Here are some tips for skillful storytelling. Start off by Visualising the story! Imagine the sounds, tastes, smells, textures and colours in the story. It is only when you experience the story vividly yourself that your audience can experience it! Experience your story until the characters become as real to you as the people and places you know in real life. Read the story again with concentration.
Use repetitions & rhythm. Listen to great storytellers and watch how they do it. Whenever possible attend live storytelling events.
Dramatise. Part of the magic of stories is that the storyteller enjoys it as much as those listening to the story. As you tell the story, try to ‘feel’ yourself into the characters. How do you show how they feel – scared, confused, amazed, brutal, angry, sly, etc? Use your face, body, voice to dramatise the emotions they are going through.
Use Sound effects. Because stories paint word pictures and use sound, rhythm and repetition, you should concentrate on visual and audio aspects. You can either absorb the rhythm and arrangement of the sounds or assemble it into a series of visual pictures like a cartoon. Making funny sounds, like someone crying or a squeaking door makes the story come alive.
Don’t try to memorise the story. Learn the whole story rather then reducing its structure to a sequence of scenes. Absorb the style of the story. This will include recurring characteristic phrases, sentence structure and expressions.
Practice. Tell the story often to anyone who will listen. Focus on using imagination and all your skills to make it come alive. Remember, a story comes to life only when you realise that storytelling is something to be shared by both the storyteller and the listeners. If you are totally convinced and embroiled in the story, your listeners will be too.
Working your audience. Working your audience involves ‘leading’ their feelings by projecting your feelings and emotions onto them as you tell the story. The minds of the audience are your canvas. Your presence and words are the brushes and colours with which you will paint the pictures for them. Working your audience is not easy. People live in a world of information overload and mass communication. You’ll need to keep your audience involved and stimulated each step of the way by making it relevant to them. You will need to do this by exciting their senses with words so they will feel, smell, touch and see vivid pictures. Describe the characters and settings and help them empathise with the characters’ feelings.
Delivery. When you deliver your story, take care that you pay close attention to the following:
Enthusiasm be enthusiastic about the story
Emphasis use voice, gestures and pause to emphasise key elements
Repetition use repetition, especially in the same tone of voice to create and reinforce moods
Tension use your voice to create atmosphere and increase tension as the story progresses. Remember that periods of silence are often more powerful than words.
Immersion plunge your entire being into telling the story
Animation Stories are much more interesting when the teller animates it by adding variety in his/her voice, gestures, facial expressions and movement. Gestures and facial expressions, if properly used and practised, will add much to the visualisation of the story. However, you must ensure they are appropriate and natural. Practise these in front of a mirror and then try them out in front of friends and ask for their feedback when you know you are getting good at it.
Pacing – the volume and rate at which you speak relating to the progression of the story’s action. Like silence, talking in a hushed voice at times brings your audience closer to you.
Transition when a wordscape changes, emphasise the point of transition by changing your voice, intonation and posture.
Be yourself relax. Develop a style that is uniquely you and be comfortable with it. Also, don’t worry about how people are receiving the story while it is being told and don’t worry how they think about you. Just let it flow….
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