How to Prepare to Tell a Story


As I have mentioned before, and will again and again, storytellers are unique and there are as many different approaches to preparing to tell a story as there are storytellers. In this column I will highlight some of those approaches, and those that have worked for me. Whether or not you are preparing a story for a family gathering, for a small group of friends, for your child’s classmates, or for a performance at an event, you will want your story to be the best it can be. Hopefully, the tips that follow will help you achieve that goal.

Pick a Story You Love

Whether or not, you are working on your own story, a folktale or other story that is in public domain (we will address this topic in an upcoming article), or a literary story, you will want to pick a story you love enough to spend a lot of time and effort preparing. Most successful storytellers I know tell me that one of the most time consuming parts of their lives as a teller is finding the right stories to work on and tell. Always include some time in your schedule for story research — it’s not only fun, but it also will help you find the perfect story and stories for you. Loving your story will also help you to make it your own, so that when you start to tell it to others, they will feel your enjoyment of the story as well. Hearing a story poorly told is unsettling enough, but hearing a story obviously not being enjoyed by the teller is worse.

Ask Yourself the Important Questions

There are many questions as the storyteller you should ask before starting work on a particular story. I suggest jotting down the answers to these questions. Why do I love this story? What draws me to it the most? Does it relate in some way to me and my life experiences (you will find that most do)? How? What parts of the story appeal to me the most? What is the meaning of the story to me? Is there an overall theme and what is it? Are there parts of the story that are confusing or don’t follow the overall theme? Can I resolve these and how might I do this? Why do I want to tell this story? And to whom will I tell this story? Do I really want to spend time and effort on this story? You may decide after considering these questions that this isn’t the right story for you, but if you want to continue, you now have a great beginning to embracing this story and making it your own.

The copyright of the article How to Prepare to Tell a Story in Storytelling is owned by Chris King. Permission to republish How to Prepare to Tell a Story in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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