Internationally recognised story teller, Susan Strauss, gives her insights into what makes a good story.

Value of story telling

The art of story-telling in face to face interpretation is something all interpreters spend a great deal of time developing.

The most important attributes of a story teller are:

• Character (you)
• Don't fake it, be yourself, relaxed, confident that the audience wants to hear what you have to say.
• Passion - care about what you are sharing
• Knowledge - understand all of the factual material that the story is based upon.

The simplest approach to story telling is to ask the classic questions:

• Who? are the main characters and are there any archetypes, good? evil?
• What? is their relationship to each other how do they fit together?
• Where? is the stage that the story is played out - a sense of place and what impact it has on the characters.
• Why? that is, what motivates the characters, what hardships to be overcome, environments to educate, relationships to build etc.

From this point on the story will gain its shape and now requires telling and telling and telling some more. The more it is told, the deeper the understanding of these characters will grow and with it the story will improve.

Susan Strauss

With well developed skills, story transforms factual information into engaging narratives. Time and practice is required along with the preparedness of the interpreter to "take risks" in their delivery methods, try new ideas and, get it wrong.

Persistence is its own reward in this case. A structured planned approach to developing the central messages of your presentations and practice in simple story telling techniques will reward the interpreter as much as the audience. On a recent trip to Tasmania Susan Strauss, internationally acclaimed author and story-teller, shared some of the simple concepts and techniques that she employs to breathe life into her stories.

Susan brings to life the Creation as seen through the eyes of the Zuni American Indian.

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