Contents

1) BEWARE THE “STORYTELLING VOICE”!

2) FREE RECORDINGS: THE STORYTELLING COACH PODCAST

• listen down, download, or subscribe

3) FREE (OR LOW-COST) GUIDE TO A SUSTAINABLE STORYTELLING INCOME

• Read about this 3-session phone/online course (starts the week of Sept 13)

1) BEWARE THE “STORYTELLING VOICE”!

Wherever I travel, I try to listen to local storytellers perform. I like to support them and hear what they’re up to.

Much of what I hear encourages me: honest communication, well shaped and well delivered.

But nearly everywhere I also hear something I have learned to dread. I call it the Storytelling Voice.

A Warning!

I have hesitated to write about Storytelling Voice. Rather, I prefer to call attention to the good and let the bad fade away.

But Storytelling Voice is insidious. Unless your attention is called to it, it’s difficult to realize that you have this destructive habit or learn how to free your telling from it.

A Performance Virus?

Some tellers tell conversationally. Some tell more theatrically. Others use a distinctly elevated tone, suggestive of myth or ritual.

But some use an artificial tone of voice, a voice that suggests “I am a storyteller! You can tell by how I sooooound!”

There is no way to convey the sound of this voice in print. Its many variations all have one trait in common: the voice differs from the teller’s conversational voice for reasons having nothing to do with communication or the peculiar qualities of the tale being told. Rather, the teller imitates what the teller has perceived as “the way storytellers sound.”

In short, the teller is imitating (usually unconsciously) a way of speaking that is unnatural and contrived. Doubtless, the teller has picked it up from other tellers and assumed that this way of talking is a sign of belonging in “the storytelling club.”

Said differently, the Storytelling Voice is a virus passed from one well-meaning teller to another.

Sad Symptoms

The Storytelling Voice is not usually a fatal disease, although it can sometimes weaken storytelling communities alarmingly.

You see, when tellers succeed in mastering this artificial voice, they have little incentive to try to convey the nuances of expression that their stories demand. They are less likely to discover their own, unique forms of vocal expression.

Further, an artificially theatrical tone of voice can serve as insulation against truly experiencing the emotions, attitudes, and intentions of the story’s characters.

As a result, tellers and communities infected with storytelling voice tend to skate on the emotional surface of their stories. Their performances tend to lack variety and depth.

Tragically, audiences who come to a performance dominated by Storytelling Voice either buy into the idea that storytelling should sound like stilted acting, or they leave in search of a more compelling artform.

Invisible Symptoms

These symptoms are usually invisible to the well-meaning storytellers. They are unaware that they are doing something artificial. In their minds, they are simply “telling a story.”

Since they are not conscious of the habitual vocal style they have adopted, they have no way to notice its effect on their listeners and their community. When listeners fail to return, for example, the tellers simply bemoan the small numbers of people who seem to like storytelling.

It’s true: if you accept these tellers’ unconscious “definition” of storytelling, few people off the street find it compelling.

What Kind of Disease?

Storytelling Voice is an example of what I call “misdirected effort.”

“Misdirected effort” is a category of obstacle to your storytelling progess. It consists of trying, usually unconsciously, to improve your storytelling by exerting effort that, unfortunately, makes your storytelling worse.

An unconscious attempt to “sound like a storyteller” limits your storytelling. But, since your effort is unconscious, it’s hard for you to stop trying to speak that way.

There is a Cure

It’s not easy for a coach to do, but it is possible to help tellers notice their unconscious, misdirected effort. The easiest approach is to find a way to help the teller to NOT apply the effort for a while. Then you can help the teller notice the difference between what just happened and what the teller usually does.

For example, while leading a coaching workshop once, I listened to a teller – let’s call her Edna – whose version of a folktale was dripping with Storytelling Voice. I asked her, “Would you like some appreciations?” When she accepted my offer, I told her some things I liked about the story, her adaptation of it, and her way of characterizing one of the characters.

Then I said, “Would you like a suggestion?”

She said, “Yes.”

I said, “Before the suggestion, just tell me what happens in the story, in your own words. Don’t tell it; just tell me what happens.”

