hello everybody it's Mara the
storyteller here again and in this
little video we are actually going to be
looking at how to tell a story
now when you are telling a story the
last thing you want is for people to be
Bored. Nope you don't want that at all
that is a terrible, terrible feeling to
have when you are telling a story
but there is a simple way of fixing it
choose a story that you love. Yup that's
It. Choose a story that you love or be
passionate about the story if you're
making the story up on the spot. Just be
Alive. Feel it, want to tell it - because if
you're not interested in the story
you're not going to tell it in an
interesting way and people will see that,
and people will feel that, and people
will be bored. So
how do we choose the story? Well I
suppose if you're going to be telling a
story - say we're going to tell a story
about home –
think about what that means to you
maybe it's a memory story, so think about
something that happened a long time ago
or maybe not that long ago but maybe a
little story, an experience that you had
that really meant something to you
maybe it's something that you felt very
very strongly - you went through a
particular experience and you were very
excited by it or maybe it was something
that made you so so happy and you can
feel the joy even to this very day.
Maybe it was something that made you
quite nervous, quite anxious.
Maybe it was something that filled you
with fear and yet because you're here
and because you're watching this you got
through it somehow so think of an
experience that you went through where
you felt a lot of emotion
sometimes those are the best stories
that we can start telling because people
want to hear everything. How did you get
into that situation in the first place?
what were the events that unfolded and
led here and led there and then suddenly
well, what happens what happens in your
Story? how did you get through it when
you went through this great period of
Excitement? how did it end? did you finish
still feeling excited or had your
emotions shifted?
think about that experience very very
clearly carefully and like in the first
video think about all the things that
you can remember about that particular
experience and put yourself at the very
very centre of it
now when you're telling a story a lot of
things can often happen quite naturally,
quite instinctively. It's as if we just
know how to tell a story but sometimes a
little bit of help is required and for
me there are three things that I think
about when I'm creating a story.
When i want to tell a story I have to
think about
this
My face. because your face is so
important when you're telling a story.
Imagine if you go to watch a film or
listen to a storyteller and they are on
the screen - the person is telling the
story and their face never really
Changes. So once upon a time there was
a little monkey and the monkey lived in
a forest..
You're bored already aren't you? Yeah.
So think about how the expressions you
can use and change.
That will draw your audience in. So you
could tell them:
Once upon a time there was a little girl
and she lived in a village with her
grandmother and one day she heard a
Terrible, terrible noise. It was loud.
There was clanging and cluttering and
banging and shaking and shouting and she
was terrified and she ran to her
grandmother
granny
something is wrong what's going on
you see that?
yeah bring your expressions in
Let people see the emotion on your face and
when they see the emotion on your face
then they are also going to feel that emotion.
Imagine all the times that you
might have watched a film
and just because of what you see
happening on the screen
you really feel sad with the actors or
if there's a great action scene you get
caught up in that moment and sometimes
you might even be able to imagine that
you too could be a superhero one day
If you try hard enough you too can fly and
it's purely because of the expressions
that you are seeing on the faces of the
people in front of you, so maybe that's
something that you can practice.
Think about an emotion. If it's happiness
what does happy look like? your eyes
your eyebrows, your smile.
If you're scared
again what does that look like?
what if you're disgusted by something?
Grimace, turn up your nose
play with your eyebrows. I can only lift
One, I can't lift the other one but maybe
you can, so experiment. Find a mirror and
just play. Have a little bit of fun
testing out the different facial
expressions that you can make.
The second thing that i think about is
the use of my
voice.
When you're telling a story, again
even if you're changing your expressions
if your voice stays exactly the same
well that's not fun either it's too
monotonous it's far too boring and you
do not want to be a boring storyteller
and so use your voice.
Play around with the speed of it because
when you go faster it makes people feel
that they're caught up in action, there's
something exciting about to happen and
then
if you slow it right down
and maybe if you change the way that
you're speaking it adds an element of
danger or perhaps an element of
mystery..
Put in some different sound effects if
you're talking about water and you could
talk about a river and the river was
rushing
or maybe it was raining and it clattered
you could even hit your hands on your
legs make that loud rainy thundery sound.
So play around with how you can use your
voice
if you're taking on a different
Character, if you're telling a story
about your grandmother or there was
somebody else in the village or maybe
there was the shopkeeper who lived
across the street
- play around with their voices too
You could say and the shopkeeper would
always speak with a particular voice
maybe the shopkeeper had a very very
very low voice or maybe a very very high
voice so play around with it and have
some fun when you tell it. Again that's
something that you can play around with
when you're not even telling the story.
Have fun, chase it and experiment with
your friends. Play around with the way
that you can use your voice. Think about
the volume. If you're loud it makes
things seem bigger but
if you're quiet it makes people really
really want to listen very carefully so
sometimes if it's something important
you really don't need to make it loud to
have an impact. Sometimes softly softly
is the best way.
Now the third thing, and this wraps all
of these things together, is the way we
use [whoosh] our physicality! Our bodies!
You see, sometimes not everybody is
comfortable being a big storyteller
a powerful storyteller and playing around
and standing up and using their arms.
Sometimes the very best storytellers are
actually quite still
but just because they're being still
does not mean they are not using their bodies
because they might be using their hands
in a certain way
they might use their finger in a certain
way the way. They way stroke their chin
might also mean something to the story
whenever you use your body be very very
clear about what you're doing.
Be intentional. If you're just telling a
story and you're using your hands and
you're waving them around here and there
it can actually be a little bit
Distracting, don't you think?
But if you stop and then suddenly you bring
your arms when you're telling a part of
the story then people, oh,
they get drawn into what you're saying
I'm in kenya right now and the other day
I saw an elephant standing at the side
of the road and if I wanted to tell
somebody about that, I would say yes
We're driving along and then there was
this huge elephant at the side of the
Road. So that's an appropriate place
where i can use a big action.
A big movement.
So whenever you're thinking about
telling a story or whenever you are
performing your story, be aware of how
you're using your body. Sometimes you can
stand up, you can make yourself bigger
and sometimes you can shrink yourself
very very
tiny and small
and that can be quite fun too.
In fact the more you can change the more
you can bring in different characters
the more that you can use
your shoulders and you can bend over and
you can become that little old lady who
lives in a small tiny house and she is
full of magic…
So use your expressions your voice and
your physicality and bring them all
together and when those things
lock into place
then you have a good story, and your
audience will be eating out of the palm