Storytelling Workshop on BYU tv

  

I saw a storytelling workshop on BYU tv today that came from Okracoke Island, N.C.  It was good. Donald Davis I think was the man who led it.

I was impressed with the intimacy and love in that group of storytelling-learners, the tone set by the teacher of absolute non-arrogance, of clarity, equality, caring, sharing, and valuing.  Everyone had important, beautiful stories.

His definition of a story:  have a picture in your mind and put it into others' minds; it's not about the words, at first, but all about your mental pictures.

He had 4 P's:  They weren't new, but they were good reminders.

1  A story has to have a strong PLACE sense, or else it won't rivet the reader. 

2  A story has to have PEOPLE in that place, deeply drawn.

(He spoke about depth:  when you are in the bathtub, you have the same amount of water touching your skin as when you are in the ocean.  The difference is depth and width.  Some stories feel like you are in the ocean.  There is so much richness resounding beyond your skin.  Other stories are very small, like the tub.)

3  A story has to have PROBLEMS/trouble.  This trouble doesn't need to be terrible.  It can be just that the day didn't turn out at all the way you thought it would.  The trouble is usually brought on by ourselves.

4  A story has to have PROGRESS.  The door has to open and swing shut, for it to be a story and not just a picture of a door.  There has to be a new normal, after the trouble.

(He said that this is not a formula, but a way of noticing what's missing when you are writing/telling stories.)

• I realized that my current saga is -so far- full of pictures and people, but not full of trouble, progress, or stories

• I realized that I need a stronger voice and tense.  Whose?  A little girl's?  An aunt's?  A boy's?  A narrator's-- if so, what kind of person is the narrator?  Just myself?  If so, at what age?  Remembering, or in the now?