Edna began summarizing her story. Within a minute, she had begun telling it – but in her ordinary tone of voice. I let her finish, then I asked the others for appreciations. They were unabashedly enthusiastic. One said, “That was magnificent! I imagined what you were saying so vividly!”

Edna said, “But I wasn’t really telling it.”

I said, “How did it feel to “not really tell it”?

She said, “It felt kind of funny.”

I said, “Tell me more about how it felt.”

Edna said, “Well, I was so busy thinking about what happened that I didn’t really try to tell the story.”

I said, “Did you feel that somewhere in your body?”

She said, “You know, it felt a little more relaxed, like I didn’t have to put the story across to you.”

I said, “I think I can see the difference in how you stood. When you were ‘trying to tell the story,’ you leaned forward more. Does that feel correct?”

Edna was quiet a moment while she experimented with her stance. “Yes,” she said. “When I was just telling you what happened I felt more relaxed, almost like I was just waiting for a bus.”

“I can see it in how you’re standing now. It looks very centered, relaxed yet powerful.”

Edna’s eyes sparkled. “I can feel that!”

I said, “Your job, then, is to stand ‘like you’re waiting for a bus’ when you tell. That stance is very inviting to us. You don’t have to push the power of the story forward. Instead, invite us into the story. Does that make sense?”

“I’ve got it,” said Edna. “I can do that.”

Replacing the Misdirected Effort

To help Edna stop using Storytelling Voice, I needed to take her through four steps. Each teller will need unique help, but these steps will apply to most:

1. Tell at least part of a story without using Storytelling Voice.
2. Notice what it felt like NOT to use it.
3. Rescind the decision to use Storytelling Voice.
4. Replace the unconscious intention to use Storytelling Voice with another intention, in Edna’s case to “tell like she is waiting for a bus.”

Now Edna will be free to explore and develop much more interesting and varied approaches to her voice, to her characters, and to her stories themselves.

Treat the Patients Gently

In my mind, Storytelling Voice is a danger to our storytelling movement. It scares off potential audience members and keeps potentially wonderful tellers stuck in slavish imitation of an affected manner of speech.

But that doesn’t mean that we should be harsh toward those who have this unfortunate performance habit.

Instead, we need to treat them gently, like the devoted storytellers that they are. We can offer to coach them supportively, like I coached Edna. We can offer them information about this common problem. (Depending on your relationship with them, you might even be able to give them this article to read.)

We can perhaps say, relaxedly and affectionately, “I wonder if you have a touch of Storytelling Voice? Would you like to experiment telling a story the way you talk to a friend?”

We will need to be creative in approaching this issue and in helping unwitting sufferers recover. It will require patience, respectfulness, and genuine affection.

But the task is too important to ignore. After all, stories have power, and many more people could benefit from experiencing that power.

Even though we can’t afford to drive away audiences with too much Storytelling Voice, neither can we afford to drive away impassioned tellers who, in their eagerness to pass on the living breath of stories, have developed a common bad habit.

We need you; we need them; every true voice needs to be heard.

2) FREE RECORDINGS: THE STORYTELLING COACH PODCAST

Do you want to learn to coach others? Do you want to be an informed consumer of coaching for yourself?

In either case, you need to understand what makes coaching work, and how a coach can support your creative thinking – not substitute the coach’s thinking for yours.

The Storytelling Coach book

Back in 1995, I wrote the first (and still the only) book on coaching storytellers, The Storytelling Coach: How to Listen, Praise, and Bring Out People’s Best. ( http://www.storydynamics.com/tsc )

Now I am recording the entire book (I am actually “telling” it more than reading it), in segments that are 5 to 10 minutes long. I will make these recordings available each week as episodes in this podcast.

These recordings are free for your personal use.

The first episode, “A New Kind of Helper,” is online now. You can listen online, download the file, or subscribe to the podcast.

Please subscribe, to be sure not to miss an episode!

TOP OF PAGE

3) FREE (OR LOW-COST) GUIDE TO A SUSTAINABLE STORYTELLING INCOME

Does this sound familiar?

There are two seasons to my storytelling life: one is called ‘too busy,’ and the other is called ‘too poor.’

