More about Storytelling

How do we vary as Storytellers?

We tell stories to a live audience via the spoken word, and without notes.

As oral storytellers, we vary in:

• the types of story we tell – folk, traditional, literary, personal, wisdom, funny, historic and many more
• our purposes when we tell – entertain, convey insight, express ourselves, inspire, discover and such
• the occasions and settings where we tell – regular story sharing meetings, concerts, festivals.
• the way we prepare and adapt to bring a story to life - each in our own way
• Members who tell professionally and those in the wider community of professional storytellers may vary even more in these aspects.

What is our take on storytelling?

We view telling stories orally as an performing art form. All people possess storytelling skills to some degree, by virtue of possessing speech or access to its alternatives.

Accordingly, we acknowledge that storytelling can range from a hesitant recount of an anecdote over a family meal to a full blown solo concert performance requiring sustained preparation, and underpinned by great artistry and skill.

While we recognise the value of using notes in public speaking, our standard practice at meetings is NOT to use notes for storytelling. Similarly, while we value reading aloud from a book as a skill and art in its own right, we do NOT promote reading aloud as oral storytelling.

Beginners might start with a simple story, even a joke and practice before telling it to the group.

Occasionally, by arrangement, a story is read as part of the performance because it's languaging is significant or too difficult to learn at the Tellers current skill level, but rarely!