Creating Connections One Story at a Time
FOR STORYTELLERS
Do you have a story for one of our upcoming themes?
If you want to tell a story consider these tips:
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Tell a true (personal) story
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Choose a story that has meaning to you
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Organize your story with a beginning, middle, ending ~ and a point
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Know your first and last line
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You can start in the action (middle) and set up the stakes
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Make the story succinct and have the point be obvious – but your method of getting to the point may be surprising and have punch
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Add lots of details so that listeners can picture themselves in the story
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Get your body and emotions into the story
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Don't worry about being funny or serious or both; just be yourself
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A good time to get serious is right after a laugh
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Don't memorize, just remember an outline, your beginning, ending and a few lines of plot; storytelling is an oral art, not a literary recital
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Stick to the 10 minute time limit
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There will be reminders when you need to start wrapping up and when it’s time to stop
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Don't rant; this is a place for stories, not lectures or diatribes
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Relax, breathe, play
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Take time to finish. Look at people, smile, and enjoy their appreciation -- it's their chance to give you something back
Odyssey Storytelling Series schedules a rehearsal for each month's storytellers the week before the event. The rehearsal lasts about two hours and is an opportunity to run through the stories, get feedback, and to meet the other storytellers. We offer lots of support and guidance.
Want to be a storyteller? Check out the Calendar for the themes and contact us.
Penelope Starr ~ 520-730-4112 Penelope@Odysseystorytelling.com
Adam Hostetter, Adam@Odysseystorytelling.com
Sarah K. Smith, Sarah@Odysseystorytelling.com
San Francisco, New York City, Jonesborough, Tennessee, Baltimore, and Tucson, Arizona. What do these places have in common?
They all are home to storytelling events that entertain, educate, touch, and amuse - the audience and the teller. You could call it the newest addition to the spoken word scene or a compelling form of personal communication as ancient as language itself. Or both.
What these storytelling events share is a devotion to the art of the personal story. Odyssey Storytelling Series creates a safe space where people feel comfortable telling their stories.
More information about storytelling can be found at Porchlight (San Francisco), Stoop Storytelling (Baltimore), Portland Story Theater (Portland), The Moth (New York), National Storytelling Festival (Jonesborough, Tn), Storyteller.net (online).
"Doesn't the telling of something always become a story? . . . Isn't telling about something - using words . . . - already something of an invention? Isn't just looking upon this world already something of an invention?" ~Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Re-Directing Butterflies
Carolyn Kurr from Listen With Carolyn summed up Penelope’s theory:
“Penelope coaches the tellers and has developed a new way of thinking about stage fright. (in other words - Butterflies run amok!)
This is how it works - you change your focus.
How do you feel when you are afraid?
How do you feel when you are excited?
They both feel much the same way.
Stage fright is simply excitement with a negative expectation.
Change your focus.
Enjoy your excitement with a positive expectation.”
Intensive preparation and improvising are two sides of the same coin. If you know your story well, you can riff on it without losing the thread or the focus
Ken Revehaugh
