Yes, and jokes too.
Yes
I try to be. From experiences as a teacher I know I can regale a class with anecdotes about my own life and settle down even the worst behaviour, and if I can segue the anecdote into the curricular material, I can get a lot of educating done into the bargain. I believe humour is key, even in a maudlin story; and the tale-telling language, including audience-appropriate vernacular, is something I try to include in my writing. I was once told by a writing teacher that I write like I talk; and I have always considered that a very high compliment.
I was a pastor for over 30 years, so I'd better be!
I love reading stories, but am not good at coming up with a story to tell at a moments notice.
Yes all that I write I can remember accurately for recall.
I hope so! By which I mean, as a professional storyteller, I believe so. I usually tell stories which aren't my own, as most storytelling work is telling folktales, fairytales, ancient or traditional tales or sources, but I did try my hand at writing a couple of 'fairytales' while doing an MA in Writing, and adapted one of them as an oral storytelling tale, and by all accounts it worked! I had to change it and leave out details - I always think you can tell when someone tells a story that's too 'literary' at a story circle or similar event, because it just (much as I love words!) has too many for the medium. I think learning a written tale word for word is a different skill to 'storytelling' which is about knowing the bare bones, but improvising, and making it slightly different (or even quite different!) every time. It's a different challenge. When I started performing seriously, I used to learn whole chunks of text to place poetry in, and it was much more like learning speeches! But storytelling, while a performance art which can involve acting and acting skills, isn't drama and isn't a play! So I tended to stick to selling the same show, and didn't think of myself as a storyteller until someone saw me at - I think it was either at a Halloween party or a Civil War battle, and said 'Are you the wonderful storyteller?' and I was phased - I'd always thought of myself as a performance poet who used stories to 'frame' some ancient poems. But that started me thinking, and it was a few steps and there I was, a storyteller and part of Widsith and Deor Storytelling Theatre! My co-performer it was who said I should 'let go' of the text and do the read/hear it once and retell it in your own way thing. I used to write my own versions (of the folktales) to start with, but I don't do that any longer.
I do read my own short stories with gusto, and even the novel, but that's not oral as in learnt by heart.
In a sense it was a natural progression, just not one that was obvious to me. When I was a kid I always used to ask for the same bedtime story - The Three Sillies. And of course it meant that I knew it - though I had never read it myself - i.e., I had really learnt it 'orally'. I was also a fan of learning terrible jokes, and my favourites were the long shaggy dog story type, two of which I told to friends both at school and later in pubs at college. It never occurred to me that this was laying down the foundations for storytelling, but now I'm a storyteller, it seems the most logical thing ever. Doing it for work hasn't spoilt it not least because we always seem to find fresh material we really like, as a company.   | | |
Sometimes people find me clever or amusing, but I do not bore them with stories
I am a teacher and a storyteller and believe that all good teaching happens in the context of a story.
I tend to be a little more wordy than I should be when I write.
Yes, probably better than my writing.
(laughing) Yes.
I'm not great at off-the-cuff story telling, but love to do poetry readings and dramatic monologs. I'm a firm believer that most poetry combines so many of the same elements as music that it must be heard out loud. There are people who can read the score of a symphony and hear the music in their head. They are exceptionally rare and I don't rank among them. When a poem really grips me I find I must read it out loud. I am never more fully alive than when I am sharing a poem verbally. People who never read poetry are sometimes astonished that it's not the boring sing-song stuff or nursery-rhymes they remember from school. It comes alive to them too.
I've been told my only problem is laughing before the punch line. My father was an expert at this, but I don't have the control. "Those who can't do, write or teach."
i wouldnt say so. i dont mind reading one on one, but i dont like large crowds of people listening to me. it makes me nervous. |
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