When work is plentiful, professional storytellers run ourselves into the ground earning what we can. But the busy periods are always followed by times when we don’t have enough work to sustain us.

To make things worse, the cycle of “good months” and “bad months” is superimposed on the economy’s cycles of boom and recession, which always seemed to hit our primary audiences of schools, libraries, synagogues, churches, etc., all at the same time.

That was my reality for over 20 years. But it all began to change when I discovered information products.

A Sustainable Income?

“Information products,” if done right, can free you from the cycle of exhaustion and income short-falls.

They can make money without your leaving home. They can even make you money while you sleep.

And they can be based on what you already know and love to do.

Course Starts the Week of September 13

In September, I am offering a brief phone/online course that will give you a roadmap for navigating the world of information products.

You will learn ways to turn your unique storytelling skills into an income that will sustain you for the rest of your working life.

read more at:

http://www.storytellersroadmap.com

Three Lessons for $25 (or free)

I know that the people who most need this course are feeling the pinch of a sluggish economy.

Therefore, I have decided to make this course available for only $25 (and it is free to all who have taken previous online courses with me).

Learn how information products, even as you age, can make your income easier and more dependable.

• listen down, download, or subscribe to the Storytelling Coach Podcast

• Read about the 3-session phone/online course, the Information Products Road Map (starts the week of Sept 13)

Contents

1) A FOREST REBORN – AND THE BUSINESS OF STORYTELLING

2) GET OFF THE STORYTELLING TREADMILL

• Read about the course

1) A FOREST REBORN – AND THE BUSINESS OF STORYTELLING

Two weeks ago, Pam and I got back from a woodland vacation in Ontario, Canada. While we were there, we learned the story of the privately owned forest we were staying in, the Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve.

Starting in the 1870s, lumber companies clear-cut the easily accessible white pine stands in the area. Destructive tree harvesting continued until the 1960s, when the forest was so weakened that it had lost much of its ability to regenerate. The rugged land was unsuited for agriculture, so some of the beautiful lake shores were sold to developers, leaving 70,000 acres of dubious commercial value.

Peter Schleifenbaum listens to a question

Sound like a familiar eco-tragedy? Here’s where the story takes a surprising turn.

In 1963, a German businessman bought the abused forest land. Over the next years, he was forced to sell off more lakefront to pay taxes on the property. But in 1987, his son, Peter Schleifenbaum, graduated with a doctorate in forestry – and moved from Germany to Haliburton Forest to try to save the forest.

Support the work that supports the forest?

How do you get enough income to manage a forest that has been stripped of nearly all saleable trees? How do you raise money to care for a natural environment without harming the environment in the process?

Schleifenbaum took this problem as his life’s work. His first attempts were fairly conventional: make the forest available for recreation, including fishing, hunting, and snowmobiling.

Pam and Doug on the canopy walkway

But what would make Haliburton Forest stand out? What could make an experience there unlike any other, and therefore valuable enough to command the kind of admission prices that would be needed to finance 70,000 acres of forest restoration?

One of his projects was the world’s longest canopy walkway through a remote stand of old-growth white pine. Another was a meditative tour below the surface of a mountain lake – in a one-of-a-kind tourist submarine. Still another was a 15-acre Wolf Park, containing a resident, non-tame pack of timber wolves, and a Wolf Center featuring a one-way-mirror viewing-room from which to observe the wolves.

Wolf seen from the viewing room into the Wolf Park

Still other projects are an astronomical observatory (at the right times of the year, the Northern Lights are visible there), ElderHostels, mountain bike trails, and sled-dogging.

Peter has also forged relationships with forest researchers at the University of Toronto. At this point, Haliburton Forest is eagerly sought after as a research site, because so much baseline data has already been gathered there.

The Problem of the Sawmill

One of the problems any forest faces is that lumber is sold to sawmills. Sawmills, in turn, demand the highest grade, healthy trees, which are actually essential to the forest. So Peter built his own sawmill, optimized for processing low-grade trees – which are the trees that the forest needs removed.

One of the normally unsaleable trees is eastern hemlock, in spite of its resistance to decay and insects. To create a market for those trees, Peter began Eco-Log Building Concepts, using eastern hemlock logs that are felled only when they come due for harvesting and are skidded by horse to avoid truck-damage to the forest.

