On Storytelling

It's a grey misty Saturday morning, quiet on the hill as the loggers don't work in the rain. For this I am thankful.

I know I owe everyone a piece on the elastic sense of time, but I have to take a detour for a bit cause something else is on my mind. And I have no doubt the blog community can help (in one way or another) point me towards some clarity.

I love a good story, no matter what form it's presented in. Written, read, sung, video, poems, I just love a good story. And there are millions of them out there. We all have them. They may not seem special to us, but others might be interested in them.

I think I have thoughtful, entertaining, maybe occasionally provocative stories. That's part of why I write here. I also make little videos, and am working on a documentary of someone else's WONDERFUL story. I think stories are one of the best communication methods around. They give us glimpses into alternatives and possibilities, as well as imparting information.

But this is what I have only recently determined: I am not such a good story teller.

Drag.

This isn't self criticism, but on observation. So I want to do something about it. I think my personal challenge is editing, and getting to the point. I tend to ramble, wildly and long. My stories don't move. They don't even have a sense of bucolic meandering. There is no apparent pace. I first noticed this in a little video I did...I labored over it, put a lot of effort in it, determined it was finished and flowed well. Then put it on the shelf. I played it for my mentor dude, and 10 seconds into it, I was immediately struck by how it dragged. I was shocked. I thought I had worked it pretty well. So we talked about it and he agreed that while the subject was mildly interesting, the pace was glacial. And this on a 4 minute video. So lately, I've been reading and watching stuff, trying to learn by observation. I'd say one out of 10 videos really feels like what I'm looking for, and the blogs I read are consistently there. So, why not go to the sources and seek advice?

I study Transom.org, and Currenttv because they have pretty good training sections for how to develop stories and present them. And today I'll spend some time researching sites that point to how to tell a story. I have a good many journalism sites marked already, and am quite familiar with the who, what, where, when, how, and why method of building a story. But I'm still missing something. So, if anyone has any advice, fire away. Which I suppose includes someone telling me to give it up. But that's the way it goes.

I have a friend that is a natural and gifted storyteller. Doesn't matter what form they express in, it's always entertaining, funny, thoughtful, poignant...i think the word I'm looking for is engaging. Innate talent. And truly off the cuff. It just works. How they can tell a story in a 1 minute video that is casually shot or a piece of writing in 50 words or less is amazing. And they swear it's not worked on, labored over, or calculated. Maybe that's one of the secrets. Maybe my thinking is getting in the way of pace and flow.

Anyways: the lines are open, any help appreciated. Have a great day!