The Art of Storytelling

Storytelling is an art, a way to teach, and a way for one generation to pass down history and culture to the next generation. Children who experience storytelling at home, at school, and in public learn better, understand more, and are better at communicating with others. For people of all ages, storytelling helps you to develop your imagination. Whereas a movie, television show, or even a play has visual elements to it, storytelling allows you to paint a vivid picture in your head. These elements are especially powerful when the storyteller uses emphasis on certain words and phrases, speaks clearly, and speaks with emotion.

Storytelling is not just reading a story aloud to others. The best kind of storytelling is not simply memorizing a book and reciting it from memory. Great storytellers are able to speak from the heart when telling a story, conveying their feelings during a story while speaking somewhat extemporaneously. In addition, storytellers frequently use hand gestures and facial expressions to convey emotions while telling a story.

With the billions of pages of written text out there currently in books, magazines, newspapers, web pages, etc, people often forget that at one time stories were passed down by the oral tradition. In many instances, stories are passed down from storyteller to storyteller for hundreds of years before ever being published in printed form. This is a remarkable testament to the power of effective storytelling and evidence that, if a story is meaningful, it will withstand the tests of time. Although these days one might assume that oral storytelling has been supplanted by television and the internet, there is indeed still a place for it in our culture.

When storytelling, it is important you have the story you are telling memorized. Nothing hinders great storytelling more than reading off a piece of paper. The most effective communication, in this case, calls for telling it from the heart. In this way, you can embellish certain aspects of the story, use hand and facial gestures, and other tools for making the story come alive. It is also important to make eye contact with your audience in order to make each person listening to your story feel like it is being told especially for them. It is also important to make sure your story is not needlessly long and keeps your audience interested and engaged.