In this way, Peter says, the forest no longer works for the sawmill; the sawmill works for the forest.

What Storytellers Can Learn from Haliburton Forest

As storytellers, we have problems similar to Peter Schleifenbaum’s:

• How can we make enough money to support our art?
• How can we “monetize” our art without harming it?
• How can we make our storytelling stand out in a forest of storytellers?
• How can we survive when the book and record publishers, the concert promoters, and all the rest have their own agendas?

From Peter’s story, therefore, we can learn lessons to help us support our art and our selves:

1. Take an active approach to solving the problem of earning a living, no matter how unfair or hopeless your situation seems at first.

2. Apply as much creativity to earning a living as you do to your art – and continue to apply it for decades. Search continuously for new ways to use your assets/skills.

Looking down from the canopy platform

3. Try things that no one else is doing; learn from others, but be willing to go beyond them.

4. Create multiple streams of income. Don’t rely exclusively on any one market, product, or approach.

5. Accept that failures are a part of the process. (Peter’s submarine has been in dry-dock for two years, due to disputes with local regulators. I heard some people complain that a submarine was a crazy idea, but Peter seems to understand that, in order to find lots of things that work, you need to try some that don’t pan out.)

6. If you are not well served by those who earn money from your efforts (like the sawmill owners), create alternatives that work for you.

7. Learn enough about business to succeed, but always work in service to your passion.

What about you? What lessons do you draw from Peter’s story? What ideas does it give you about your storytelling work?

2) GET OFF THE STORYTELLING TREADMILL

If you’re a performing storyteller, you know the cycle:

Some months of the year, you’re busy working every day. Other months, you struggle to get any jobs at all.

The net result: half the time, you’re exhausted from working so hard. The other half, you’re exhausted from worrying where you income will come from.

It’s like you’re on a storytelling treadmill. No matter how hard you run, you never seem to get ahead.

Break the Cycle?

There is a dependable way to stop “running in place” with your storytelling: learn to use your skills to create high-demand information products.

Information products can let you:

1. Use your storytelling skills to solve important problems;
2. Earn more money without working more (“earn while you sleep”);
3. Earn as much from a single sale as from a performance;
4. Break your dependence on the ups and downs in the budgets of schools, libraries, and other traditional sources of storytelling income;
5. Create something now and earn money from it for years to come.

Get Individual Attention As You Learn

How to attract people who have a problem your storytelling can solve

I’m offering a six-week telephone/web course next October. The course will take you through the crucial first steps to a year-around income that supplements and sustains your performing and other services.

This course is limited to just six storytellers, by application only.

To learn more, please visit:

http://infoproductscourse.com

I have transformed my storytelling life with information products. I would love to share some of what I’ve learned with you, my fellow storyteller.

Yours in storytelling,

Doug

P.S., If you request a no-obligation application by Tuesday, August 10, you can lock in a $350 savings.

• Read about the course

Contents

1) FINALLY, SOMEBODY HATES STORYTELLING!

2) CELEBRATE BEING HATED: SAVE $20.10 OR EVEN HALF OFF

• Use your subscriber-only coupon at my online store

1) FINALLY, SOMEBODY HATES STORYTELLING!

At last, someone hates us!

Of all the books written on storytelling so far (4,469 hits on Amazon.com), can you think of a single one that opposes storytelling?

But now we have Christian Salmon’s “Storytelling: Bewitching the Modern Mind,” published in March, 2010.

Salmon doesn’t just hate storytelling. He thinks storytelling is dangerous and disruptive to modern civilization.

That’s the best news I’ve heard in our decades of trying to spread the word about storytelling!

Why Is This Good News?

Since storytelling was rediscovered in the 1970’s, the world has seen storytelling as something quaint and harmless. For decades, you and I have tried to correct that view by asserting that storytelling is timely and powerful. Sometimes it felt as though we were whispering into a hurricane.

But now that an author took the time to research and write an entire book against storytelling, our years of work must have had an effect.

