A Storied Career
Kathy Hansen's Blog to explore traditional and postmodern forms/uses of storytelling.
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Eric James Wolf: Dyslexia's Gifts to a Storyteller
Eric James Wolf of The Art of Storytelling Show has been on my radar for a long time and was one of the first people I invited to participate in a Q&A. Because he has dyslexia (see his comments about dyslexia below), writing isn’t easy for Eric, and he initially abandoned his attempt to respond to my questions. But recently, he revived and refreshed his responses. I’m honored to present this Q&A with Eric over the next several days. This Q&A will also be unique in that... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Scott Schwertly: Epic Storyteller Specializing in Presentation Design
I’ve been fascinated with Scott Schwertly’s company, Ethos3 Communications, for quite some time, having first blogged about the firm two years ago. It’s one of a small handful of companies that create dazzling presentation designs emphasizing storytelling. Ethos3’s slideshow “Storytelling 101” has enjoyed tremendous buzz (I mentioned it here). It’s a great privilege to present this Q&A with Scott. Bio: Scott Schwertly is an epic storyteller. Today,... |
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Story Collections! Facebook Stories, Mentor Stories, Stories of the Hidden World of Girls
I exult in uncovering and reporting on online venues that are repositories of stories. Here are three I just learned of: Facebook expects to add its 500 millionth user this week and intends to mark the occasion by focusing on user stories rather than numbers, reports Mashable. The social-media behemoth will celebrate by unveiling a Facebook Stories section of the site. Facebook will “sort actual, submitted user stories by location and theme. Theme examples given included ‘finding... |
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LinkedIn Storytelling Groups and 6-Word Stories from Practitioners
Several groups related to corporate/organizational storytelling have sprung up on LinkedIn recently (or at least have recently come to my attention). A lot of overlapping content seems to populate these groups, which confuses me a bit. The group Corporate Storytelling has been discussing The Real Reason Stories Are Important, among other topics. (You may need to join the group to see its content and discussions). On Organizational Storytelling, members are recommending readings. Storytelling... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Barry Poltermann: Stories Are the Essence of What Binds Us as Human Beings
See a photo of Barry, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Q&A with Barry Poltermann, Questions 9, 10, 11, and 12: Q: What’s your favorite story about a transformation that came about through a story or storytelling act? A: We made a film called “Life of Reilly”, about Charles Nelson Reilly. The film got limited release, but I keep getting emails from people who are inspired by it. Unexpectedly. Literally “it changed my life” kinds... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Barry Poltermann: Nobody Gives a Crap About Your Message. Tell People a Story.
See a photo of Barry, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3. Q&A with Barry Poltermann, Questions 7 and 8: Q: Are there any current uses of storytelling that repel you or that you feel are inappropriate? A: Those emails from Nigerian princes that tell you to send them your bank account info so you can make a million bucks repel me. Seriously, the only thing that repels me is the way that the term “story” is abused. So many times a marketer says “tell... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Barry Poltermann: It's About Heroes, Goals, and Obstacles
See a photo of Barry, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2. Q&A with Barry Poltermann, Questions 5 and 6: Q: How important is it to you and your work to function within the framework of a particular definition of “story?” (i.e., What is a story?) What definition do you espouse? A: At AboutFace, we very much function within the paradigm of a story with a hero, the hero’s goal, obstacles, and the hero’s journey to attain the goal. From around the world,... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Barry Poltermann: Many Stories, But Not Necessarily Well-Told Stories
See a photo of Barry, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A. Q&A with Barry Poltermann, Questions 3 and 4: Q: What people or entities have been most influential to you in your story work and why? A: My first love was movies. Growing up I watched anything and everything I could. Coppola, Scorsese… even John Waters. What’s interesting to me now is that we so many avenues for young people today to hear, watch, or read stories, whereas when I was a kid there weren’t... |
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Deadline Tomorrow! NPR Offering Audio Storytelling Workshop
Few can deny that National Public Radio (NPR) excels in audio storytelling. Now the organization is offering an Audio Storytelling Workshop on Aug. 4 in Culv er City, CA, and the deadline to apply is tomorrow. Details at this Facebook event page: What makes a good audio story? Whether your goal is to do a full-blown radio story, use audio clips in your blog, accompany photos on the web, or create a podcast, this one-day overview workshop by NPR will show you how to understand audio's storytelling... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Barry Poltermann: Mr. Story, Story, Story
I learned of Barry Poltermann when I came across his company, About Face Media, the tagline of which is “Let’s tell your stories.” I’m delighted that Barry responded to the maximum number of questions he possibly could have. I ask Q&A subjects to respond to five, but they are welcome to respond to more. Barry responded to all 12 submitted to him. I’m honored to present this Q&A with Barry over the next five days. Bio: [From his company Web site] Barry... |
