emphasize team emotions and stakeholder reaction.
Research shows that literature and stories follow six dominant emotional arc shapes: “rags to riches”, “tragedy”, “man in a hole” (fall-then-rise), “Icarus” (rise-then-fall), “Cinderella” (rise-fall-rise), and “Oedipus” (fall-rise-fall).
In business storytelling thought, recognizing it as an emotional curve and reducing the quantity of steps helps to ensure needed narratives (“we launched, we succeeded”) and instead helps building an emotional rhythm (“we struggled, turned the corner, now we’re thriving”).
It works well alongside structural methods (like the pyramid or hero’s journey) but focuses particularly on feelings over time.
Be mindful: over-use of extreme dips or flat emotional plateaus can disengage audiences as pace matters.