Well, Not Exactly Storytelling

If you’re a performer, don’t worry; Salmon isn’t aiming at you. Rather, he is concerned about applied storytelling: storytelling that is used to persuade, sell, or educate. In particular, he rails against the use of stories and storytelling in business and politics – in seven chapters with titles like these:

• The New “Fiction Economy” (about manipulating workers emotionally so they can, in turn, fool customers)
• Turning Politics Into a Story (about the role of narrative in recent presidential politics in the U.S.)
• Telling War Stories (about video-game-like, immersive military training) and
• The Propaganda Empire (Karl Rove, Fox News, the internet and more.)

Salmon sees all these trends as combining to form a frightening replacement of a reality-based world with a series of “shared fictions” (p.67).

His claim is that storytelling puts emotions ahead of rational thought, elevates entertaining fiction over hard reality, and replaces political skill with “fictional competence.”

Blaming the Hammer?

Like all tools, storytelling can be used for good or bad, to illuminate the nature of reality or to conceal it.

Salmon, to be sure, puts his finger on some disturbing uses of storytelling. But he focuses blame on the tool, not on those using it or even on those of us who allow ourselves to be manipulated.

Too Simple a Story

I would have loved a good book about the dangers of mis-applied storytelling. But this isn’t it.

Salmon writes like a muck-raking journalist. He is good at assembling many examples of storytelling-as-deception and assembling them into an alarming montage. But he has clearly spent more time compiling examples than constructing a penetrating analysis of them – or suggesting a reasonable corrective for society.

To make matters worse, his writing is frequently lacking in the logic that he glorifies. He often uses examples that don’t support his conclusions. He uses emotional language in an apparent attempt to prejudice the reader against his targets. (For example, people in favor of storytelling are usually called “gurus,” whereas those critical of it are “researchers.”)

He doesn’t appear to have noticed that the emphasis during the Industrial Age on “discipline” and “rational argument” has failed to make us either disciplined or rational – never mind relaxed or peaceful. Most importantly, he doesn’t seem to notice that storytelling’s increased presence is in part a reaction to the suppression of important aspects of the human experience.

Altogether, his implied story has more in common with tabloid journalism than with reasoned analysis: “We are being manipulated by unseen forces that are taking over the world. Be afraid!”

Our First Critic. Hooray!

If Salmons’s book were well-argued and well-interpreted, it might be a valuable addition to the literature about storytelling.

As it is, it’s a source of references to story and storytelling in contemporary culture. (Did you know that one of President George W. Bush’s speeches used the word ’story’ 10 times?) That’s the best recommendation I can give it.

We deserve better critics. I hope that the coming years produce them.

But for now, let’s celebrate: we are powerful enough to be on a critic’s radar. At last, storytelling has come of age!

2) CELEBRATE BEING HATED: SAVE $20.10 OR EVEN HALF OFF

In celebration of the first book critical of storytelling (our movement is finally big enough to be someone’s target!) in 2010, I’m offering a “Save $20.10″ sale. But there’s no limit to how much you can save – up to half off.

You can take $20.10 off any order of at least $50 in my Story Dynamics store. In fact, if your order is $100 or more, you can double that – save $40.20. If your order is $150 or more, you save 50 percent – with no limit.

Use your savings on unique storytelling items like these:

• The Beginning Storytelling Toolkit
• The Storytelling Workshop in a Box
• Recorded stories like “The Soul of Hope” or “The Amazing Teddy Bear.”
• A Story Pod (recordings installed on a new iPod)
• And many more.

Here are the coupon codes you will need:

For $20.10 off a $50 order:

save2010

For twice that ($40.20) off a $100 order:

save4020

Do you have your eye on a bigger package or several items? Use this code to save 50 percent off an even larger order ($150 or more):

save50percent

Please use just one coupon per order. For instructions on entering the coupon codes: http://www.storydynamics.com/coupon

Check out the over 28 ways to learn about storytelling, the 15 downloadable products, or the 11 story recordings and combinations of recordings:

http://www.storydynamics.com/store

This sale only lasts until July 6. But until then, celebrate, on me!