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Input Sought for Expanding the Center for Oral Narration
American journalist and academic James Borton wrote to me recently seeking assistance with his quest to expand he Center for Oral Narration at the University of South Carolina, Sumter. Here’s what he asked me to post: Academic seeks to review sample proposals for digital-storytelling projects, particularly community-based digital-story proposals that may have already been successfully funded. Looking for models that will help in crafting proposals as part of an expansion of the Center for... |
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Story Cements Brand Loyalty
After at least two recent vacuum-cleaner failures, we decided to get a Dyson machine. We were impressed with its features, innovative design, and advertising. When the Dyson arrived, it immediately endeared itself to me by including the little booklet pictured here. I already knew a bit about Dyson’s story from its ads, but the story booklet reinforced and enhanced my knowledge. It also helped cement my new loyalty to this brand. Who wouldn’t love the story (which you can also read... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Kindra Hall: Finding Unexpected Stories
See a photo of Kindra, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Q&A with Kindra Hall, Question 8: Q: You tweeted recently about having writer’s block. How do you deal with that and get ideas flowing again? Do you have goals for how often you will write and publish your stories, and if so, do you ever feel oppressed by those goals? A: Ug. Yes. I have my days. I do have goals focused on posts-per-week. I’ve upped it to twice in week, though I’d... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Kindra Hall: Stories Never Stop Impacting Members of the Organization
See a photo of Kindra, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3. Q&A with Kindra Hall, Questions 6 and 7: Q: I’m intrigued by your wedding-story work, and I also read and loved your own stories of your relationship with your relatively new husband. I’ve never seen/heard stories at a wedding. Did you originate the idea? How easy is it to sell couples on the idea? (I would imagine you get a lot of business through word-of-mouth — people seeing stories shared... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Kindra Hall: See the Stories That are Happening Around You and Tell Them
See a photo of Kindra, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2. Q&A with Kindra Hall, Questions 4 and 5: Q: Are there any current uses of storytelling that repel you or that you feel are inappropriate? A: There are a few things to this. First, I need to be clear: whenever a story is told that is based on lies — I have a problem with that. Because we are so susceptible to the stories we are told, telling false stories with the intent to pass them off as true is entirely... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Kindra Hall: If You Don't Tell Your Story First -- Someone Will Tell it for You
See a photo of Kindra, her bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A. Q&A with Kindra Hall, Questions 2 and 3: Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it? A: My storytelling career began with performance. I started telling stories in elementary school in my English class. I then competed on the high-school speech team telling stories, and eventually found my way to the National Storytelling Conference... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Kindra Hall: The Key To Tranforming a Written Story into an Oral Performance
I believe Kindra Hall sought me out on Twitter or Facebook (or both). As I learned more about her, I was utterly charmed by this lovely young woman and her entertaining newly designed site/blog Kindra Hall Tells All. I’m thrilled to present this Q&A with Kindra over the next five days. Bio: [In her own words from her site, Kindra Hall Tells All] I grew up in small-town Minnesota. I graduated high school in 1999, college in 2003, and finished graduate school (completing a thesis on... |
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Story Prompts Meet Social Media
I’ve seen plenty of Web sites that offer story prompts. In fact, I keep intending to create a Story Prompts section on A Storied Career. But Plinky is the first story-prompt site I’ve seen that combines story prompts with social media. In fact, Plinky doesn’t frame its prompts as prompts for stories or even writing — but rather for Web content. Plinky’s pitch: Plinky makes it easy for you to create inspired content. Every day we provide a prompt (i.e., a question... |
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Essential Story Elements: Are They All the Same Thing? And Do They Require Manipulation?
Read a couple of articles recently that talk about elements that make stories work. In Atticus Finch Would Not Approve: Why a Courtroom Full of Reptiles Is a Bad Idea, Stephanie West Allen, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Diane Wyzga offer Seven Tips For Creating the Motivating Story, in which they declare that: A story is always about a conflict. AND We expect a story to be about change. Meanwhile, in an interview of Ira Glass by “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz in her blog The Wrong Stuff... |
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Apply to Tell the Story of a Great American Road Trip
Here’s an awesome Americana-inspired opportunity to think about as we head into the 4th of July weekend … In a project called Exploring My America, Sears Auto Center is sponsoring 21 road trips along nine of America’s iconic highways. Sears seeks “engaging, adventurous people to hit the road for a week and tell their story and the stories of the people they meet.” Here are the nine routes: Pacific Coast (pictured; this is the one I’d most like to do) ... |