Just tell it! That’s what I have been pushing myself to do this season. I have a real discomfort with telling personal stories. Like a lot of people, I thought my little world just isn't that interesting. Why would anyone want to hear stories from my life? I’m a rather ordinary person and I have lived a rather ordinary life. I come from a dysfunctional family – but I don’t always want to wallow in that mess. I’ve been a high school teacher forever, but I don’t always want to tell school-related stories. So, what do I tell?
I have for the past six months been attending a story group – East Valley Tellers of Tales that meets once a month. I set the goal that I would tell at each meeting. Where to get ideas? At EVTOT we play with simple prompts or icebreakers to get people to share spontaneously. Some members can weave a beautiful tale from this improvisation. They make it look easy! I have challenged myself to create from prompts for travel, holidays, childhood memories, and even imagined what my Native American name would be. I also look at the prompts from other monthly events; The StoryLine/Story Slam is one. Every month they put up a prompt to inspire tellers. I have told tales of Holidaze, Music, and Choices – all ideas from StoryLine. The groups and the events have been inspiration and terror – but I learned a lot about personal telling and myself in the process.
One of the things I have learned is that a story can be about anything, even the most seemingly mundane event can lead to a story. Meeting my husband’s family at a long-ago Thanksgiving has given me a long story and a short one. I have learned to find the story within a story. A single word, like “music”, can inspire a story. I have learned to enjoy the simplicity of everyday events – from childhood memories to recent adventures – there is a story to be found and an audience that will find something relatable or enjoyable in the telling.
I have been reading and working with prompts from Donald Davis’ book, Telling Your Own Stories. It is a wonderful resource that encourages one by use of simple prompts to look within for stories – because everyone has them. He also offers practical techniques for crafting a story that will delight and entertain a variety of audiences. It is a valuable little book that I will look to often as I seek the personal stories from my past.
Personal stories are still difficult and I have a lot of work to do, but being willing to take a risk and hone my skills has been exhilarating and rewarding. Telling stories with a time limit has been especially effective; the Story Slam is all about stories that are under six minutes in length. Having a repertoire of short stories is valuable for any teller. That means that if someone wants to hear a quick story, I’ll have one ready! The storytelling community is so supportive and encouraging that I have been able to face my fears and I’ll continue to do so as I remind myself to Just Tell It!
(Get your own "I'm just a normal person" t-shirt here.)
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