MAKING Tales TELLABLE The Finer Art of Storytelling
[Music]
namaste
once upon a time in a land far away
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
do
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
is
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
he
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