people tend to relate to stories

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

Hi, everyone.
First, I wrote this version, but I'm worried that 'they' may refer to the stories instead of the people. Is my worry justified?
Since stories easily resonate with people, they may become very interested in a piece of art after they know its story and want to pay a visit to the museum to see it firsthand.

So, I came up with this version. But I don't know if the red is idiomatic or not.
Since people tend to relate to stories, they may become very interested in a piece of art after they know its story and want to pay a visit to the museum to see it firsthand.

 

[jutfrank]

There are a few issues to deal with here. The first concerns your worry about the antecedent of they. You've noticed that since stories is the grammatical subject of the subordinate clause, a reader would naturally expect the subject of the main clause (they) to be co-referent, so I think you're well justified to want to rearrange the sentence to avoid this problem.

 

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

There are a few issues to deal with here.

Thanks, jutfrank. What are the other issues? I think my sentence is so long and hard to read. How to make it natural?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

There are a few issues to deal with here. The first concerns your worry about the antecedent of they. You've noticed that since stories is the grammatical subject of the subordinate clause, a reader would naturally expect the subject of the main clause (they) to be co-referent, so I think you're well justified to want to rearrange the sentence to avoid this problem.

Good point. I hadn't looked at it that way. I'll delete my post.

 

[emsr2d2]

How [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] can I make it natural?

See above. We don't start questions with "How to".

 

[emsr2d2]

Knowing a work of art's story could encourage/inspire people to visit a gallery to see it firsthand.

 

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

Knowing a work of art's story could encourage/inspire people to visit a gallery to see it firsthand.

Thanks, emsr2d2. Do you think 'showing' would be better in my sentence?

Since stories easily resonate with people, showing them a work of art's story could encourage/inspire them to visit a gallery to see it firsthand.
I think 'them' clearly refers to 'people'. Am I correctly?

 

[emsr2d2]

No, I don't think "showing" works there. You could use "telling".