What Makes You a Great Storyteller?
By Maria MianThe art of storytelling, a skill we all possess but only some have mastered. Storytelling exists in all cultures as a way to entertain, teach morals, and to transfer knowledge and memories to future generations. It is a tradition as old as humanity itself. Storytelling as a technique can be used in different media. It can be verbal, written, or visual. Verbal storytelling is often used in teaching, lecturing, in podcasts, during TedTalks and of course, when we want to entertain our friends during dinners, weddings and parties.
Many storytellers have the talent of engulfing their listeners into a hypnosis as if they’re in the story, experiencing every moment. But how do they accomplish this? After all, everyone has told a story at some point in their life. But what makes some stories stand out more than others? The answer, put simply, is how the story is told. You must enclose your audience in an eloquent trance that makes them forget a world exists outside your narrative. You must spin your tale in a way that the audience's attention remains in the cusps of your hands from the first word to the last. Let me show you how to do that.
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Listen
So you're still reading the blog? Looks like I have you hooked on my story, haha! When you want to improve your verbal storytelling skills you need to perfect your listening skills first. Listening gives you an opportunity to observe how others vocalize their narrative. Do they use different tones or variation in language? How do they keep the audience's attention encapsulated? A trick I’d like to share with you is to go to a cafe, order a coffee and pretend to mind your own business while eavesdropping on other people's conversations, respectfully. Don’t forget to take notes!
Follow the recipe and add your secret ingredient
I believe telling a story is like following a recipe. You need the ingredients, including but not limited to: conflict, character, catalyst, change, and goal. If you have all the ingredients and follow all the steps you will finish with a splendid result. It will take a few tries to perfect the procedure but you’re definitely on the right track. If you miss out on a few ingredients or skip a few steps you will still get an end product, but your cake will sag. However, there is always room for improvement, addition, subtraction and a whole lot of trial-and-error. Developing your style for strong storytelling is a process and with refinement and adjustments will lead to promising results.
Often when we are making a recipe we have a secret ingredient, something that blends all the flavours together into a heavenly masterpiece. In storytelling, I believe the secret ingredient is not only the most important but also the first ingredient you need. That ingredient is none other than your passion for the topic of the story. A passion can be anything; a dream job, a hobby, a skill, a cause or anything special that flips your frown upside down. Your passion is something you enjoy and in the process of storytelling, your goal is to spread your passion to your audience. Your enthusiasm should be so contagious that at the end of your tale, you leave your audience inspired and with a new perspective on the subject of your story.
Paint a picture
“As I write this blogpost I am seated on a two seater swing in my backyard. Placed on my lap is a notebook full of snow white paper ready to be filled with words. I look up and there's a plum tree with its elongated branches embellished with small flourishing plum buds. The sun's rays are beaming on the right side of my face creating a dark silhouette. As the golden globe dips below the horizon, the birds return home, chirping their rhythmic tune. Next door, the children's laughter fades away as they finish their game of tag. The world is slowly coming to a rest, to relax and enjoy the evening, entering a night's slumber and waking up again at the crack of dawn”.
Although a bit short, this excerpt attempts to help the listener visualize the story's setting by using details to create a familiar scene of a sunset.
Know your audience
Let's talk about the people that will judge your recipe. Yes that's right, your audience! When telling a story, it is important to identify your audience. A story told to a group of children will be told in a very different manner than a story told to a group of adults. A story told to a child would need simple language with a few funny words, expressions and even a bit of amateur acting mixed with various changes in voice for each character. On the other hand, adults have outgrown the high-pitched voices and crazy plots. A more calm and focused approach would be a better fit with a witty joke once in a while. The goal here is to understand who your audience is and cater your delivery of the story accordingly. All throughout ensuring the audience is engaged and on the edge of their seats digesting every word.
The Formula
Now that you’ve identified your audience it's time to formulate your story accordingly. Every story needs a plot, a series of events that lead to an end result (or cliffhanger), all throughout having the listener wondering what will happen next. Your plot should be connected to ensure there are no gaps, allowing the story to flow with ease. The plot can really be anything from an adventure to a mysterious island or your personal journey from struggling in school to becoming the successful person you are today. The plot coupled with other elements of tone and vocabulary will keep your audience hitched to the narrative.
