Simplifying Complex Stories - Part 1
Science: A story of hope for threatened coral reefs around the world
The truth is, every personal story is complex to some extent. From the details of what actually happened and what was said, to the thoughts and emotions that arose along the way. Writing our personal stories requires recalling the past as best we can, then deciding which points to include (and exclude) when crafting our narratives.
But many stories have another layer of complexity to deal with if the topic at hand is complicated or technical. Economic, geopolitical, religious and philosophical topics tend to generate complexity, as are most of the stories based on scientific research.
For those of us lacking PhDs, story lines can be over our head. Their jargon, theories, formulas, and statistics can easily overwhelm us. So I appreciate it when a storyteller who is ten times smarter than me crafts a story I can understand, follow the chain of thought from problem to solution, and thus see the world a bit differently.
Such is the case with a story as told by Theresa Fyffe at TED 2025. A new lifeline for the world’s coral reefs begins with a narrative many of us have heard before; that coral reefs around the world are experiencing severe damage as a result of warming ocean waters caused by climate change. The outcomes of many such stories is bleak as we continue to belch CO2 into the atmosphere — much of which ends up being absorbed by the oceans — at record rates. There simply doesn’t seem to be a way out.
But, thankfully, scientists have a way of tackling the impossible and manifesting some pretty cool solutions. Theresa's story initially focuses on a single location — the Great Barrier Reef — and a specific effort to develop a solution, but it happens to be an ideal answer with global impact. As Executive Director of Impact at the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Theresa has a front-row seat to seeing this story unfold in real time.
It's a story she could probably spend ten hours telling, but Theresa spends less than ten minutes providing us with a description of the problem, what the future holds if we do nothing, and the solution that can hopefully mitigate the damage, not just for the Great Barrier Reef, but coral reefs located in all of the oceans.
But we're not really here to discuss climate change, or the even the fate of coral reefs. We're here to examine how a complex topic can be explained in a way that most folks will understand. To illustrate that goal I've selected three short passages that show us how Theresa accomplished that. And I’ll leave it to you to examine her entire talk and experience the journey, step by step.
Problem: Coral polyps, the tiny animals that build reefs, are incredibly sensitive to warming oceans. When stressed by heat, they expel the algae that nourish them, exposing their skeletons and turning them white, a phenomenon called coral bleaching.
You could write an entire book describing how coral reefs are created and what the effects of climate change are, so describing the general idea in two sentences that a regular person can get is no simple task. While Theresa doesn’t get into the details regarding building or bleaching, the phrasing she uses explains how warmer oceans change coral reefs from healthy to hurting. Without being a scientist, you get it.
Statistics: Already we have lost half of the world’s coral reefs. In 2024, the global extent of coral bleaching reached 53 countries and every ocean on Earth. By 2050, 90 percent of corals could be lost, and with coral reefs thought to be one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change, we could witness their extinction in our lifetime.
I’ve worked with many storytellers who have dozens of statistics related to their story. The problem is, when too many numbers are mentioned, audience members begin to lose interest as the narrative becomes confusing. In this case, Theresa lists a pair of stats bracketed by two dates, so we go from 50% to 90% lost in 26 years. Dramatic.
Solution: Using an automated process, we can now produce millions of baby corals, not just thousands. We can naturally increase the heat tolerance of these corals so they are better adapted to warming oceans. And we have developed ceramic cradles for mass deployment, eliminating the need for divers to replant each piece of coral by hand.
In this section Theresa encapsulates the essence of how the solution will work, and the phrases produce millions - heat tolerance - mass deployment give us a sense of the scale, as well as the objectives of the process. Better, faster, cheaper.
I’m sure you’ve all had to employ the concept of an elevator pitch, summarizing an idea or proposal into a few sentences. The approach is similar for complex stories. How to convey your message in a short period of time is a skill that takes practice. Time spent wordsmithing (is that even a word?) pays dividends.
There’s often an expansion and contraction that happens when developing complex stories. Expanding sections to provide more details for better understanding and a richer visual experience, followed by a process of editing a passage down to a size which fits within the allotted time. It can be time consuming, but the effort will produce impactful prose.
Back to you…
If you have a story to tell that involves a complex topic, think about how you can tell it in a way that’s both meaningful and engaging, as well as concise and relatable. You’re tempted to write it and tell it, I get it, but the magic is in the editing. And if you have examples of storytellers who are masters at simplifying the complex, let us know by leaving a comment.