Empathy is the ability to enable the audience to identify and share the feelings of characters and tone of the story. To do this, the storyteller must master the tools of storytelling. The basic tools are voice (vocal inflection), body, (movement), and imagination (your interpretation of the story). Mastering your tools can be developed by practice, but unless the storyteller ‘feels’ the story, it
will not touch the audience. But I don’t care how ‘polished’ they are, if they aren’t sharing with their feelings, the story is not worth listening to. My Grandpa and Grandma never received formal storytelling training, but they could make us laugh, cry, scare the pee out of us, or change our attitudes simply by telling us a story. All the studying of professional techniques and memorization or rehearsing the words will not make you a great storyteller. If you do not ‘feel’ the story, neither will the audience
On my page I will share stories and tips that may help you develop the use of your tools, but I encourage you to nourish and grow your own storytelling essence. When that force is released along with the use of your basic tools, your storytelling will be powerful and the message will be remembered.
