An Introduction to Storytelling

 Here is a small introduction to storytelling to give you general ideas about the concept.

Why tell stories?
We have a profound need to tell and hear stories. It is how we share experience, understand each other, and create community.

Every conversation is full of personal anecdote; every effort to explain shared customs and values needs a tale; every bit of

wisdom is best expressed by a story. The very way our minds think is the essence of story. So to master powerful and effective       

communication, to engage people and ensure they remember facts, or to break down barriers of isolation withinor between

groups, telling stories in some form is essential.

             

How do we define storytelling?

You don't! There is no consensus, and it is extraordinarily hard to come up with any good definition, long or short. A few people

want a definition so that arts organisations will take storytelling seriously as an art-form, but most storytellers are very resistant

to settling on a definition in case they get limited or excluded by it.

Good storytelling can be powerful, transporting, and magical, and most tellers agree that this can only fully happen in live

performance (whether that may be on a stage or 3 friends round a table). Storytellers don't read from a book, either. Although

storytelling is a hot buzzword in many media today, people in those media tend to be unaware of current traditional live

storytelling, and yet they wish to transpose its magic into media such as film, CD-Roms, TV etc. These media can learn a lot

from traditional narrative structure, but many storytellers do not recognise these forms as storytelling - not because of the

innovations, but because of the loss of direct human-to-human interaction. Stories and narrative can enliven many experiences,            

and be used and communicated in many ways, including very innovative forms using the internet, but storytellers tend to restrict

the word storytelling to the direct live art that has a power and magic quite beyond anything else.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Is Storytelling just for kids? 
In western cultures, where storytelling declined drastically before the recent revival, the word 'storytelling' immediately makes

95% of adults dismissively think of children. But if they can be persuaded along to a show for adults they are astounded at the

quality and magic of what they have been missing - those Grimms' fairytales weren't originally meant for kids at all. In such an

many professionals perform mainly to children but those that prefer adult audiences can find them if they work at it.

 Storytelling festivals and local groups are full of appreciative adults. In many cultures with more of their traditions and extended

family life intact, storytelling is for all, and even by all.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Six Tips to Tell a Good Story

   Pretend you're confident! - Don't apologise as you start, either with words or a cowed body.

    Relax, breathe, play - it's a fun game that everyone wants to play with you, not an ordeal.

   Tell in your own words. If you try to memorise the words of the story, you set yourself up for failure and confusion. Just remember the few lines of plot, and feel          free to let them come out differently - no matter how hard you try the story you learned won't be the story you tell. Let your imagination work - that's what will            create the magic, not your feats of memory.
 

  If you get stuck, keep going. Don't frown, curse, stop, or apologise.

  Keep your stories to ten minutes long or less, to begin with. Time yourself beforehand  just three pages in a book might end up taking 15 minutes to tell. It takes         much more skill both to keep people's level of attention and to control the pacing through longer stories.

  Take time to finish. Look at people, smile, and listen to their applause - do not run away or gesture to dismiss it, the applause is their chance to give you    
      something     back, and the instinctive hiding gestures that most people fall into appear as a little insulting. Accept that they liked it!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What Makes Good Storytellers Great
 
 
 

Some suggestions:

They tell stories of the type or in the style that suits their personality the best.

They develop an almost instant rapport with the audience.

They have a highly developed sense of flexibility and timing.

They really like what they are doing, are comfortable in front of their audience and engage with them.

They have stage presence. Perhaps this can be defined as confidence, assurance, audience rapport, a sense of knowing they are good and could take the    
      audience with them wherever they went. Another part of stage presence is the able use of pacing, facial expressions, and pauses. Often a pause and a lifted  
      eyebrow and a look all around the audience can accomplish more than any number of words. These tellers know it, and use these techniques well. Stage
      presence is just a term, borrowed from theatre - many storytellers don't think of themselves as performing on a stage, but that doesn't preclude using this term.

They tell from the heart, to the heart - honestly, openly, and without trying too hard.
 
 

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