Karen-Eve answers your Frequently Asked Questions
- What is storytelling?
- Storytelling is mainly for children, isn't it?
- How long is your talk?
- Where do your stories come from?
- How do you remember them?
- How did you get into storytelling?
- How can I try storytelling?
- Why is storytelling important?
- Why did storytelling fall to the side?
Storytelling, as I do it, is just that: telling a story ‘from heart memory and the voice’ without the aid of a book. Nothing is read or scripted when I perform.
I learn a story and know its shape in my mind and heart. If a story like Little Red Riding Hood was or is your favorite, you could probably tell it without a book. Then I tell the story in a way that is as dramatic or as simple as the occasion calls for. I have 100+ stories in memory file that I can tell with a little review.
Storytelling is mainly for children, isn't it?
Oh no! Adults like stories as well as children. Look at all the books, movies and plays adults enjoy! Those are stories being told.
I do it close up, dramatically and from heart-memory. I am able to shorten or lengthen a story depending on the time available and still cover all the main points. I specialize in stories for adults because they are often overlooked by performers.
Equally, I love working with children and have told stories or conducted classes for over 2,000 children in the last few years. As many or more adults have participated in my tellings—both groups keep coming back!
Performance length varies, based upon your need. I can do a program in 20-30 minutes if desired or a full evening in two sets of 45-50 minutes each.
I try to limit a single story to about 12 minutes. Some are only 3-4 minutes while a main piece like THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES lasts 50 minutes.
Recently I told stories for two hours with one 15 minute break. I often work all day in schools going from class to class. And I do around 35-40 minutes entertaining guests at weddings, anniversaries, parties etc.
The simple answer is: as short or long as you need it to be.
Where do your stories come from?
My stories come from all over the world and lots of sources. Many come from books of course. Others from emails, short stories, friends…
I get them from other tellers, from those in our culture who act as a ‘memory-keepers’ and from personal experiences.
I research and learn specific stories for specific events. For example, for the Henderson County Heritage Center I researched and patched together stories of the first settlers in that county.
Sometimes I write new stories or make them up on the spot—especially with children!
Every teller is different in how they learn a story. I do not memorize a story line by line or word by word. That’s dangerous! – Too easily forgotten mid performance!
If my story source is in a book, I read it several times - silently then aloud. Then I outline the main, key points. These are the bare bones of the story. Then I learn how to add flesh, texture, color, scent and feeling to those bones with my own words. I tell the story to my family, my cats and when it is in ‘my heart & mind’, I take it out to audiences.
How did you get into storytelling?
The short answer is this: I heard a powerful storyteller, Heather Nicely of Tennessee, tell the story of the Wife of Bath (Canterbury Tales). I was so moved by both the message of the tale (what do women want?) and by her telling that I knew I had to try it.
I was in my 40s with a brilliant career, but I burned to move people as I had been moved, to paint pictures with words. So I enrolled in a course and here I am. (See My Story for career résumé)
I have always loved the power of words and phrases. From the time I learned my first poem at age 6, I knew words were powerful paint brushes for the soul.
When I was in college I worked at the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site for 4 summers. There I was exposed daily to words and stories, plays and poems. Then I was caught in the world of business for many years and set this passion aside until I heard Heather tell the saga from centuries past.
JUST DO IT. Take a course, read a book on it. Tell a story to a cat, then a friend then a child. Just do it. You might need a storytelling starter course or group to help you, or a mentor. The main thing is to try it. You cannot get it wrong if you learn your story (not by memory but in your heart/mind). It took me six months to tell my first story and I have not stopped since 1998.
Why is Storytelling important?
As soon as there were firesides, the stories started. For entertainment, for teaching - parables, sagas, myths, legends, folktales, yarns.
Stories and the art of telling serve an important social function: because story is the narrative record of human experience, emotion and history. The form connects directly with our humanity, anchoring identity for communities, tribes, nations. Stories hotwire into hearts and souls.
Stories have always been one of the best tools for teaching lessons, morals, cultural norms and for transferring knowledge.
Modern performance storytelling follows the 'oral tradition' in being unscripted, improvised on a theme.
Through the centuries some storytellers have used props, puppets, flutes, harps, drums etc. Some stories are regarded as sacred, only to be told or heard by certain people at specific seasons or events. Ancient stories are so important to some cultures that their world cannot properly be described without them.
In 21st century USA many storytellers welcome digital technology - to stage, transmit or accompany the stories. From grandpa by the fireside rambling through old yarns, storytelling has grown to include professional performers entertaining audiences every week at a funky cafe in central New York, or more than 1,000 a night at the International Storytelling Festival at Jonesville, Tennessee. Around the world, the heritage of traditional story is loved, respected and carried on.
In just a few places, some storytellers are turning towards the creation of Stories of our Time - for the next generation.
Why did Storytelling fall to the side?
In the technological era in westernized societies, after World War 2, storytelling was neglected - it became something to amuse the under-5s.
Storytelling found refuge in the folk music and craft world, and while it has been safely preserved it was in danger of getting isolated, of losing touch with creative change.
Not any more! Storytelling thrives in the USA. It's being revived very strongly across the pond in the UK and mainland Europe.
I belong to a new generation of modern storytellers who believe that traditional stories can mix with new work, and that good stories told from the heart will appeal to all ages.