If you look up the meaning of storytelling, you will probably find that it is simply described as the art of telling a story. But storytelling is much more than putting words together. A good story can make us laugh, feel nervous, imagine another world or even see ourselves differently.
It can happen around a dining table, in a classroom, through a book or on a stage. The storyteller may be a parent, teacher, writer, actor or simply someone with a story to share.
But what makes storytelling work? And why do some stories stay with us long after they are over?
“I am (still) becoming”
Shobha Viswanath, co-founder and publishing director of Karadi Tales, once turned a familiar question on its head.
“What do you want to become when you grow up?”
Her suggestion was to ask a different question instead:
“What have you become after you have grown up?”
Children change their minds. Today they may want to be doctors; tomorrow, engineers; the next day, actors, dancers, magicians or even elephants. Why should changing your mind be treated as a problem?
Shobha herself once wanted to become an actress because she wanted to wear different costumes, hairstyles and make-up. She eventually got the opportunity to act when she was 62.
Sometimes, she points out, the opportunity comes much later.
And so, when asked what she wants to become, her answer is:
“I am still becoming.”
Perhaps that is one of the things stories allow us to do. Through a book, you can become a wizard, an explorer, a warrior, an animal or someone living an entirely different life.
Stories give us the freedom to imagine lives beyond our own.
Shobha Viswanath, co-founder and publishing director of Karadi Tales
When the audience becomes part of the story
For storyteller Renu Narayan, storytelling is not simply about standing in front of an audience and speaking.
Her style is lively and interactive. She moves around, changes her voice, uses expressions and gestures, and responds to the people listening. A question to the audience, a line repeated together or a small reaction can become part of the story.
“When you personally tell a story, there is a lot more than the story going on there,” she explains. “The bonds are created. There is a closeness which comes, the interaction happens.”
For Renu, storytelling is a “heart-to-heart connection” rather than just an intellectual exchange.
Renu Narayan, performing at Katharoo Fest in Sir Sivaswami Kalalaya Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, Chennai. | Photo Credit: Photo: Special Arrangement
That connection can also help children open up, she says, particularly those who are hesitant or quiet. And storytelling does not have to be limited to stories about princes, animals or adventures.
Renu believes it can be used to teach subjects such as mathematics and science, making unfamiliar ideas less intimidating. Instead of presenting a concept as a block of information, a teacher can place it inside a story and give children something to follow, imagine and remember.
A book by Renu
She believes the storyteller’s own enjoyment matters, too.
“Only if you’re enjoying what you’re doing, will the audience enjoy.”
That is why good storytelling often feels alive. The storyteller is not simply reciting words. They are reacting, moving, listening and creating a relationship with the audience.
Chuk-chuk-chuk
Nine-year-old Hamsika discovered the joy of storytelling after watching Renu perform a story about a monastery at a competition.
“I was fascinated,” she says.
She later entered a storytelling competition because she wanted to be like Renu, won first place and continued telling stories.
For Hamsika, storytelling is also a way of relaxing. She believes listeners can become so absorbed that they forget what is happening around them and begin imagining themselves inside the story.
Her favourite stories to tell are funny ones.
“About 90% of the audience enjoy funny stories more,” she says. “They are able to get it and relate it to something.”
Hamsika performing at Katharoo Fest at Sir Sivaswami Kalalaya Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, Chennai. | Photo Credit: Photo: Special Arrangement
But humour is only one way a story can connect.
A storyteller might use a sound, a pause, a change in voice or a simple gesture to make an image appear in the listener’s mind. A train, for example, can become real through nothing more than a repeated “chuk-chuk-chuk”.
That is the strange magic of storytelling: the words are heard, but the pictures are created inside someone else’s head.
The story needs a listener
Storytelling is often discussed from the storyteller’s point of view. But Shobha believes there is another skill that deserves just as much attention: listening.
“I would place listening above telling,” she says.
Storytelling has not become irrelevant in the digital age, she points out. History is storytelling. Films, books, dances and even short videos use different forms of storytelling. What changes is the medium, the content and the context.
But every story still needs someone to receive it.
A writer has language, plot, conflict and resolution. A performer has voice, movement and interaction. A filmmaker has images, sound and editing. Yet none of these can work without an audience willing to pay attention.
Shobha believes children need to learn to listen with attention, but also with “discretion and discrimination” and “a greater sense of perception”.
After all, what is the point of making children storytellers if there is nobody listening?
Perhaps that is why a good story is never really a one-way journey.
The storyteller brings the words, voice and imagination.
The listener brings attention and their own imagination.
Somewhere between the two, a story comes alive.