Tell Me Something Good

Hi, hey, hello…! Can I tell you something? by Bryce Barraza

Hi, hey, hello…! Can I tell you something?

I’ve recently been exploring how best to incorporate dialogue into my stories. Hearing myself use dialogue sometimes makes me feel like I’m listening to my voice on an answering machine. It just doesn’t sound right in my head.

In effort to feel more confident with my incorporation and delivery of dialogue in my stories, I worked to better understand it’s purpose. Dialogue is more than just two characters talking –or so I have learned. 

Dialogue is an opportunity for the storyteller to demonstrate. Dialogue allows the storyteller to transform from the narrator into the characters of the story. When leveraging dialogue, the storyteller is in the position to demonstrate not only the words of a character, but also can demonstrate the physical behaviors and provide insight to the emotions and internal thoughts of the character.

Dialogue can shift the audience’s point of view. D. Bauer describes dialogue as bringing the listener in closer to the characters. For example, if you are sitting in a restaurant, you may see and observe the couple sitting at the table next to you. But you may find your attention drawing closer to the couple as you catch part of their conversation. D. Bauer describes this shift in attention with a quote by Eudora Welty, “Think of your ears as magnets.” A storyteller can use description to adequately create an image of a setting and the character, but the use of dialogue brings the audience’s view in closer to observe the characters.

Dialogue should drive the story forward. Does the dialogue provide additional context, enhance the audience’s understanding of the characters, or contribute to the advancement of the plot? If not, consider whether the dialogue is necessary. Given the ability of dialogue to demonstrate and shift point of view, you may not need to emphasize the characters in this given moment of the story for the audience. A brief description may be adequate. Consider the intent of the dialogue –know why the characters are about to say what you will demonstrate.

Delivery of dialogue. So, with a better understanding of how dialogue can enhance a story, what about the whole ‘answering machine’ thing? L. Packer offers considerations that I find helpful for my personal use of dialogue:

·        Use body language. Shifting your physical stance can help differentiate between characters, as opposed to voices. You can also use body language in place of words. E.g., a shrug of the shoulders can represent the phrase, “I don’t know.”

·        Be careful with voices. Is the voice appropriate for you to use for the character? And secondly, can you be consistent and differentiate enough throughout your story? Don’t let the voice detract from the intent of the dialogue. In fact, it’s okay to use your voice.

One more thought. E. Ellis notes, “It is far more interesting to hear two characters in a story talking to one another than it is to receive a lecture full of abstract facts.” My thought is that storytellers probably want their stories to be interesting and entertaining… right? Dialogue, when incorporated and delivered well, enhances the audience’s connection with the story. So, I’ll keep practicing.

Sources

Bauer, D. (2006). The Stuff of Fiction: Advice on Craft: Vol. Rev. & ed. University of Michigan Press.

Ellis, E. (2012). From Plot to Narrative. Parkhurst Brothers Inc.

Packer, L. (2019). From Audience to Zeal: The ABCs of Finding; Crafting and Telling a Great Story. The Small-Tooth-Dog Publishing Group.  

It's Never Too Late by Guy McIntosh

I find myself in a place where moving forward in life is very important. For years now I have wondered what type of legacy I will leave behind for our future generations. Not so much monetary but historically as to our name and our life choices.

In the last several years, I had some medical issues that eventually led to a three-month hospital stay. During this trying time for my family and myself, I was placed in an induced coma with all the life-saving techniques a modern hospital could apply. With that, I still contracted encephalitis among other life changing issues. After I was released, a series of physical and occupational therapy sessions lasting 16 months were necessary to get back to a “regular” lifestyle. Understandably, my desire to move forward is very important for my family and myself.

So, I recently enrolled in a storytelling class at South Mountain Community College. I did this so I may be able to understand not only how to tell a story, but how to write a story. My desire is to pass some of my life's experiences to my kids and their kids. 

At the age of 69, I had never been to college other than a brief nine-month stint at culinary school. The college process is very foreign to me. I seem to remember teachers were somewhat scary and they made me do things, like study.  (The Nerve!)

My first class we were introduced to the affirmation process of learning. Although I had applied this process to raising children, working with employees and in various communicative ways, I was perplexed. I remember school as being competitive with lots of pressure, not self-imposed, but by the process of learning.

I soon found out the storytelling class was a very comfortable no pressure way of learning. A relief fell over me like a cool sheet on a hot bed. So, here I am reading, studying, and listening to stories by other story tellers, interacting with students and the teacher, who by the way, is not some scary figure in front of class.

I am learning and re-learning words, meeting new people, and enjoying reading stories that I never thought would be interesting. I think to myself, “It's funny: This is not how I remember High School.”

As they say, it's never too late!

Thanks to all my classmates and Liz Warren.

