From Written Word to Spoken Word

PAGE TO STAGE
A journey from the page to the stage

by Kelly Swanson
President, North Carolina Storytelling Guild
www.ncstoryguild.org

September, 2006


I promised as President of the North Carolina Storytelling Guild, that I would do a monthly article on a topic of interest to storytellers. This is the second article in that series and it deals with the transformation from the written story to the performed story, or the journey from the page to the stage. Again, these are mere ramblings and only meant to help, not to overwhelm. Take what is useful and use the rest to line your bird cage or to teach future generations what poor grammar looks like.

There is a difference in the story that is meant to be read and the story that is meant to be told. In the October article I will discuss the art of crafting the story that is to be read. But today we’re going to talk about the story that is to be performed.

Many people have never heard of storytellers and therefore conjure up images of little old ladies with gray buns and knitted shawls, rocking on front porches holding oversized books, and using their best inside voices. No offense if you are old or have a gray bun.

Storytelling is not reading. And it is not merely memorizing a story and reciting it without the help of notes. Or at least it shouldn’t be. The art of storytelling goes a step beyond reading or reciting. It is the art of breathing life into a piece of literary work. I don’t care if you wrote it, if Shakespeare wrote it, or your Great Uncle Nester who was a fan of the sauce wrote it. I don’t care if you found it in a book or dreamed it up one night after eating too much Mexican food. The story has no life until you give it life. And each one of you will give it life in a different way. Or at least that is my hope. For a story that is merely memorized and repeated tends to sound just the like the story that three hundred other storytellers have memorized and repeated, and it starts to get a little OLD if you don’t mind me saying it out loud. Yes, my friends, not all storytelling is entertaining. Some of it is just plain BORING.

And now I must take a moment to back up my computer and wait for lightning to strike.

So how do we bring a story to life? Keep reading. I will attempt to give you some tips on how to tell your story in way that engages your listener. You see, that’s the key. It was the key when the story was written too, but now you have an audience sitting in front of you and they have a different expectation. They expect you to entertain them. They expect you to respect their time. They expect you to give them something that in some way changes their lives. I know, it sounds intimidating. It’s not. You can do it. They aren’t sitting there to find out what you know. They are sitting there to hear your story. To hear YOUR voice.

So here are some pointers to help you turn that written story into one that can be told in front of an audience:

Make your story CONVERSATIONAL. That is the biggest difference that I see in the written story and the performed story. The written story has every word in exactly the right place. The written story is not often written as we would talk in normal life. Tell your story in a relaxed personal manner.

I see so many storytellers tell a story using this weird voice that is way too dramatic, stretching out words, using crazy voice fluctuations. Now if that’s how you talk normally (bless your heart) then so be it. But you don’t normally talk like Vincent Peale in slow motion, then for heaven’s sakes, why start now? Talk to me like you would talk to anybody else. Talk to me like I’m sitting across from you at the kitchen table. Tell me the story like it really happened, not like you’re standing a hundred feet away in green tights and a feathered cap. When you talk like this, I know it’s not you. And when I know it’s not you, I am disconnecting. I want to hear YOU. I want to hear your voice. If you don’t believe me, start watching people who speak, like storytellers, comedians, or your preacher. Watch Donald Davis. When he tells a story, he is no different than when he’s not. Katherine Windham, Garrison Keillor, Bill Harley, Bil Lepp, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Cosby, Billy Graham. When they speak people hang on every word. And when they speak, you are hearing them. When a preacher starts up a story about a little boy who had no shoes, my brain immediately starts to yawn. But when he starts a story about himself. I am engaged right away. Trust me on this. We can talk more later if you’re still not convinced.

Start by watching other people in conversation. Note how people interact when they talk. How they tell a story when standing at a cocktail party. How they lean in. How they lean back. How they hold their arms. How they tilt their head. How they use their arms to help tell the story. Don’t talk really high. Keep your voice at a normal talking pitch. Really high indicates nervousness and can get really annoying after a while. Bring it down.

