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Through a plethora of free articles, we provide a useful guide for anyone who wants to use the power of storytelling at home, at work and in the community.

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How to Get Started as a Professional Storyteller by Chris King

As all skilled professionals, professional storytellers make telling stories to an audience appear easy and fun. Perhaps you have attended a storytelling festival or concert and thought, "I could do that. I love telling stories!" Perhaps you already tell stories as a parent, scout leader, teacher, librarian, speaker, or business leader and are wondering how to take your storytelling to a professional level. Perhaps you didn’t realize that there are professional storytellers making an excellent living doing what they do and loving every minute of it. In this article I will share ideas and excerpts from my e-book, How to Get Started as a Professional Storyteller It is impossible to describe a typical, professional storyteller. Storytellers appear in all guises — a wide range of ages, shapes, sizes, and from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. They tell stories to all age groups from pre-school to senior citizens, with families in between. Storytellers tell (not read) a variety of stories from parables, to traditional folk and fairy tales, to urban tales, to personal stories, to original stories, to business stories.

How to Prepare for and Handle Common Storytelling Challenges by Chris King

As you become known as a storyteller in your area, you will start to get phone calls asking you to tell at various events, gatherings, schools, and libraries. You are eager to tell the stories you have been working on and delighted to get the phone calls. But, before you say yes, there are questions you should ask about the venues and once you are telling, there are other challenges that pop up and can destroy your performance. In this article, I discuss some of these common challenges. Be sure to establish where you will be telling. I mentioned this in one of my earlier articles, but it is worth mentioning again. You will get many calls where the group calling wants you to tell stories outside or in a large open space — possibly at a fair or festival, at a busy shopping mall, a museum, or often around a campfire.

The Story of Becoming a Storyteller by Faye Hanson

When I first discovered that there was such a job as storyteller, I was 30-something and enrolled in teacher school in St. Louis (home to a warm and wonderful group of tellers). As I finished my teaching degree, I focused more and more on classroom applications of storytelling and saw first-hand the results on student motivation and achievement. Before I even graduated I knew that storytelling was my calling. SO I MADE A PLAN. Unlike many artists, I have a strong background in business planning. I knew that my bread and butter as a teller would come from schools and libraries, so it was important to finish my degree. (I later earned my masters in Reading — with an emphasis on the connection between oral language and the development of reading and writing skills).

How to Enliven Your Community / Neighborhood with Storytelling by Chris King

When we know someone’s story, we can’t help but like them. It doesn’t matter what ethnic, cultural, or material differences we have, we all have stories in common. In days gone by, we sat on porches telling and listening to stories. We shared backyard picnics that were enhanced by the stories shared. Today, I don’t see many people telling stories on their porches, which is a shame. But we can enliven our communities and neighborhoods by forming storytelling groups. Here are some suggestions: Start with your neighborhood association or block club. If you belong to a community group, you can suggest that people who would like to listen to and tell stories come early.

Use the Power of the Pause to Strengthen Your Storytelling by Chris King

When we are telling stories to a group, and especially as a newer storyteller, one of the most difficult techniques to master is the use of the pause. Even in everyday conversation, most people have a problem with silence. Somehow we feel we must always fill a space with words. And yet silence and a pause during the telling of a story not only enhances the audience’s understanding of the story, it also builds anticipation. In this article I discuss the whys and how of using pauses to strengthen your storytelling. Begin with silence. It takes “guts” to stand in front of an audience after being introduced without saying something immediately, but this can prove to be one of the strongest ways to get their attention and to create rapport.

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Related Resources:

The Storytell Discussion List

This sharing list of storytellers discusses the ins and outs of storytelling. Questions about story are asked and answered. Ideas are shared. And stories and story resources are offered.

National Storytelling Network

This is the national membership organization for storytellers, story lovers, and story listeners. They publish an excellent Storytelling Magazine bi-monthly, and hold a yearly Storytelling Conference.

International Storytelling Center

The International Storytelling Center is the organization that has been instrumental in the rebirth and resurgence of storytelling. The newly opened Center in Jonesborough, TN outlines and shows the history. They produce the annual Storytelling Festival.

Storyteller.net: storytelling resources and audio stories

This varied site offers such features as Story of the Week articles in the Village Post, books and tapes, the ability to search for storytellers and events, plus games and a free web page for storytellers.

StoryCorps

A national oral-history project that celebrates the lives of the uncelebrated through their stories. The first story booth opened in Grand Central Station on October 23, 2003 to record the stories of regular people. You can also order story kits.

How to Tell a Great Story

Their aim is to give a voice to storytellers of the world. They give access to storytelling resources, stories from Africa and Asia, tips for storytellers, interviews with people who have amazing stories to tell, information about paying markets and much more!

Sacred Voices

This fascinating web site is dedicated to Multicultural Storytelling produced by the Center for Sacred Storytelling. There is a streaming storytelling link to give visitors a chance to hear some stories and also a link to the Vedic Storytelling Institute.

O.O.P.S! The Ohio Order for the Preservation of Storytelling

The networking agent and support organization for storytelling and storytellers in the State of Ohio. Holds annual Storytelling Conference, regional seminars and publishes a quarterly newsletter.

Myths and Legends

A terrific resource site, with general information about myths and legends, along with regional information including many different languages.

Story-Lovers

Celebrating the world's best-loved stories and rhymes! Classic storytelling greeting cards and much more, featuring beautiful images from Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes, Fables, Classics, Myths, Legends, the Bible, Multicultural Tales, Classic Artists.

Karen Chace's Resources - Links and Stories

This all-inclusive, easy to navigate site not only includes resource links resulting from Chace's five years of research but also stories and lots of other information.

Change That's Right Now

Change That's Right Now can quickly and easily cure your fear of performing in front of a crowd along with overcoming any other fears and phobias.

SICK of Ideas That Don't Work? Invest Only 20 Minutes a Week for SUCCESS! Imagine you live every week inspired, motivated and generating more ideas than you can handle! This hands-on e-book that is a compilation and distillation of the themes, tips and text found in Chris' bi-weekly e-newsletter, Portfolio Potpourri, will help set the tone for each of your next 101 weeks. Just imagine the plethora of IDEAS that will be flying in and taking your life to a new level. Click HERE for additional information.

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Improving Your Storytelling: Beyond the Basics for All Who Tell Aspiring storytellers will be pleased to know that Lipman's down-to-earth approach allows for flexibility rather than emphasis on memorization. The Way of the Storyteller Very few books on the art of storytelling have matched the scope and charm of this book by Ruth Sawyer. Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in Your Life Through Writing and Storytelling This book offers readers the tools to detect the story line in their own lives and write and tell it in a step-by-step way, opening up a hidden world of self-discovery and meaning. The Storyteller’s Guide Each chapter includes a dozen or so expert storytellers sharing their opinions on a plethora of topics. The Power of Personal Storytelling: Spinning Tales to Connect Your mind wanders, until you hear the words, "I remember once when I was..." You become engrossed. A story unfolds. The Story Performance Handbook For teachers, librarians, parents, or clergy who wish to grow in competence and confidence. The Story Factor: Secrets of Influence from the Art of Storytelling Nearly everyone responds to a good yarn, and this precisely the point being made by Annette Simmons. Pete Seeger's Storytelling Book You can almost hear the banjo plucking away in the background as veteran singer-songwriter Pete Seeger tells his folksy tales and shares his useful tips on storytelling. The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture A lively, strikingly original look at the prevalence and endurance of stories in our lives and our culture.

Contact Chris King at:
chris@creativekeys.net
or at: P.O. Box 221255
Beachwood, Ohio 44122
Phone: (440) 918-1313