Tag: respond to audience

  • Heart-Lifting for Disheartening Times – Storytelling Brings JOY

    Heart-Lifting for Disheartening Times – Storytelling Brings JOY

    It’s all so overwhelming and it seems everyone is tired, discouraged, maybe angry or cynical or depressed, maybe confused or disheartened…just weary. Each day during this April A-Z Blogging Challenge I’ll offer a short musing on an aspect or two of the many ways the ancient-yet-very-contemporary experience of storytelling – both listening…

  • Why Tell Ghost Stories? – At Halloween or Any Time?!

    Why Tell Ghost Stories? – At Halloween or Any Time?!

    [Re-activating my blog by sharing a favorite one from the past on this Halloween…] When I was a child, my favorite holiday was Halloween. Not because of the candy – though I certainly enjoyed the Tootsie Rolls and Snickers and yes, candy corn. No, it was the atmosphere of it…

  • Limits, Time Limits

    Limits, Time Limits

    Story slams impose a pretty strict limit on the length of stories told. [Theme for this A-Z April Daily Blogging Challenge: “Story Slams & Traditional Storytelling – Bridging the Distance”] Five minutes seems to be typical (as does an additional grace period of a half-minute or a minute). But the…

  • Descriptions / Definitions

    Descriptions / Definitions

    “Story slam.” “Traditional storytelling.” What do these even mean?! [Theme for this month: “Story Slams & Traditional Storytelling – Bridging the Distance”]

  • 6 Ways TEACHING Storytelling Helps One be a Better Storyteller

    6 Ways TEACHING Storytelling Helps One be a Better Storyteller

    The Set-Up I recently had a whirlwind gig: Designing and giving a one-hour training to 350 museum volunteers, to equip them to tell pre-selected traditional stories as part of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s upcoming “Mythic Creatures” exhibit.

  • “All the Words I Cannot Write”…Oral Stories / Written Stories

    “All the Words I Cannot Write”…Oral Stories / Written Stories

    All the Light We Cannot See  Have you ever heard, or read, a story that filled you so very, very, very full…of thoughts, emotions, responses, images…? A story you hear told aloud…a written novel you hold in your hands…both are so similar to, and so different from, each other. Both…

  • Storytelling – and World Cup Soccer!

    Storytelling – and World Cup Soccer!

    I’ve been watching wa-a-a-ay too much soccer lately… Well, no, not too much soccer! I love “the beautiful game,” and actually never get to watch enough of it, since my kids grew up and my soccer mom days are mostly just great memories now – and I love watching the…

  • YouTube “Storytelling”…?

    YouTube “Storytelling”…?

    It can be wonderful to see recorded examples of storytelling… But storytelling on YouTube is only a “report” of a storytelling experience – very different from the live experience itself. Just like… A lovely photograph of a location may be beautiful all on its own. It might motivate you to…

  • Story Versions

    Story Versions

    Being able to deliver different versions of a story to different audiences… This is an important and valuable ability – both in terms of “stretching your repertoire,” and of respecting and responding to your audiences! As an example: There is a beautiful story from Israel I like to tell, that…

  • Respond in Real-Time (Reprising a favorite blog post from March)

    Respond in Real-Time (Reprising a favorite blog post from March)

    Responding to your audience, to the real-time circumstances around you – – this is one of storytelling’s most distinguishing characteristics. (This is what especially differentiates storytelling from theater, such as a monologue or “one-person play.”)