Tell-A-Story Day: Storytelling Tips

The second point is to be authentic. Of course, this doesn't apply if you are telling a fiction story in the aspect that you are telling a story that is unreal, but even the delivery needs to be authentic and sincere. If you are sharing a story that is non-fiction, however, it will be imperative that you are emotionally invested in the tale. If you aren't emotionally invested in it, you run the risk of losing your audience's attention. Whether telling a story to a child or a room full of adults, you want your story to be engaging, and the best way to engage and captivate your audience is by being real and authentic.

The third aspect of successful storytelling is the character. You must have a point to your story, and your character is what will best express your point. Characters portray the emotional aspects of your story, and are what brings your story to life and makes them real and relatable. When telling stories, focus on characters and give them larger than life qualities as this will help the audience respond to them in a positive manner.

Your characters need to be exciting, and one way to do that is through action. Your characters need to be battling something in order to come to a resolution. According to the Stanford document, the three principles of dramatic action that your characters need to engage in are action, conflict, and transformation. Action deals with what the character is trying to achieve. Conflict deals with problems that prohibit the character from reaching his or her goal. Transformation focuses on conflict resolution and the way the character grows and changes afterward.

When developing characters, whether for written or oral stories, you need to express their characteristics through details. Make sure that your reader or audience has a true picture of your character's personality traits.

How will you celebrate Tell-a-Story day?

[Photo by Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock]