Storytelling has a broader impact than you might realize.
Being a writer is how I convey most of my stories. I love to tell a good story. My imagination has been a wild, crazy place for as long as I can remember. Even with a lot of lost memories, I recall many elements from the imagination of my childhood.
The home I lived in when I was 4 had a huge window at the front of the living room. I remember sitting at it, pretending it was the bridge of my spaceship. Swings on the swingset in my backyard were starfighters and cockpits of other starships. My Star Wars action figures never reenacted the movies, they went on new adventures of my creation. I had an imaginary butler I talked with from time to time when I was lonely or feeling especially friendless.
When I was 9, I wrote my first sci-fi book. After that, I shared my imagination in fits and spurts before deciding to write full-time. But the written word is not my only avenue of storytelling.
Common and uncommon everyday life adventures
Storytelling is a gift. The ability to do it is not something everyone has. We all know someone who can make any story, no matter how fascinating, utterly dull and uninteresting. Conversely, we all know someone who can make ordering lunch at a drive-thru window somehow inspiring. This illustrates how storytelling is a gift.
Early on in my life, people told me they loved my voice. They would tell me how much they liked it when I relayed a story about some happening in my life. I enjoyed singing in choirs and acting in plays and musicals, where you are storytelling via another’s words. But I also love to relay some of the wonderful (and less than wonderful) everyday life adventures I’ve had.
Like when I was in an overnight camp in upstate New York, and we went on a daytrip to a gorgeous waterfall. While hiking the trail, there used to be a portion where you could go through the natural amphitheater behind the falls. On one of these hikes (over different summers – there were at least 3), I lost my footing and slipped. I didn’t fall hard or too far down the bank, but the counselors hurried to help me to my feet. Smartass that I was (am), I commented, “Whoa, that was a real cliffhanger.”
Anyone who knows me knows that I love to tell stories. Whether it’s something of my own imagination or a common or uncommon everyday life adventure, the art of relaying stories lights me up and excites me. If I tell you, “No shit, there I was, bucket of water in hand, waiting to put out the flames after we blew up the car”, am I right that you want to know the rest of that story?
Being a storyteller is not just telling a story
For the record, the above story involved a student film where the director blew up an old junker with no engine. It was far less destructive than you might imagine, as the effect involved balloons full of propane that produced one impressive fireball that largely burned itself out. Still, a cool story to tell, though.
The telling of a story in storytelling is a matter of details, order, and how you show or tell, tease or state the facts. Some people use this power for entertainment and to teach new things. Some, unfortunately, use this power for evil and somehow entrance people even with utterly incoherent, deranged, nonsensical ramblings.
All of human history gets relayed in stories. Yes, you can just spew out the dates and facts of the happenings that occur. But behind them are the stories, some fantastical, some merely factual, most somewhere between and only as interesting as the narrator telling them.
The challenge of storytelling is to make the story interesting. Some do this via pure imagination, others by impure bullshit and lies, while most embellish a little here and choose words with care there. Because storytelling is a gift, some just do not hold anyone’s interest.
C-3PO, in Star Wars (A New Hope), tells Luke, “I’m not much more than an interpreter and not very good at telling stories. Well, not at making them interesting, anyway.” Then, in Return of the Jedi, he spellbinds the Ewoks with his storytelling, to the point where they choose to join the rebellion. Though a work of fiction, I think this shows that anyone can be a storyteller with a little effort (or in 3PO’s case, the ability to produce sound effects).
Storytelling matters
Without storytelling, we utterly fail to learn much of anything. I think many of the issues we see today are due to the repetitive nature of single stories retold over and over again. This is causing people to stop caring. For example, how many Batman origin stories do we need in film, TV, and comics? Do they really need to remake every Disney animated film in live-action? Must we reimagine every ’80s and ’90s TV and film property anew today?
When you retell the same story again and again, it loses its power. Factor in the internet and the instantaneous ability to offer an anonymous critique, and before you know it, all joy is robbed of a story, no matter how good it is.
Yet we need cohesive, interesting storytelling. I think the din that’s come into being because of repetitive, numb retelling of stories again and again partially explains how a man who can barely speak in coherent sentences has created a ravenous cult following. Sure, he nails the tone and puts passion into his words, but the words make little to no sense.
One way that I strive to counter this is by being the best storyteller I can be. Whether sharing my ideas in blogs, via my sci-fi stories, podcasting, or telling new people I meet about old adventures, storytelling is in my blood. It drives me like a compulsion, and I love to find new ways to share.
Whether you’re a storyteller or not, be mindful of why some of those in power ban books and censor art. They want to control the narrative and disempower storytelling not to their liking. For the record, the heroes and good guys never ban books or censor art.
Give and take of a storyteller
I love to read, listen to audiobooks and podcasts, and hang out among friends and share memories and interesting anecdotes. Storytelling is a give and take. A good storyteller doesn’t just go on and on. They engage with their audience, strive for connection, and work to make them feel a part of the narrative.
You cannot be a storyteller in a vacuum. Why? Because if you’re in a vacuum, who will you tell your story to? Hence, I strive to be as much a consumer of the stories others tell as those I share.
Lastly, be mindful of the stories you absorb and reshare. Fake news and propaganda gain power when they are shared and spread from one storyteller to the next. When you are mindful, you can choose not to retell those stories or seek and tell truer, more genuine stories instead. Mindfulness is your superpower and the key to choosing and deciding what stories you share or not.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you every week, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own creator, whatever form that takes?
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