Story telling is at the core of human history. They help to convey important messages during lectures, sermons, presentations, and such social gatherings. The art of storytelling has only evolved over time to adapt to changing social-economic realities. An excellent story teller will keep you engaged for hours and give you a memorable tale to recite. A horrible one will cause you to curse the decision to listen. Help with your nursing homework assignment will leave you with more time to focus on sharpening your storytelling skills.
The beauty of any story lies in the teller. It is the story teller who brings it to life, presents characters, and the accompanying message. It, therefore, requires skills to tell a story in captivating fashion. Here are tips to assist beginner story tellers to produce the most captivating stories.
- Hook Your Audience at the Beginning
A story could be a few minutes long to several hours, depending on your structure and audience. However, even at 5 minutes, listeners can still abandon you because they lost interest. You have the prime duty of maintaining the interest of listeners from the beginning to the end if the story is to make any sense.
Create an inciting incidence at the beginning of your story. It comes in the form of a conflict so that they can desire to follow it to resolution. The entire story will be building up on the conflict already created and trying to solve it. It must be interesting and relevant to the audience so that they can listen to the end.
- Pick a Simple Storyline
A complex story is difficult to follow. The mind is not wired to listen to multiple layers of stories at the same time. A listener will easily get lost in trying to understand the storyline. Avoid losing the listeners by creating a simple storyline.
Reduce characters to the bare minimum. Do not over-describe scenes such that the listener gets lost. Build simple characters and a storyline that a person can remember. Too many twists and turns will cause your listener to lose tract of events. The story loses its punch in the process.
- Enact with All Body Parts
A storyteller has to dramatize the actions. Such dramatization is done using different body parts. The legs, arms, face, movements, silence, and actions you take contribute towards a beautiful story. It is such dramatization that enables listeners to create characters and understand the message.
The voice is especially an important part of the drama. Define and change characters using your voice. For instance, a deep voice may denote a male, huge, brutal, or domineering character. Shout at scenes where action calls for you to shout. Narrate calmly if the action demands such a tone. Enacting makes your story dramatic and memorable.
- Make Dramatic Pauses
Silence is so important in a story that it will define how well your audience follows the story. It gives the audience a chance to reflect on words and actions. It also defines the pace of a story, an important element in the acceptance of any story. Allow a point to sink before moving to the next scene.
In case listeners are laughing, allow the laughter to go down before continuing. Such is the natural way to enjoy a story. It also allows listeners to digest the details, relate, and begin to draw conclusions.
- Conflict Works
Utilize conflict to create the most dramatic scenes. People enjoy conflict because of the point of resolution. Conflict also builds a story by creating scenarios that people can identify with. Build on conflicts to make the story believable and create suspense as the audience waits for a resolution.
The conflict should be relevant, and especially based on relatable issues. If it sounds exaggerated, people fail to follow it. Conflict may be between two characters or within a single character. The basic ingredient of a story is conflict. Your story will be as exciting as the conflict you build.
An interesting story is made memorable by its relevance to the context. Choose a story that the audience can draw a lesson from so that the session is remembered because of the story. Add a unique aspect so that listeners can also remember you as a storyteller beyond the lessons they drew from your story.
