For episode 5, please watch the video and then read Alison’s account of events.
How do you tell a good story?
What does a storyteller need to do in order to engage your attention?
Is it something about:
the way they move?
their voice?
their use of words and imagery?
the way they look at you?
the way they structure the story?
the way they show you how they feel?
A good storyteller knows how to draw you in: their attention to this (whether conscious or otherwise) is just as important as the content of what they’re saying.
Think of a recent experience – in any context – where someone has really engaged you by telling a story. What was it about the way they told it that made it work for you?
Esther Walker (Forum Interactive, esther@foruminteractive.co.uk).
It’s the “way you tell ‘em”. My Dad retold something that happened to him. He got lost in Leicester, where he was born and bred. He panicked and headed off in various wrong directions and was keeping my Mum informed using his mobile. The story had 2 angles – one from his point of view and one from my Mum’s. Both were engaging because they had the central part, they were engaged and we were. The stories were that good that when someone else came along we said “Dad, tell them about when you got lost”. He was the only one to tell his story. It was funny. There was use of humour, body language and we had a real sense of wanting to know what happened next.
Without the story teller having the central part the story would not really work. What do others think?
‘The Moth’ is a not-for-profit storytelling organisation. You can listen to dozens of great stories on their website at http://www.themoth.org/