Don’t always talk in complete sentences. Pause in the middle of sentences. That’s how people talk. It makes it sound more real. This is hard to understand until you really start practicing it. Then you’ll see.

Take your time. Breathe. Smile. Talk a little and then think for a second or two. You are not there to get every line out before you forget. Savor the words. Let your audience have a chance to savor them. I’m bad at this, but I’m getting better.

Change the pace of your story. Get faster when the story gets more exciting. Get slower and softer when the story gets sad or takes on a deep meaning. Get louder when you get more excited. Just don’t spit. Take it from me, audiences don’t like that.

Don’t be afraid to interrupt your story with your own thoughts. I do this all the time in my stories. I will make comments like, “Well, everybody knows, information you get when you’re having your roots done is sacred, and not to be questioned!” Take little tangents here and there. As long as they are planned. Don’t just stand up there and ramble. We can tell when you just want to hear yourself talk.

Make eye contact with your audience. Look all around the room. Don’t leave any side of the room out. Talk to them. Even when you can’t see them. Trust me. A day will come when you are standing on a stage under bright lights and you can’t see a soul. You must act as if you can see them. You must still make them feel as if you are talking to them.

And sometimes you can look out into the distance when you are talking about something really moving. I use this technique to make my audience think that I’m so engrossed in my story that I’ve forgotten they are there. It’s also a great stalling technique if you can’t remember the next line.

Make sure your story has a mix of fast and slow, high and low, funny and sad. Try to feel when it’s time to bring them up or take them down. This is where a partner can help with your timing.

When you first read the story, learn it in blocks without worrying about every little word and every little thing that happened. Just learn the major points of the story and practice telling the story without any notes, as if summing it up for your neighbor. As if you only have thirty seconds to recap. Pretend you are telling a friend about a movie she should see, but you only have a minute. This will help you get a good general overview of your story. And it will help you to see what the key points of that story are. Stories for the stage become a whole lot shorter than the written versions.

YOU LEARN TO SAY MORE WITH LESS. Condense your stories. Stick to the important details, and the details that will add flavor. You don’t need every plot detail or every thought the character has. You can skip around in time. You can drop down into one moment of the story. More words don’t make a better story. It’s saying less, and using BETTER words. I’ll get into this more in the next article.

I recommend that you focus on shorter stories that can be put together, rather than twenty or thirty-minute stories. The attention span of the average person is short. They like “commercials” and they find it hard to hang on for that long. You can still have a show that is two hours - just a show that is two hours of shorter pieces. And I like it this way because there is less pressure on the story. If they hate it, good grief, it’s only five minutes. They’ll like the next one.

Use dialogue and don’t bother with saying “he said” and “she said.” Just say it.

Take out phrases that tell us what you’re about to say. Find one sentence to describe a scene instead of four. Use better details and less words. Don’t repeat what you just said or take too many sentences to drive a point home. These are just some random tips that I will bring up in the next article too so don’t get freaked out if it’s too much. If you focus on cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting, then you will start to see that much of what you had in your story was unnecessary.

Tell your story from another perspective. If you can’t really relate to the main character, is there someone you can relate to. If there are three hundred storytellers telling that same Jack Tale, how will you be different? And if you say that you’ll tell it wearing a hat I’m going to smack you.

Tell us how the story affects you. Why it touches your heart. What you learned from it. The impact that it has on you. Why it has become your story.

I really wish I could think of one more tip so it would be a nice even round twenty. But I can’t. And you know that as soon as I send this to you, I will think of ten more tips that are definitely better than any listed here.

That’s all for today. Sorry for any mistakes I didn’t catch or any tips you don’t agree with. If you do one or two of these, your story will be better. We’ll get into more details on how to craft stories in my next article which will talk about my one-sentence approach to story crafting. That article will show you how to say more with less and basic writing techniques that will help you make a better story.

If you have any questions, shoot me an email. I hope you are writing in your journals. Until we meet again - enjoy the journey!

Kelly Swanson
It's all fun and games 'til the hair gets messed up
www.kellyswanson.net