Yours in storytelling,
Doug

• Use your subscriber-only coupon at my online store

Contents

1) FINDING THE SCENES IN A STORY

2) FREE DOWNLOAD: 7 OBSTACLES ORDINARY PEOPLE FACE…

• Download your free, 15-page white paper

1) FINDING THE SCENES IN A STORY

The essence of storytelling is the specific scene, the “power of one-ness”:

At ONE moment,
in ONE place,
ONE character
performed ONE action

Of course, there are parts of stories that are best summarized:

“Over the next couple days, she tried again and again…”

These summaries have the virtue of taking us quickly from one important scene to the next, without bogging us down in the details.

The trick in storytelling is to get the right balance: which parts of your story are important enough to deserve a full scene, and which parts should be summarized as briefly as possible.

In order to get that balance, though, you first need to know what the scenes are!

Needing the Scene

When you are first telling a story, you may need to tell much of it in “full scene” mode – at least until you begin to understand the story’s organizing principle, namely, what is most important about it for you.

At this point, the tendency to summarize can hide the juicy details that will make your story memorable.

Interestingly, the same problem arises during the interviewing process, too. If you are trying to elicit stories from someone else, you may need to probe behind the summaries for the power of scenes.

How to Elicit Scenes – not just summaries

Some interviewees will tell full scenes without any prompting. But most often, interviewees will tend to summarize scenes rather than flesh them out.

For example, I once interviewed a survivor of a drunk-driving incident. Let’s call the woman Kathy (not her real name). My goal was to help Kathy tell her story of how the drunk driver affected her life.

Kathy responded to my initial questions about what happened to her by saying simply, “A drunk driver ran into me. That’s how I ended up in this wheelchair.”

Notice how her answer is narrative in form but lacks specifics about the collision. There is no specific place or time, and the collision itself is summarized by the words “ran into me.”

Prodding for Details

As an elicitor of stories, you may need to prod several times to get the details that will make this scene come alive and be meaningful for listeners.

In Kathy’s case, I asked her, “Say more about what happened.”

She responded, “He rear-ended me. I wasn’t even moving.”

I said, “Wow! Where were you when this happened?”

She said, “I was on the highway by my house. I had just driven 20 miles and was about to turn into the road I lived on then. I was about 3 blocks from home.”

I said, “You were just driving along and he rear-ended you?”

She said, “No, I was sitting at the light. It was dark so I was being very careful. If I had run that red light, I’d still be able to walk.”

The Pay-Off

To get the full details of the scene, I had to ask several more questions. Eventually I learned that she had been sitting in her stopped car, waiting for the light to turn, and that there were two open lanes next to her in which any rational driver could have passed her.

With the full scene revealed, I felt her helplessness and the incident’s unpredictability. To me, those are the qualities that made me remember this scene ever since.

How to elicit scenes

When you hear your interviewee refer to an episode that might fit your goals, encourage him or her to tell the full scene. Don’t worry about the presence of irrelevant details at this point. Instead, focus on getting all the details that might be relevant. Ask questions like “What happened next?”, “What were you doing before that?”, and “Where were you at this point?”

Once you have identified a scene that seems powerful, persist until you feel you can fully imagine it.

There are several other potential obstacles in the process of eliciting powerful stories, and many other useful techniques to aid in the process. But the key issues are identifying powerful scenes and then eliciting the details that make them memorable. If you succeed with those issues, you’ll be well on your way to success.

(The above article is adapted from the white paper, “Seven obstacles that ordinary people face when telling their stories to the world – and how to overcome them.” Read on to learn how to download it free.)

2) FREE DOWNLOAD: 7 OBSTACLES ORDINARY PEOPLE FACE…

After my work with Witness to Innocence (you can read about that at http://www.storydynamics.com/witness) I realized how much I care about helping ordinary people tell their extraordinary experiences to the world.

This process involves three main phases:

1. Eliciting Powerful Stories
2. Shaping And Performing Effective Stories
3. Adapting To Changing Contexts

I have made available a free, 15-page download, “Seven obstacles that ordinary people face when telling their stories to the world – and how to overcome them.”

You can download it free here:

http://helpmypeopletell.com

I look forward to getting to know people who share my interest in this work!

