I. How to Start Story Telling Effectively?

Storytelling is the art of telling stories in order to engage the listeners. The storyteller conveys information, a message, and knowledge, in an amusing way.
Everyone has a story to tell. You have heard stories from your parents, grandparents, teachers or friends. All around us, we have stories.
Good storytelling techniques have the power to move us. Let us take a look at how to tell stories effectively.

• A Story Must Have the Main Message.

A story usually progresses towards the main message or the main idea. If your story has a strong moral lesson, you’ll like to guide listeners towards that. Be very clear with the main idea around your story revolves.

• Mention the Problem

As a storyteller, you can’t escape the problem in the story. The story that you will tell may have all sorts of obstacles that the main character’s face. To become a good storyteller, you must remember to give details of the problems.

Example:

Mowgli was in a jungle deep in the forest. Standing face to facing Shere Khan, the tiger. He knew he had to run away to safety, or the tiger would eat him whole.

• A Story Should Have Proper Sequencing.

The story must have a clear structure with a beginning, a middle, and an end. A good story will begin with a stirring incident, leads to problems, and ultimately there is a satisfying resolution. The story then comes a close.

Choose a strong beginning and an end to your story. Thereafter jot down the key events which will form the body or middle of your story. Never include unnecessary backstories. You can read more about the structure of the story on the page how to write a story.

• Connect with the Listeners.

Great storytelling requires you to connect with your audience. However, it also depends on the mode of storytelling that you choose. If you’re reading a short story, you must maintain eye contact often. If you are telling a story of your own, your voice must be expressive that should be able to convey emotions of a character. Always consider the listeners when you choose to tell a story.

• Sample on How to Tell a Story

There lived a generous man whose name was Oliver Goldsmith. He was ready to help people in need. He gave away whatever he had to the poor. At that time, people called him Doctor Goldsmith; since he had studied medicine.

One day a poor woman requested doctor Goldsmith to check on her husband, who was sick and unable to eat. He went there and realized that the family was starving as they were poor. There was no food in the house.

Doctor Goldsmith told the woman, “Call me this evening, and I will give you some medicine”. In the evening, the woman visited him. He gave her a small yet heavy paper box.

“Take this medicine,” he said. “Use it diligently, and it will help your husband. But don’t open this box till you reach home.” “How to take medicine?” the woman asked. “It is all inside the box,” he responded. When the woman reached home, she sat down next to her husband and opened the box.

It was filled with money. It had only one direction:- “To be used as and when required.” Doctor Goldsmith had given away all the cash that he had.