There Is a Story Algorithm

It’s always interesting to me, and a little irritating, that everyone talks about stories and storytelling in business and pretty much everything else. It’s the new buzz word for people in the know.

Now Wharton presents a plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face revelation– but, on the other hand, if you don’t know it, you’re going to be lost: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/company-vision-cant-e

So Your Company Has a Vision: Why Can’t Everyone See It?

I’ll give you the punch line: It takes more than a great vision for success.

So what does story have to do with it? Pretty much everything as long as you remember all of the story elements and how they work together. It’s not just about the dress, Cinderella.

The secret is to take action and construct a realistic plot line with actionable steps that will lead you to the threshold of your dream destination. In other words, while the destination is important, you’re going to need a map to get there. Nobody gets to skip to the last page and have it all. You’ve got to work through the perils and pitfalls, and persevere through mind-numbing tasks, and bullies, too, to get a pass to the next level. (A little game theory comes in handy.)

As Lewis Carroll rightly pointed out through his boisterous queen, (and I’m inclined to allude to this more often than not) “What good is a memory that only works backwards?” Substitute “story” for “memory” and you’ll know what I mean.

Yes, yes, yes, reflecting on the stories of our past and how we got to where we are is all well and good and can guide us away from making the same mistakes twice, thrice, and so on, but dwelling on those mistakes and all the trauma can also work like a sand trap, quicksand. Plot ahead and use your experience as a guide and motivator, not a burden to pull you back and keep you in limbo.

Plan out your story-yet-to-come.

In the end, it’s all about creating a Gannt chart or story board for yourself. Draw out a map, and prepare for the obstacles along the way as you travel over the river and through those great, big trees to the gingerbread house. And don’t be too bowled over if you happen to find the bridge is out. Be creative and build a raft, or find out how others have boldly gone before you. Do what it takes.

It’s your story. Make a good one. Let it be exciting.

Find out more. Contact me.

Telling Literary Tales

As I prepare the final touches for my upcoming one-woman show  Love Stories–which includes both traditional and literary tales, I thought that I’d take a moment or two to explain the difference between the genres.

Traditional tales encompass folk tales and, sometimes, fairy tales which have been adapted in words, details, and messages according to a teller’s own creative invention and interpretation.

Folk tales are stories that have been around so long that they are devoid of origin markers, and, it is generally agreed,  they have been transmitted through generations using the oral tradition—which is storytelling.  Over time, their origins, including the names of the people who lived them, were worn away like raw, jagged rocks worn to smooth-faced pebbles.

Collectors of the tales deliberately worked to record what they heard.  Jacob and Wilhem Grimm, Andrew Lange, Charles Perrault, and Lafcadio Hearn are just a few of the many writers-collectors whose works form the basis of this very popular genre.

Although many folktales are thought to stem from different places and cultures around the world, they are often so keenly similar that they might be one and the same.  Aesop’s fables and Panchatantra stories are like that.

I mentioned “sometimes fairy tales” because fairy tales are typically folktales that have been expanded upon by their writers—which means that specific details were added.  The cultures and the viewpoints of the authors are embedded in their works.  Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales are a prime example wherein strong Christian values

The Red Shoes, Hans Christian Andersen

were woven throughout and can be directly linked to the folktales on which they were based, like The Blue Light, The Story of a Mother, and The Red Shoes.

Literary tales are different in a very pronounced way.  They are solely the inspired works of the authors who created them.  The details that abound in them belong to the author, including the language and other unique characteristics that fill them out.

In telling literary tales, well-known works by well-known authors, I strive to leave as much flavor of the original piece as possible.  To that end, shorter works tend to be told almost entirely verbatim.  Such tales seem to possess me in the telling and are only changed if necessary, to make sense of it to the audience and/or to suit time constraints.

Keep in mind that this doesn’t in any way prevent an infusion of creativity in the performance/telling since the stories that truly connect with me are almost immediately recalled in their own voices and I do my best to represent them faithfully.

On the other hand, words and phrases can be said in all kinds of ways to project a plethora of varied viewpoints, and the message that one reader encounters can seem completely at odds with the impression gleaned by another.   This means that the teller has a strong influence on how the story and the connotations to it are shared and shaped with listeners.

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In Love Stories, two literary tales: The Story of an Hour and A Pair of Silk Stockings, both written by Kate Chopin are adapted and told. Each emotional tale is bittersweet and timeless, reflecting everpresent women’s issues in the face of love.