• Download your free, 15-page white paper

Contents

1) FOUR ROLES FOR STORYTELLERS – AND THOSE WHO HELP THEM

2) SAVE $200 ON ELICITING STORIES COURSE

• Check out the early bird savings and optional payment plan for the Eliciting Stories course

3) FREE STORYTELLING IN BOSTON, APRIL 20

• Learn more about the free Big Mouth-Off on April 20

1) FOUR ROLES FOR STORYTELLERS – AND THOSE WHO HELP THEM

Years ago, Jay O’Callahan and I led a workshop together where he told his then-new story “Pouring the Sun.” Afterward, we talked about the crucial part our coaching relationship had played in the creation of his story.

Hearing how I had helped Jay overcome some key hurdles, a participant said, “So Doug was one of the parents of the story, huh?”

No! Jay and I were emphatic. I surprised myself with how emphatic I was.

I said, “Jay was the story’s only parent. I was a midwife, helping the story be born.”

To be sure, in my style of coaching, it would be a betrayal of Jay for me to be a co-parent, to supply creative material for his story. Rather, I see myself as a helper who assists Jay in uncovering his own creativity.

Still, the participant could hardly be blamed for not knowing Jay’s and my deeply held belief about coaching, especially since other coaches base their work on different beliefs. My strong reaction was an indicator of a problem: how can we describe different coaching philosophies succinctly?

Are Interviewing Styles Similar?

This issue came back to my mind recently while reading books about interviewing. Many of the books treat interviewing as a one-way act of collection, as the interviewer “getting” information from someone. In this model, the creativity comes from the “data miner” not from the “data holder.”

This style of interviewing may make sense for a census taker or hospital intake interviewer. But it doesn’t work well at all when you are interviewing for the purpose of eliciting personal-experience stories.

In this latter case, both parties are seeking something that doesn’t yet exist: a particular version of the story of the person’s experience. To be sure, the experience already exists. But the interviewer and the person are about to create, together, a new STORY about that experience.

Again, the question popped up: How can we describe the various possible styles?

The Four Roles

All this put me to thinking: what are the actual similarities and differences between different approaches to coaching and interviewing? How can we explain them clearly, to ensure good matches between a style and a situation?

In response, I came up with four pairs of roles that coaches, directors, and interviewers (and others who work with storytellers of all kinds) can assign either to themselves and to those they work with:

1. Beneficiary or Helper;
2. Creative Director or Creative Assistant;
3. Evaluator or Contributor;
4. Elicitor or Story Source.

Each style of coaching (or of interviewing or directing) assigns the coach, etc., one role from each of these four pairs, and assigns the teller (or interviewee or actor) the other role. In some cases, a role can be shared. But how a coach assigns these four roles gives a clear, general description of the coach’s style.

Which of these roles do you want when you coach (or direct or interview) someone else? Which role do you want when you are being coached, directed, or interviewed?

Role #1: Beneficiary. Who is the event for?

In most professional interactions, one person has the role of Helper, while the other has the role of Beneficiary. For example, in a paid performance, the teller is the Helper, whereas the listeners are the Beneficiaries. In other words, the event is held for the sake of the audience, not for the primary benefit of the teller. That’s why the audience pays.

In coaching, on the other hand, the teller is usually the Beneficiary and the coach is the Helper.

Role #2: Creative Director. Whose creativity is given priority?

In my approach to coaching, the teller (not the coach) is the Creative Director. That is, as coach I apply my creativity to assisting the creativity of the teller, not directly to creating or adding to the teller’s story.

In many theatrical productions, on the other hand, the stage director is the Creative Director. The actor/storyteller is an instrument of the director, whose creativity is primary to the production. Some storytelling coaches see themselves as Creative Directors.

Role #3: Evaluator. Who evaluates the results?

In a story slam where the audience rates the tellers, the audience is the Evaluator. But if a teller hires a coach or other expert to evaluate the teller’s stories, then the coach serves as the Evaluator.

Role #4: Elicitor. Who draws out stories from the other?

In my role as coach, I often take the role of Elicitor. I question the teller, helping her or him find new stories or parts of stories that will meet the teller’s goals. Other coaches, on the other hand, expect the teller to do that work on her/his own.