To be more clear and concise, let's create a formula that you can always use by plugging in your details to structure your inspiring tale. The formula begins with a main idea, a key message that you want your audience to resonate and reflect with at the end of your performance. The next part of the formula is the characters. Who are the protagonist, antagonist, dynamic and static characters? How do the characters develop throughout the story? And most importantly, how do we connect the audience to the characters? Moving along, the next part of the formula is setting, something that reflects your story appropriately. Don't worry, we’re almost done as the heavier calculations are out of the way. Now we’re left with the easier aspects of vocabulary, using words to paint pictures and teleporting your audience into the story. And last but certainly not the least, using different tones throughout your narrative to ensure the audience is intrigued and hooked from the first word to the last. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to apply the formula!
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels
Theme
The theme, put simply, is the central message of the narrative. What is the storyteller trying to teach the audience? Is it to never give up? Or with patience comes beautiful things? Or that inequalities and violence have put the world in a never ending loop of injustice? A story can have multiple themes, some more deeply expressed then others. Nonetheless, the theme is what resides with your audience. The message of your tale should have your listeners reflecting and ruminating the overall meaning of the work. This is one of the many perks of being a storyteller, as by sharing your story, you inspire many, leading to the development of diverse ideas that help us get one step closer in making the world a more happy and positive place.
Characters
The next key ingredient for incredible storytelling is characters. To develop a character is an art in itself. But to keep it sweet and simple we shall drop the most important tips. The character is a person that will create a bond between you, the storyteller and your audience. It is a bridge between the teller and the listener which is why the stronger it’s built, the better. When developing a character you must again keep your audience in mind. Are you talking to a group of curious kids, rebellious teenagers or adults that need a relaxing break? This will help you craft your characters so they possess similar characteristics as the audience, creating that relatable link.
Another aspect that would be nice to see is more diversity in characters. Over the years there has been more acknowledgement of the diversity in individuals through race, gender, culture, ability, etc. Their debut in stories can be beneficial to further strengthen the connection between the audience. Lastly, your main characters need some type of development. Development is what keeps the audience wanting to know what happens next to the characters. How do they overcome the conflict? What challenges do they face and what strategies do they use to overcome them? The audience and character bond should be so strong that there is empathy and understanding throughout the entire story and the emotions flow from one party to another.
Vocabulary
Now that we have established the key elements of the story, it is time to add the finishing details. The first component being vocabulary. The words you convey should echo in the ears of your audience. Now that doesn't mean you have to be a master in the thesaurus. It just means that your choice of words should fit your narrative. If it's an adventurous journey, action words such as amplify, heroic, revamp, are your friends. While the story on how you conquered mental health may opt for a more sombre choice of vocab such as humility, hope and patience. Words should trigger an emotion which fuels once again the connection between the speaker and the listener. The sounds that come out of your mouth should spark feelings of interest and comfort in the listener, causing their curiosity to increase and make them want to hear more. Words are also used to paint the story, stroking details and breathing the setting and surroundings to life. Details are a great way to help the listeners visualize the scenes of the story as they progress. This leads to better engagement and assists in once again enveloping the audience into the story, making it seem as if they are reliving what is being told. The coupled effects of visual and auditory details of the story is what establishes a memorable tale.While vocabulary and multiple tonal shifts keep the audience hooked and on the edge of their seats in constant suspense of what will happen next.
The Journey Awaits
Just like how I've kept you, the reader, hooked to this blog till the end. Look at you, an aspiring story teller with a growing hunger to improve and refine your magical speech. Now that you’ve read the blog, I hope you learned some key components and have started thinking about ways to improve your storytelling style. As mentioned previously, storytelling is a process and with practice and revision you will get better. But wait, before you embark on your storytelling journey, here’s one last piece of motivation. The process may be long and tedious, but the ultimate gift of inspiring and empowering others is the most valuable treasure of all. All the best on your story telling quest!
