• Miscellaneous Principles and Considerations
I know: this subheading is a bit of a cop-out. But I can’t organize them precisely, as they all have more or less equal importance and they flit about in my storytelling world like quarks. Here, there, now, then, both at the same time, and whoops where’d they go?
Know Your Audience: You don’t want to tell the story of Jesus’ birth at a conference of atheists, nor would you ridicule and demean the poor boy and his Father to a group of Catholics. Who are you telling your story to? Engineers? Accountants? Fifth-graders? Metaphysical healers? I once did a master class for some staff from a non-profit social service organization. Among the eight participants were three Muslim women, each wearing hijab signifying modesty. In that group was a woman from an African country whose culture did not encourage eye contact between women and men — so she said. I was effective in my storytelling and teaching because I modified stories to be acceptable to my audience — without diluting my message and teaching. I respected them. They listened and learned.
Credibility: Another word for this is believability. We have to be authentically credible and believable as a person, in order for our story to be credible and believable — even if we’re making it up! My brother Rick and I are attorneys. (more…)
