There’s nothing like a good story. Begin telling a story and you capture everyone’s attention. If you don’t finish the story, you will have people hunting you down to find out how the story turned out. Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms in the world. It was used for entertainment, a way to teach lessons and even to share news. The art of verbal storytelling is one that has fallen by the wayside in this day and age. There are still people who hold onto the tradition. But being able to tell a good story is not a skill that everyone has the talent for. Here are a few simple steps to learn how to tell a story.

1. Find a story that you enjoy. This process is going to assume that you are going to learn a story (which is easier) as opposed to writing and learning your own story.
2. Read the story a couple of times. Try to picture the action as you read it.
3. Put the story aside. Write down the main points of action that happen in the story, using your own words.
4. Re-read the story. Set your paper aside and re-read the story.
5. Add to your paper any additional thoughts.
6. Read the story again.
7. Condense your points into several main points.
8. Read the story again.
9. Combine all of your main points down into only a few descriptive lines of three to four words. In your own words.
10. Practice telling your story in your own words, using only your note card of a few descriptive lines.

By going through this process, you can learn a story, put it into your own words (which makes it more natural) and learn to tell it efficiently. By putting it into your own words, the story becomes more natural and with that, it will flow smoother.

You can do a number of things to enhance the story as you practice it and as you tell it. To add some variety to the common stories that most people think they know, look for other versions or similar versions of the same story. Throughout history, many countries tell stories that are similar to the ones we grew up with, or have a different spin or even a different lesson to them. By studying these stories you can add new details to a tired old story.

You can even add dramatic flair to the story, acting out parts and giving the character voices. Adding emotion to your story and bringing it to life. Description, painting word pictures for your audience will help them to picture the scene you are trying to describe. you don’t have to spell out every detail but just give them enough to let their imaginations create the scene. If you do this, you will capture their attention and hold it for the duration of the story and when you finish, they will be wanting more.

In a future blog post or perhaps a series, I will delve into how to write a story for telling and then learn it to tell verbally.

So how do you learn a story for telling?