Storytelling Skills List

People tell stories every day You probably do too!

Have you ever told someone a story you have heard from someone else?
Have you told someone a story you have read in a book or magazine?
Or a story you have seen on TV or a video or heard on a storytape or CD?
Have you told someone of real life things that have happened to you, or someone else?

You are a storyteller, and probably a good one!

Everybody has some Storytelling skills

You probably tell stories already, using a few traditional techniques. See if you can add one or two more skills each time you tell a story, and that way build up your skills. Maybe you could add some more skills to the list below.

Here is a Storytelling Skills List. Tick off the skills you use:

• Sit on comfy chairs, or cross-legged on the floor, and look around you audience with a welcoming smile and bright eyes.
• Say where you got your story from:- for example, a book, a film, a person, your life, a dream or your imagination.
• Try to create an atmosphere, like casting a good spell. Set the scene for your audience. Start with the time, place and weather of the story.
• Use facial expressions, to show the feelings of your characters, their nature or personality, or the situation they are in, eg shy or cold.
• Speak more slowly and loudly than normal, so everyone can hear, and sit near anyone hard of hearing. Vary the speed, pace and volume of your voice where appropriate. Make your voice melodic and interesting.
• Use your hands, shoulders and body as much as you can, to show shapes of objects, scenery, actions and feelings. Use mime and gesture to "paint the story", like a picture.
• Role-play any dialogue, with characterful voices. Help the audience to feel sympathy for the characters and their situation.
• Use other sounds, for example, weather sounds, like wind or rain; happening sounds, like explosions or rustling; animal sounds; emotional sounds, like sighs, sobs, yawns. You can ask the audience to help you, by making the sounds.
• Leave a space between words or sentences sometimes, to create an atmosphere.
• Look around the audience with expectation. Occasionally surprise them with a loud noise, but do not frighten very young children.
• Involve your audience if you like, with phrases like "As you know the sea is deep and mysterious..." or ask them questions like "What might a sea monster look like"?
• Keep the traditional style of storytelling, but develop your own style inside and around that. - Buy storytelling tapes to learn from them.
• Try to go to workshops or festivals where you can hear storytellers. Join or form a local storytelling club. Keep in touch with other clubs.
• Collect stories from magazines, books, films, videos, TV, people, your own experience and your imagination.