MAKING Tales TELLABLE The Finer Art of Storytelling

[Music]

namaste

once upon a time in a land far away

there lived the tale of tales that i

bring to you

today

[Music]

once upon a time what does that remind

you of

yes absolutely right a story

stories are all around us be it movies

documentaries advertisements political

rallies

open mics stand-up comedies digital

media

all are based on the solid foundation of

storytelling

and they all leverage stories we all

read

listen to and tell stories every day

but but the art of oral storytelling

is very different from just reading out

or describing an incident a person

plays etc etc

history mythology legend

folktales they can all be transformed

into wonderful telltales

for various purposes such as to engage

entertain educate inspire or motivate

your audience to action

but the question is what is it

what is it that makes storytelling so

powerful science has already proven

that facts and figures alone activate

very limited parts of our brain in

contrast

a well-told story yes

a well-told story has the capability

to stimulate and activate multiple parts

of our brain simultaneously

the visual cortex sensory cortex motor

cortex

language processing parts and the key

moments in a story

also help relieve and stimulate

different hormones

such as dopamine which is a memory

aiding hormone

oxytocin which is a trust hormone

etc etc all this and so much more

that happens when a storytelling

allows and engages the listener both

with the story

and the storyteller and this

ensures that they are deeply connected

compared to

anything else so now you must be

wondering

who am i and what’s my connection to

storytelling

i am an oral storyteller a performer

storyteller

a corporate storyteller a storytelling

educationist

and a storytelling facilitator however

what’s common in all of my these roles

is my

telling stories so

if stories are at the core of all that i

i must ensure that i make each of my

telling

uniquely engaging entertaining

educative inspiring heart touching

and thought provoking for my audience

so when as a storyteller

i work on tales i like to make folk

tales

legends history mythology

uniquely my own

and how do i do that so what’s my

formula

to making a tale tellable

step one i take the theme or the subject

that i need to tell a story on

and start my basic research on it

next after going through a whole lot of

stories on that theme

i pick up and select one of the stories

that really appeal to me and speak to me

in fact in my world of storytelling it

is commonly believed and said that

a storyteller does not choose its own

story

however it’s the story that chooses its

own

teller so honoring whichever story

finally chooses me i start work on that

and this time around i start an

intensive research

on the story that i have picked up which

based on the material that’s available

in the public domain

i also reach out to people who are

connected with that theme or subject or

story

in my circle and sometimes i also reach

out to outsiders

next step number three once i have

all the material collected with me

i start to soak in the material that

comes my way

and i keep making my notes and i keep

highlighting

all the things incidents that could

serve

as an important recipe to my story

foundation

it could be related to the characters

the theme the setting

the plot incidents etc etc i put it all

together

and next step number four i look at all

of it

and i look at how do i structure my

story what’s going to be

the narrative structure of my

storytelling and then

i write down my first draft

once i’m through with my first draft i

start to read it

and as i read it i do visualization

i start to visualize how the story will

be received by my audience

and visualization serves an important

technique for me to help me connect with

my audience

even before i have met them and it also

allows me

to put the important pieces of my story

puzzle

all together and with this

we go to step number six which is edited

so i start to edit look at all the

possible emissions or missions that i

may have done or

repetitions in case there is a flab i do

all of it to

tighten my story and make it relevant

engaging

and meaningful for my audience

with that we have the first stories

ready to be taken to the audience

are we ready really no not quite yet

there is still

something else left to be done which is

i still have to do the eeping of my

story

wondering what see pink eeping is

embellishing

enhancing and personalizing my telling

and how do i do that i identify

the touch points in my storytelling and

where i could engage with my audience

through different ways and some of my

ways through which i eat my

telling are new use of music folk songs

gestures question etc etc etc

so let me demonstrate this for you okay

so a lot of times even before i start

telling my story

i invoke my audience and take them

into the storytelling mood and how do i

do that

through this let’s try this with you

[Music]

and that’s how we get our audience

to come right there physically and

mentally

ready to listen to the story so once

i’ve done that and i have my audience

with me

let me give you an example of one of the

times when i did

the telling of an indian adaptation of a

folk tale from congo

to introduce my story character and the

context of the story

wherein the theme was love understanding

and home

i used this song to introduce my story

character

longer long ago longer long ago

there was a boy and the daddy was a girl

she loved him and he loved her but

she didn’t know he didn’t know

long long ago and then the story

progressive

for another of my telling which was

where i was invited to tell a story

on one of the characters from indian

freedom struggle

i chose one from my region where i hail

from that

punjab and the story was of a freedom

fighter by the name bibi gulapko

so in what as as i was telling her story

at one moment which was the key turning

point in the story

the character actually removes her

bangles from her wrist

and shows it to the men folk around to

invoke the fighter in them

and i thought let me make this moment

one of the key highlights of my story

because that’s where

my audience can actually feel the

strength of her character

and can relate to her deeply so

i actually removed my own bangles and

showed it to my audience

and took a pause and then

i went on to narrate the rest of the

story and post my telling long after my

telling

that stayed as one key visual for my

audience

and they related to it and they could

feel what the character felt at that

time

so i’ll give you one last example

another timeless tale from the punjab

and find the region

of undivided india the story set in 17th

century

one of the very popular tragic romances

by the name

soni mahiwal i used the flashback

narrative structure

to open and set the scene for my story

and here i’d like to credit jutt

brothers from pakistan

and gurdas manji from india to help me

bring the spoke song that i grew up on

into the story so that is how it began

[Music]

go back sony go back who are you risking

your life for

who is he is he worth it oh my friend

my dear little pot you asked me who is

is he worth it he’s mahiwal

and having said that sony’s thoughts

drifted back

to the time their eyes first met

the first time sony saw mahibaar

and from there the story progresses in

the flashback

so these are some of my ways to eat

my telling which is to embellish enhance

and personalize my telling

and with this we are ready to practice

the story

i live the story practically day in and

day out i breathe the story on the story

till the time the story becomes me and i

become the story

and that’s when i’m ready to share

the gift of my telling the gift of my

story

with my audience so that they could

become one with it

and while i do all of this very

importantly

i credit the sources that i have

referred to

in order to weave the story together and

the telling together

so that ladies and gentlemen has been my

way

to making tales tellable the

finer art of storytelling

and these are some of the glimpses of my

actual work

of my using six steps and keeping the

telling

so as they say perhaps

uh four of the most powerful words

in the history of mankind once

upon a time once upon a time in

land far away they lift the tale of

tales that i brought to you today

[Music]

thank you very much for being a

wonderful audience happy story

and namaste