Storytelling

1
Storytelling

• "Story" is a universal mirror that shows us the
  truth about ourselves--who and why we are.
• Norma Livo and Sandra Rietz, Storytelling
  Process and Practice

2
Universal MirrorLivo and Rietz

• We see daily routine and mundane circumstance
  transformed into something profound
• "Story" takes the ordinary and binds it into all
  of human existence, revealing the significance of
  the trivial.

3
Universal Mirror Livo and Rietz

• Through "story" we can transcend the experience
  of daily living and know ourselves as more
  enduring than the little occurrences than mark
  our individual existences.
• Inside "story" we can accept pain,find justice,
  and experience exaltation.

4
Universal Mirror Livo and Rietz

• Inside"story" we can recognize and understand
  our own motivations, because we are the people in
  the stories
• When we enter into "story" we find the story
  inside ourselves.
• "Story" defines humanity.

5
Story

• Structure
• way of presenting that is different than
  information, description, illustration
• easier to remember because structured
• Personal--we identify
• commonality of experience extended
• we are part of the group
• provides order and meaning

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Understanding the human need for stories. Bill
Johnson http//www.storyispromise.com/

• A story is a world where every character, every
  action, every story element has meaning and
  purpose.
• fundamentally different from life,
• life offers facts and ideas that don't
  necessarily have a clear meaning
• events that generate emotional states that have
  no clear resolution
• events engage the senses, but not in a
  meaningful, fulfilling way.
• Real life, then, can be chaotic, or appear to
  lack a desirable purpose and meaning

7
Understanding the human need for stories. Bill
Johnson http//www.storyispromise.com/

• we can never predict the outcome of any action or
  series of actions.
• Most people have a need for something that
  assigns a desirable, discernible meaning and
  purpose to life.
• This is what a story does.
• A story promises its audience a dramatic journey
  that offers resolution and fulfillment of
  life-like issues, events and human needs.
• We organize the chaos of life

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Who Tells

• First person
• Narrator
• Authority
• Producer

9
Should Have

• Timeliness
• Proximity
• Significance
• Conflict
• Prominence
• human interest
• Make clear why it is worthwhile

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Structure

• Beginning--set up
• Middle--conflict or problem
• End--resolution
• Hero--with whom audience can identify

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Structure

• Conflict--
• with a nemesis
• Self
• society
• Plot-- the series of events
• Theme--moral of the story
• Denouement--order and harmony

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How to tell it

• Showing is preferable to telling
• Begin powerfully
• unfold events
• reflect the plot and the theme
• through behavior reveal the character and
  conflict
• Keep it simple
• Characters unique

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How to tell it

• Modulate tempo, mood
• Emphasize relationships
• Unpredictable

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What its aboutBill Johnsonhttp//www.storyispro
mise.com/

• A storyteller should to be able to perceive what
  a story is about at its deepest level, and how to
  move that to a resolution that offers fulfillment
  to a story's audience.
• Understand what about the movement of a story
  engages the interest, the needs of an audience.
• Create a dramatic movement of a story toward its
  fulfillment.
• Every element of a story works together in its
  characters, plot, environment and ideas to make
  vivid and potent a story's world.

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What its aboutBill Johnsonhttp//www.storyispro
mise.com/

• At its heart, a story must have an issue at stake
  that is of consequence to the story's audience.
• Something the members of the audience will desire
  to experience in a state of resolution and
  fulfillment.
• Love. Courage. Redemption. Renewal.
• Some issue that revolves around the aching need
  of humans to feel they matter, that they have a
  place in the world.