The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A few tips on the art of storytelling

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Sunday, Feb 10, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A few tips on the art of storytelling

Deepa H. Ramakrishnan

Participants taught to develop their own style
Exercises to make storytelling more interesting

CHENNAI: It has been at least 10 years since Muthu ventured into the sea. The father of two children, this former fisherman now runs an electrical goods rewinding shop. He is his children’s favourite source for bedtime tales. An engaging story-teller, he doesn’t have to cast his net to fish for stories about the sea.

Mr. Muthu, who narrated the tale of the Sea Turtle to a group of people interested in learning the art at the World Storytelling Institute in the city on Saturday said: “In the community, we exchange stories frequently so we listen to a lot of stories. And at night, my children demand a story or take my mobile to play games. I prefer to tell tales.”

He was one of the participants at a one-day workshop on “Storytelling Today” where Eric Miller and Jeeva Raghunath, both storytellers, taught the participants to develop their own style and how to make the experience of storytelling more interesting and rewarding.

During the workshop, the 14 participants, who included doctors, IT professionals, writers, teachers and theatre actors, underwent a lot of storytelling exercises. They had to come up with a traditional story that they could recall from their childhood.

Radhika, a HR professional with TCS, said she took part in the workshop just because she liked reading and sharing stories. A doctor by profession, Jaishree said she wanted to use storytelling to educate people about the human body. “There is no right or wrong way of telling a story. There are only three parts to telling a story – the story itself, the teller and the listener,” explained Ms. Jeeva, an international professional storyteller and author.

“You can start your story with clichés like “far far away” and “long ago” and also by setting the tale in the present. Getting into dialogue mode would make the characters seem more alive,” explained Mr. Miller, a native of New York, who has taught courses in writing, literature, drama, public speaking, and storytelling at St. John’s University, Fordham University, and New York University.

A similar workshop would be held on February 16. Interested persons can contact 98403 94282/044 4208 0890 or email info@storytellinginstitute.org.

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