“With a questioning look on his face, Marty announced…” “John spoke gruffly” Sentences like that might work in a story written for readers. But as a teller of tales, one doesn’t need some of the expressions that can be shown on the teller’s face as he/she tells. Depending on the teller’s technique, using things such as physical stance (to show old, out of shape), voice skill (to show being scared, young, happy) can be done through the telling. Is story writing for a tale to be told different from story writing for one that is read?
A number stories that I tell, have come from the written form (Picture Books). Those stories for the most part were written for readers. This holds true for folktales, Jack tales, fairy tales, etc. that I tell also. Those tales were originally meant to be told, not read. Through the collecting of them someone has put them down in writing, again more for readers not tellers.
So as I said in a previous post, I like to write. I would like to become a published writer. In that sense I need to have my stories readable. That pretty much is the case with the stories that I have written so far.
I also have a desire to tell my own stories and to create more than my one song, Tell Me A Story. Stories that I have produced that don’t have to deal with copyright issues It would be great to have enough of them to be able to make my own CD of stories and songs.
A number of storytellers that I’ve seen, that use their own stories, have created them from people in their lives. Not that I’ve had a dull and uneventful life, but I need a way to get at those events in my life and make them tellable. Either as real events (in which case it won’t be copyright issues that I have to deal with, but people’s reactions to my interpretation of events) or as fictional stories using real people and happenings as the driving force (in which case I would have to hope they don’t realize that is what I did, so I don’t have to deal with misinterpretation again).
The real piece is that I have to write more often. Put down those events, experiences, characters and continue to write. From that, hopefully, will come the seeds to growing the stories that I want to publish. Once the framework is created, then I can determine what is the best way to present those stories (written or spoken form, or both). As I write more stories, only then will I be able to determine is there a special way to write for stories to be told.
I’d be curious how other tellers, such as Jay O’Callahan, Sid Lieberman, etc. originally put down the tales that they create. Maybe someday I’ll find a workshop with one of them that shows me how. Until then, I’ll just keep writing.
