Re-authoring conversations
Re-authoring conversations
This project grows through feedback
This wiki develops the way systemic ideas do — through feedback and circularity, not a fixed final version. If this page helped, confused, or fell short, that's worth knowing. Give feedback →
Short definition
Re-authoring conversations are narrative conversations that help people develop richer and more preferred stories about their lives, identities and relationships.
Level
Expanded definition
Re-authoring conversations are central to narrative therapy.
They help people move from thin, problem-saturated stories towards richer accounts of identity, values, relationships and possibility.
A re-authoring conversation does not erase pain or difficulty. Instead, it helps people notice experiences that have been left out of the dominant story and connect these experiences into a more meaningful alternative account.
Re-authoring usually develops from unique outcomes, absent but implicit values, preferred stories and the person’s own language.
The therapist asks questions that connect actions to values, values to identity, identity to history, and history to future possibility.
Purpose of this method
The purpose of this method is to support people to become less defined by problem stories and more connected to preferred identities.
It helps people recognise skills, values, commitments, relationships and acts of resistance that may have been hidden by the dominant story.
It also supports therapeutic movement from problem description to identity development and future action.
When to use this method
Use this method when:
- a dominant story has become visible
- unique outcomes have been identified
- the person wants to develop a different story
- there are values or hopes hidden inside distress
- identity has become narrowed by the problem
- the family wants to relate differently
- the therapist wants to thicken an alternative story
How this method works
The therapist explores unique outcomes and asks questions that connect them to broader meaning.
This may include:
- what happened
- what the person did
- what this says about what matters to them
- what this says about their identity
- whether this has happened before
- who has witnessed this part of them
- what future this story points towards
Re-authoring conversations often move between two landscapes:
- the landscape of action: what happened and what the person did
- the landscape of identity: what this says about values, commitments and identity
Non-clinical example
A person says:
“I am someone who always gives up.”
During conversation, they remember times when they kept trying, asked for help, changed direction and protected what mattered to them.
A re-authoring conversation helps connect these moments into a story of persistence and care rather than failure.
Clinical example
A young person is described as “always oppositional”.
The therapist explores moments when the young person resisted unfairness, protected a sibling, asked for respect or tried to explain their point of view.
The conversation may help re-author the story from “oppositional” to “someone who cares deeply about fairness and wants to have a voice”.
Step-by-step process
- Identify the dominant story.
- Listen for unique outcomes or exceptions.
- Explore the landscape of action: what happened, where, when and who was involved.
- Explore the landscape of identity: what this says about values, hopes and commitments.
- Link the moment to other moments across time.
- Ask who has witnessed this preferred story.
- Explore what the story makes possible.
- Give the emerging story a name if useful.
- Consider how the story can be supported in daily life.
- Use documents, letters or witnessing practices to thicken the story.
Questions before using this method
- What dominant story is being re-authored?
- What unique outcomes are available?
- What values or commitments are visible?
- Is the person ready to explore alternative identity?
- Who might support this preferred story?
- How can I avoid imposing my own interpretation?
Questions during use
- What happened in that moment?
- What did you do that made a difference?
- What does this say about what matters to you?
- Has this value shown up at other times?
- Who would recognise this story about you?
- What name would you give this direction in your life?
- What future would fit with this story?
Questions after use
- Did I connect action with identity?
- Did I help thicken the alternative story?
- Did I avoid minimising the problem story?
- What values became clearer?
- What witnesses might support the story?
- What document or letter could help preserve the re-authored story?
Related epistemologies
Narrative epistemology Social constructionism Poststructuralist epistemology Postmodern epistemology Relational epistemology
Related schools and models
Narrative Systemic Therapy Conversational Dialogic
Related concepts
Dominant story Alternative story Preferred story Unique outcomes Thickening the plot Absent but implicit Double listening Identity construction Positioning Stories lived vs stories told Values
Related techniques
Re-authoring questions Unique outcome questions Thickening questions Absent but implicit questions Preferred story questions Witnessing questions Future questions
Related pathways
Narrative pathway Conversational pathway Dialogic pathway Power and culture pathway Family and relational dynamics pathway
Key theorists / contributors
Michael White David Epston Alice Morgan Jill Freedman Gene Combs Jerome Bruner
Key texts / references
- White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends. Norton.
- White, M. (2007). Maps of Narrative Practice. Norton.
- Morgan, A. (2000). What Is Narrative Therapy? An Easy-to-Read Introduction. Dulwich Centre Publications.
- Freedman, J., & Combs, G. (1996). Narrative Therapy: The Social Construction of Preferred Realities. Norton.
- Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of Meaning. Harvard University Press.
Notes / source material
Re-authoring conversations should remain grounded in the person’s own experience.
The therapist does not write a better story for the person. The therapist supports the person to notice, connect and give language to stories that are already present but less visible.
Review status
Status: Open for review
Review history:
(No reviews yet.)