60 minutes worth of short stories definitely leads to an eclectic flavoring. There were stories about hot dog factories, radio broadcastings, Mary Poppins, as well as stories told by children, workers, parents, and family members. All stories so very different but some in many ways so similar. There were two stories that stood out the most to me: the one about the babysitting incident and the one about the cadets at West Point.
Most often, a story about babysitting may not seem to be very exciting. In this case, though, the excitement came from the teller's humor. While listening, I couldn't help but laugh with Katherine as she retold this comical event from her life -- eating only grapefruit and beans in fear that the couple would notice that they had eaten their food. There was a sense of genuineness that came from her playful tone -- it almost seemed as if she were telling the story to her best friend.
My favorite part of the story about West Point was the way it jumped back and forth between the narrator and the voices of the cadets. From the loud, overlapping voices of cadets reiterating their lines and uperclassmen articulating commands, I myself, an entirely uninvolved bystander, could feel the stress and tension that these poor cadets were experiencing. What struck me even further was when the narrator discussed how much work and sacrifice the new cadet had given up only to be failing the final portion of his test. Feelings of stress and sympathy flourished through my body while I listened.
Overall, both of these stories evoked my feelings and caused me to connect with the subjects and tellers of the story. I wish to apply this to my own storytelling.
I also enjoyed the babysitting story for the same reasons you did - I loved the teller's sense of humor and the way she laughed at herself and her then-boyfriend and the utter ridiculousness of the situation they found themselves in. I appreciated your analysis of the cadet story as well; I actually had a hard time listening to that one because I found all the extra noise distracting, but your point about how that gives the listener a sense of what the cadets were going through in that moment really struck me.
ReplyDeleteFrom these two examples, it is neat to see how one can connect with the characters and storytellers, even though these stories use very different storytelling methods. For me, I tend to enjoy a story more when I can relate to it in some way and so I encourage you to try a couple of different methods when rewriting your story. You don’t have to use more than one method in your story but play around with different ones to see which one conveys the message you wish to get across to your audience. Who should we relate to? Why should we relate? Just some questions to consider…
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