Story Telling
Why tell stories?
Story-telling is an ancient, ancient practice deeply rooted in all human cultures. Story-telling is a very powerful way to gain and share wisdom, connect with other people in a deep way, and motivate others. By learning to tell stories you also learn to be a good communicator, and public speaker, which will greatly expand your opportunities in life.
Choosing a story
Prepare and share a story (5 - 15 minutes long). It can be a myth, or traditional folk tale, or other story that emerged out of an oral tradition. Or, a story from your own experience, or family history. Importantly, it should be a story that seems important, meaningful to you, or that you just really like. One that resonates with you, or you would enjoy sharing.
For a list of story sources/links - see bottom of this page.
Tips for learning the story
Listen to the story in audio if possible (try Youtube, or just search for the story title and "audio" online), and/or use a print copy. In your mind, or out loud, recite the story. If there are parts you don’t remember, just look them up.
You don’t need to memorize the story word for word, but you should be able to visualize and describe all the essential parts. In your own words is fine. The essential parts are events, decisions or descriptions that are key to conveying the central meaning of the story.
After you’ve learned it, practice telling the story to friends or family members.
At first, it will take considerable mental energy just to remember and share the story.
As you get the story more and more solid in your memory, you will be able to become more expressive.
Some tips on delivery
Speak up so everyone can hear you clearly!
Enunciate! Vary your voice tone. You can use different voices for different characters, especially to convey the tone: gentle, rough, kind, mean, angry, scared, etc.
Eye-contact – As you tell your story, you should be looking at the different members of your audience, connecting with them individually. This way each person feels like you are specifically talking to him or her (at least in part). Observe how engaged your audience is.
Use gestures – You can even act out different parts of the story
Some links to videos about storytelling
Pixar Storytelling series - introduction. There are more videos in the series that are also good.
Irish storyteller - great example of involving the audience
A professional storyteller, sharing a story with adults
Understanding the basic storytelling structure
Story-telling is an ancient, ancient practice deeply rooted in all human cultures. Story-telling is a very powerful way to gain and share wisdom, connect with other people in a deep way, and motivate others. By learning to tell stories you also learn to be a good communicator, and public speaker, which will greatly expand your opportunities in life.
Choosing a story
Prepare and share a story (5 - 15 minutes long). It can be a myth, or traditional folk tale, or other story that emerged out of an oral tradition. Or, a story from your own experience, or family history. Importantly, it should be a story that seems important, meaningful to you, or that you just really like. One that resonates with you, or you would enjoy sharing.
For a list of story sources/links - see bottom of this page.
Tips for learning the story
Listen to the story in audio if possible (try Youtube, or just search for the story title and "audio" online), and/or use a print copy. In your mind, or out loud, recite the story. If there are parts you don’t remember, just look them up.
You don’t need to memorize the story word for word, but you should be able to visualize and describe all the essential parts. In your own words is fine. The essential parts are events, decisions or descriptions that are key to conveying the central meaning of the story.
After you’ve learned it, practice telling the story to friends or family members.
At first, it will take considerable mental energy just to remember and share the story.
As you get the story more and more solid in your memory, you will be able to become more expressive.
Some tips on delivery
Speak up so everyone can hear you clearly!
Enunciate! Vary your voice tone. You can use different voices for different characters, especially to convey the tone: gentle, rough, kind, mean, angry, scared, etc.
Eye-contact – As you tell your story, you should be looking at the different members of your audience, connecting with them individually. This way each person feels like you are specifically talking to him or her (at least in part). Observe how engaged your audience is.
Use gestures – You can even act out different parts of the story
Some links to videos about storytelling
Pixar Storytelling series - introduction. There are more videos in the series that are also good.
Irish storyteller - great example of involving the audience
A professional storyteller, sharing a story with adults
Understanding the basic storytelling structure
Some story sources:
- Brothers Grimm (link)
- H.C. Anderson (link)
- Just so Stories by Kipling (link)
- Perrault's Fairy Tales (link)
- Russian Fairy Tales (link)
- American Indian folk tales (link)
- Bre'r Rabbit stories, other folklore (link)
- English folk tales (link)
- Laura Ingalls Wilder stories (e.g. a specific chapter from a book)
- True survival stories (search online)
- True animal encounters (search online)
- World of Tales website - many cultures represented
