Working with Stories is a self-guided textbook for people who want to use Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI).

PNI is a process in which groups of people gather and work with raw, real stories of personal experience to do useful things in their communities or organizations.

Useful things like:

  • finding things out
  • catching emerging trends
  • making better decisions
  • getting new ideas
  • resolving conflicts
  • connecting people
  • helping people learn
  • enlightening people

I've been working in this area since 1999, and I've been working on this book since 2008. As of this writing (September 2012) the book's greatly expanded third edition is about 75 percent complete. About six chapters of 21 remain to be written. I hope to finish the rewrite ... soon.

Sounds great! How do I get the book?

Click the image of the book's cover (or this link) to download it.

Can I order a paper copy?

Not yet, but I'm counting on at least a few people doing exactly that, eventually. I plan to sell the book on Amazon.com when it's complete. But it will always be available on this web site regardless.

So the book is free?

Yes and no. It's free to download and redistribute under the terms of the Creative Commons license (Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported). However, the book is not free of obligation.

If you read the book and find it useful, I ask you to either:

  • buy a paper or Kindle copy when it becomes available (check back here), or ...
  • "pay it forward" by doing what the title says: working with stories in your own community or organization.
I will consider either option a satisfactory fulfillment of that obligation.

Who are you?

I'm Cynthia Kurtz, just somebody who has been working in this area long enough to think she can write a useful book about it. ;) Check out my web site and blog for more information.

Can I help you finish the book's third edition?

You certainly can, and thanks for asking! What I need most at this point is feedback. Please read the book and tell me how it could be better. For example, I know it's way too long, but I can't bear to cut out any of my own writing. Please help me find parts to trim away. And anything you could tell me about parts you find confusing or not-useful would be most helpful.

Um, where's the old web site?

I've hidden it away because it's far out of date. You can still get to it here.