It's enough to listen to about a minute or five, but you can, of course, always take longer. You could even listen to the entire story (it takes one hour). Now, if you're ready and you've chosen to listen to the King story, click this link. Otherwise, listen to the story of your own choosing before going on to the rest of this article.
Take your audience by the hand
So, as you were listening to this story, there were probably images popping up in your head. In fact, given how concentrated you were listening, I'm sure you can give quite a detailed description of the place and the people in it. When you yourself do the storytelling, you have to be utterly aware that that’s what you’re doing: making people, places and times appear to your audience, whether you’re using images, words or sounds. You have to make sure that your story is an experience.We all know that the golden rule is "Show, Don't Tell". That's not what I'll talk about in this article. After some practice, most of us can come up with the most precise details of what they want to describe or present to their audience. But how to make your story an experience through what you're showing in your story?
There is a way to do this: guide your audience! In fact, when I teach storytelling, the comment I put most - in red and underlined - next to my students' writing is exactly this: "Guide Your Audience!” The task of the storyteller is to take their audience by the hand to lead them through the story they want to tell – unless they want to get their audiencelost in the story, but then it should still be clear that the audience is lost because the storyteller guided them towards being lost – not because of sloppy storytelling.
If you manage to guide your audience, your story will flow naturally. Again, you may want to create a jarring experience with your story, but then the audience should still realise that this is your goal – the jarring should, in other words, flow naturally as well. This is true for the people and places you describe, as well as for your plot.
Guiding your audience through the plot
Guiding your audience through the plot means that you make sure there are no plot holes. Plot holes are moments where your audience thinks that you, as the storyteller, have neglected to tell something that needed to be told. As I wrote earlier, your plot should make clear (1) why the main character set him- or herself which aim; (2) how he or she gathered the means to reach this aim; (3) in which way the aim was reached or not reached; and (4) what the consequences of all of this are. Although a story always happens the order of (1) to (4), you don’t have to tell it in this order. You also don’t always have to tell all of this very explicitly. However, at the end of your storytelling, your audience must know the answer to all of these questions, otherwise there will be the feeling of plot holes.And seeing if (1), (2), (3) and (4) have been answered in your story is just a rough checklist for your plot. Within your plot, each event leads to the other and how this has happened, has to be absolutely clear to your audience – unless you want to create a mystery, but then you have to do this in such a way that the audience knows they’re supposed to be wondering about it – instead of thinking the storyteller forgot something. This also means that the events and descriptions in your story must have a clear function. Describing in great detail a wood behind your main character’s house and then not using that wood in your story – even if only for setting a kind of mood – is a sign of a failure to guide the audience
Guiding your audience through your descriptions
When you describe a person or a place, your description has to flow as naturally as your plot. This means your description – or, if you’re working with images, your camera work – has to have a certain logic to it. If you’re describing a person, you can’t start with the feet, then go to the eyes and then to the shoulders. That’s not how we would naturally look, unless we’re nervous (in fact, if you want to give your storytelling a nervous quality, for instance because one of your characters is nervous, then - but only then! - such a description would actually be a good idea). Normally, our gaze will start at one place and go from there, which is something we can copy to give our descriptions a natural flow. Describe a person from top to toe, or a face from the eyes to the chin. Describe a panorama starting in the upper left side down to the lower right side – or the other way around. Describe a house from the front door to the attic. And so on, and so forth.
Guiding your audience is the key to successful storytelling. Once you get a feel for how this is done, you’ll be able to turn your storytelling into a real experience. And if your storytelling is a real experience, you’ll have the full attention of your audience without them having to close their eyes, take a deep breath, and relax.
This is the fourth post in a series of seven articles about storytelling. Updates every Monday.
Read the other articles here:
1. The Four Elements of Storytelling
2. Ten Esential Building Stones for a Good Story
3. Telling Your Story With the Right Voice
4. Guide Your Audience
5. Telling Your Story With the Right Point of View
6. Why Your Story Needs a Moral Dilemma
7. The Fifth Element of Storytelling
