Stories from The Story Tree Company

Background Notes for Storytelling Workshop with Jenni Cargill.

“A story has to have two equal partners, tale teller and tale listener.” Jane Yolan, Touch Magic.

“Storytellers must also be story listeners. Finding a story is the first step. Then the story should be studied and connected to its roots, whether an author, a cultures or a folk tradition. Proper storytelling etiquette requires giving credit to sources and respecting copyrights. Gradually the story takes on personal meanings within. Then the storyteller can begin to tell it as his or her own.”

Eldrbarry’s Joy of Story Listening
Note that this etiquette is EXTREMELY important when telling Australian Aboriginal stories! Aboriginal art and cultural icons have been so plundered and misappropriated, that storytellers need to be very diligent about seeking permission, researching the details of how the story is told traditionally and acknowledging the elders who gave permission to tell the story.

©Telling from the Heart©
You can have all the technique in the world, but if you are not telling from the heart, the audience won’t receive it from the heart. Telling from the heart helps keep you out of your head and can help short-circuit your self-critic too! ©©

Casting the golden net. As you tell your tale imagine you are casting a golden net over your audience.

Building a Repertoire
Personally, I recommend you choose a story for telling with your heart, not your head. Persist in your search for stories until you find the ones that resonate deeply within you, that enchant and delight you. (You may have to kiss many story frogs before you find your handsome prince or princess.) Then you have to choose the right story for the right audience and the right occasion!

Learning a Story: Write down the bare bones of the story- the structure including all the most important phrases and repetitions. Once you know the bones, put down your notes and begin retelling it in your own words out loud and filling in more detail- to the cat, to your self, in the car, to your children or supportive partner. Tell it again and again until you feel you’ve really got it.

Less is more: putting an oral story into your own words
In storytelling, generally speaking, less is more in terms of the way you put the story into words. The written word and the spoken word are experienced very differently. Listening to the spoken word is much more demanding of ones’ concentration than reading, and furthermore many modern children (and even some adults) have little practice in listening in this way. As we listen to the spoken word, we tend to want to imagine the details ourselves. This is why florid descriptions don’t USUALLY work as well with storytelling as with literature. The younger the audience, the more you need to ‘cut to the chase’ or stick to the action or they can literally lose the plot!

EXAMPLE: “The silk scarf was painted with luxurious turquoises and scarlets, aubergines and apricots, the softest blues and the most brilliant golds…” may sound more interesting at first than “It was the most beautiful and colourful scarf Molly had ever seen.” However, there is a totally different effect on the imagination. One tells us the colours and the other allows the listener to imagine the colours.
Of course there are always exceptions. Some authors have such a talent for painting a picture with an economy of words that evokes vivid detail or it is written in verse, that you may occasionally want to learn a story word perfect. You need to be respectful of copyright if you want to make money from such a performance, and always remember to acknowledge sources.

Challenge:
A) Choose a simple story of 5- 10 mins to work on over the next weeks. Preferably a simple story with a positive ending, but if another sort refuses to let go of you- so be it! Learn the plot or the bare bones of the story.
B) Tune into the essence of the story and pick 3 essential things it’s about that you might use as an introduction to intrigue listeners eg. “This is a story about a little girl, her grandma and a hungry wolf.”
C) Practice, practice practice: to the cat, to your self, in the car, to your children or supportive partner. Tell it again and again until you feel you’ve really got it.
D) Make sure you especially know word- perfect the beginning and the ending.
E) Join your local storytelling guild or form one with friends and dive in! Have fun!