Story Tale

Why Stories? This sequence of posts is about storytelling.  We're going to explore stories together. We'll talk a bit about why and how we tell them, including a few little tricks you might find helpful when weaving your own. But first we should think about why...

Let's go back to that first film:  Here it is.  (You might have to skip an ad or two, but the film itself lasts only a couple of seconds).  Is it a story? Not really - you get a glimpse of several people walking around, and...

Let’s take the story of the Good Samaritan.  It’s two thousand years old, nice and short, and most of us know it. It’s a good example of both why and how you tell a story.  We’ll come back to How.  For the moment we’re thinking about Why. Imagine the situation: a...

On a family outing to a seaside town, my niece pointed out a house.  ‘That place has Christmas decorations up all the year round,’ she said. This was high summer, the sea was blue and the beach to our left was covered with bathers and sunbathers.  Yet here, to our...

We like stories about falling in love, being heroic, overcoming danger or climbing to power and riches.  It’s easy to see why.  We want things like that to happen for us, and the stories let us share these experiences in our imagination.But we also like sad stories. ...

A fellow author(i) is preparing to give a talk at a school. (This happens.) He asks for help with some pictures he can show during his talk. (This also happens). What he wants, he says, is that you send him a picture of yourself with a sponge on your head. Just in...

So you think you’re in control? Think again!