The Mulla and Me by Diana Dinshaw

Idries Shah in his book The Sufis says, ‘Superficially, most of the Nasrudin stories may be used as jokes . . . But it is inherent in the Nasrudin story that it may be understood at any one of many depths. There is the joke, the moral- and the little extra which brings the consciousness of the potential mystic a little further on the way to realization.’

For the Fall 2023 semester, I decided to take Personal Storytelling at the Storytelling Institute again because I had first taken the class a long time ago and I wanted to add more personal stories to my repertoire.

The first time I took the class was in Fall 2017. At that time, I was new to storytelling and now when I reflect back to the stories I told it was just an exercise. While there was some crafting there was not much art. The telling of the stories while enjoyable to the listeners felt superficial to me. Since then, I have told those stories again and again. In fact, I told one of the stories at my Storytelling Graduation Ceremony in May 2023. While the plot of the story was the same the story felt completely different. Like a Nasrudin (often referred to as Mulla) story, my story had gained some depth. 

I have very few personal stories in my repertoire, and these have been told many times. Wanting to increase the number of personal stories in my repertoire I decided to take the class again and crafting personal stories continued to be challenging for me. I can read through a list of prompts and while the prompts may trigger a memory here or there nothing sticks long enough to reach that depth from which I would want to craft it into a story. And even if some idea gets past that phase I get stumped by the question, “Why do I want to tell this story?”

Then a discussion in class about universal themes ignited a thought. What if I explored universal themes to prompt story ideas? Austin Valenzuela in his article “What is a Universal Theme”’, explains that a universal theme is that which resonates with the characteristics of all humanity. It includes ideas that are adaptable and recurring throughout time and human experience. Just the fact that the story was emerging from a universal theme would be enough to answer my, “Why do I want to tell this story?” question. 

So, I started searching the internet for what are some recurring universal themes. As you can imagine I found many. Paul Jenkins’ blog as the title Universal Themes: 180 Examples for Literature and LifeLinks to an external site. suggests has 180 examples. Below are some that resonated with me and I feel that may lead to the crafting of a story or two:

• Overcoming obstacles
• Transition to adulthood
• Grief and loss
• Living in the moment
• Parent relationship
• Sibling rivalry
• Value of friendship
• Accepting fate
• Fond memories
• Embracing change
• Seizing the moment
• Method in madness
• Cultural misunderstandings

When I look back at the personal stories in my repertoire I can relate a universal theme to each of them. And this brings me back to Idries Shah’s description of Nasrudin stories. While my stories may have seemed superficial to me they still held a deeper universal theme. And as I grow as a storyteller, I hope I can appreciate that little extra that is inherent in the stories.

Learn more about Diana here.

The image of Nasrudin at the top of the post can be found here.

Leaning In to the Affirmative Coaching Process by Stephen Lazer

I came into this class suspicious of the affirmative coaching process. This is not to say I looked down upon it or thought negatively of it. It is, simply, far from how I usually think of providing or receiving feedback and wanted to see it in action. I can say that the affirmative coaching process has won me over.

Before presenting my first story about my grandparents and their clock, I was concerned it wasn’t going to be very good. I had never told a “personal story” in the way we mean that term in this class. I still wasn’t entirely sure what a personal story was. We’d had two weeks of introduction, sure, so I understood the theory and the concept, but I didn’t yet really know. I generally don’t feel comfortable with a new activity or a new practice until I’ve completed it at least once. There are so many ways to prepare stories, and so many ways to tell them. Was I actually doing it the right way for me? I knew I shouldn’t write it out like a script, but I always do when lecturing. Sure, some of my lecture “notes” are a few bullet points only, but at least there’s something to hold on to and to look at if I feel I am getting lost. I knew well the story I wanted to tell, I just didn’t know if it would come out the way I wanted it to.

Having others go before me, most if not all of whom had already taken storytelling classes, was a huge help for me. I learned I didn’t have to worry about how long the story was; stories had taken between 5 and over 15 minutes to that point. I learned—because hearing and reading the lesson wasn’t enough, I needed to see it—that all the different ways one could tell a story were welcome. And I learned that I didn’t really have to worry about the outcome. All the stories were good and all the comments were positive and supportive. What really struck me was how often a teller was worried about a tic or some other habit, and we not only didn’t mind it, we generally believed it helped the story by lending it authenticity.

So when I went to tell my first story, I was nervous but not worried. I could feel confident that my classmates would be genuinely supportive. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that basic comfort took a weight off of my shoulders. I could relax because even if the story wasn’t perfect, it was still my story. If I forgot some elements, there had been other short stories. If I rambled, there had been other long stories. Not every element of a story has to contribute to the bottom line as long as it adds color. That comfort allowed my story to flow as if I were in a normal social setting, and therefore I did not need any notes. The Affirmative Coaching Process allowed me to just talk. And I’m very good at that.