•
•
•
•
•
• •
convey, with good self-esteem. If you get applause, receive it happily. What can you tell: Parables, wisdom stories, fables, jokes, anecdotes, fairy tales, myths, old legends and urban legends all constitute traditional material that has passed from mouth to mouth for centuries. It is yours; you own it together with all people of the world. It is an inexhaustible treasure, but make the story your own; do not copy the details. Your own memories, experiences, observations, life stories and family stories. This is perhaps the most important treasure of untold, unique stories. But be personal, do not be private. Site history: What has happened here? Are there site-specific stories like tales, ghost stories, anecdotes? And what are the stories about your school, your work or your company? How was it born? How did it overcome crises? What stories are in its successes? What anecdotes reflect its soul, purpose or vision? What values do you want to convey? Maybe you have a story about an object and its history. You can convey an interpretation of all this with your storytelling. Literature and author-written fairy tales: If the author is alive, you need to ask for permission. Beware that if there are storytellers who tell their own stories, they may have copyright. Facts: to weave facts into a story is fun and effective. Just do not forget the recipe for a story. Even a stone can be the main character; you just have to give it some human characteristics. Make stories yourself: anything can become a story. Let your imagination run free and pick up whatever comes to you. What you tell need not be in any way remarkable, unique or ingenious. Quite the contrary, tell with joy and dedication, that’s enough. That’s the best.
Where can I find stories? 1.
2.
Listen. Visit storytelling events. If the stories are traditional you can borrow them - but it is decorum to ask first, and then make the story your own. If you have the good fortune to live near a vibrant old storytelling culture, you are to be congratulated. Keep your ears wide open. Read. Search the children’s literature, folklore and religion sections at the library. Do you have books at home? Organise a small storytelling shelf where you can begin collecting books of stories. Look on the internet, there are hundreds of websites with stories. Try searching for multiple variations of a story, they provide many angles from which to approach the same tale.
3.
4.
5.
Interview relatives or elderly people. Ask them to share their stories. To get them started, you might ask them about objects or photographs. Ask about the details. Feed back to them in a friendly manner the last words they have said and they will continue. Tell jests, embarrassment or intricacies of your life or your business to someone, without ambition that it will be a “story”. Or write freely and unconditionally until you find a thread. Observe. Stop whenever you see something interesting at home, in town, in the woods; anywhere. Stories unfold everywhere!
How to remember stories? It is much easier to remember a story than you think. You are actually journeying inside it as you tell, going from place to place; so why should one forget that one is in a birch forest or that the curtains are yellow and move in the wind. We know how it looks and how it feels, because we are there while we tell. If you pick up memories of places and people in your own life, and secretly put them into your story it is even easier. usion of the interaction A focus on the story alone, to the excl es the point of storymiss ner, between the storyteller and the liste (S. Denning, 2001) telling.
“
”
But how will you remember ten stories, or thirty or a hundred? As you continue with storytelling, your repertoire will grow rapidly. You need to have your repertoire arranged, documented and readily available. Think through how you will organise it in the way that suits you. Recording stories when you tell them, or keeping the outlines in sketches or text, filing them in your computer or a binder. A small warning though, if you start writing down the stories “word for word”, you are moving into a different art form, and it can obstruct the orality of storytelling.
What are the storytellers’ tools? Among cultural workers the storyteller is unique; she creates her performance by herself from start to finish with some exceptions. Therefore, the list of tools is too long to fully detail in this manual, but each of the tools has a single purpose; to serve
53