Family Tales
The true stories of your life make fine material for storytelling in any language. Everyone can remember a few personal experience stories, and most people enjoy telling them. Sharing such tales helps us all to value our own lives while we reach out to learn of others.
Finding the stories
Remember such tales by thinking of:
- your family, your friends and neighbors,
- the areas you played and worked in growing up,
- the special events and challenges in your life.
You can jog your memory, if needed, by looking at older photographs (like that of my twin brothers) or family objects. Ask relatives for their stories — whole or in part — they are very valuable. You might want to tape record their stories. Or use a family gathering to help everyone compare story versions and memories.
It may also help to draw pictures of your true memories and tales. You can make story maps of where you grew up, labeling each part of the house/apartment/yard to show where certain events happened. Try sketching the main characters, to recall webs of tales about each one.
Storytellers often remember stories in pictures, not words, so use this opportunity to practice visualizing as you sketch scenes from the past. To your left, you'll see some common family story themes to help you recall stories and fragments of stories that may be well buried. Of course you will remember many more stories and themes as you think back. Enjoy the process.
Sharing your stories
After you remember at least part of a good story, begin to embroider it and bring it to life. Decide on its form — what will be the beginning, how will the action build up, how will it end? Think of the words that will give shape to the story...a good hook to start a story, a last line to be remembered, rich details in between to move the tale on. Remember that you can start a story with a question, a description, a piece of conversation, and more. Endings also offer the same range of possibilities.
Think of the characters and the setting. How can you bring them to life?
- Can you describe what you saw, heard, felt, tasted?
- Can you portray characters by a gesture or a way of speaking?
- Could you add a sound or a melody?
- Should you add more dialogue?
- Is there room for a pause to create an effect?
Play with your story, repeat it several times, in different ways. Try tape recording it, then listen carefully and edit well. Now tell it to others, again and again. Polish the tale in the telling, react to your audience, help the story to find its own shape and style. And have fun!