Interviewers, of course, are almost always the Elicitors. Interestingly, some theatrical directors expect to pull stories out of actors and therefore take on the Elicitor role; whereas others leave the work of Elicitor to the playwright.

Coaching Styles Defined?

With these four role-pairs in mind, we can describe the basic philosophy of different coaches.

For example, in my model of coaching, I expect the roles to break down this way:

Beneficiary: the teller;
Creative Director: the teller;
Evaluator: the teller;
Elicitor: the coach.

That is to say, I coach for the sake of the teller and see myself as an assistant to the teller’s creativity, not as a substitute for it. The teller is in charge of deciding what suggestions of mine are worth acting on. And, whenever achieving the teller’s goals calls for it, I am happy to elicit additional scenes or stories from the teller.

In another of the many possible coaching models, however, the coach might have these expectations:

Beneficiary: the teller;
Creative Director: the coach;
Evaluator: the coach;
Elicitor: the teller. (The teller is expected to dig for stories outside the coaching session.)

These simple descriptions show important differences in coaching philosophy. I believe there is a place for many styles of coaching. At the same time, it is vital that the coach and teller match each other’s expectations.

Directing Styles?

Similarly, a very traditional theater director might expect:

Beneficiary: the director;
Creative Director: the director;
Evaluator: the director;
Elicitor: the playwright.

That kind of traditional director expects to be the creative “dictator” of a production that interprets a playwright’s work. But a different kind of director, one who expects a collaboration with actors (or storytellers) in creating new material based on the actor’s creativity, might expect this:

Beneficiary: the actor;
Creative Director: the actor;
Evaluator: the actor;
Elicitor: the director.

Both styles (and other variant styles, too) have a place. But if actors and directors expect different styles, trouble can ensue – especially without a shared vocabulary to describe these different expectations.

And Now, Interviewing Styles

With all that in mind, we can look at interviewers. The data-seeking census interviewer, for example, probably expects:

Beneficiary: the interviewer (ultimately, the interviewer’s
boss, the government and the people it represents);
Creative Director: the interviewer (The census taker interprets what the interviewee’s statements mean);
Evaluator: the interviewer (The census taker evaluates whether the required information has been obtained);
Elicitor: the interviewer.

What about the story-seeking interviewer? I can imagine several different, equally valid styles.

Suppose an interviewer wants to discover the stories a teller knows, but doesn’t want to find stories of a particular kind. (This might be true when interviewing a family member in the hopes of finding some family stories of any kind.) In such a case, the interviewer might expect:

Beneficiary: the interviewer;
Creative Director: the interviewee (The one being interviewed decides how to tell the stories);
Evaluator: the interviewer (The interviewer gets to define what a “family story” is);
Elicitor: the interviewer.

Now suppose that an interviewer is helping a family member discover stories, so that the family member can write a book. The expectations might be:

Beneficiary: the interviewee;
Creative Director: the interviewee;
Evaluator: the interviewee (The interviewee decides which stories s/he might want to include);
Elicitor: the interviewer.

Finally, consider the case of someone from a charity, interviewing a person who has benefited from the charity’s programs, so that the charity can use the person’s stories for fund-raising. In the case where the interviewer wants stories that will meet the organization’s purposes but also preserve the intention of the interviewee, the interviewer’s expectations will be:

Beneficiary: the interviewer;
Creative Director: shared between interviewer and interviewee;
Evaluator: the interviewer;
Elicitor: the interviewer.

I have summarized these examples in a chart (and explained them further) at http://www.storydynamics.com/4roles

Which Roles Do You Want?

When you seek a coach, director, or someone to interview you, ask yourself these questions:

Do I expect to be the Beneficiary? Who do I expect to be the Evaluator, the Creative Director, and the Elicitor?

Just as importantly, ask yourself the same questions when you find yourself coaching, directing or interviewing.

In all cases, take the time to compare your expectations with those of the other person involved. You CAN get what you want – but first you may need clear terms in which to describe it.

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• Learn more about the free Big Mouth-Off on April 20

Are there concise ways to describe various styles of interacting around stories? This article sets out four roles common to coaching, theatrical directing and interviewing that, together, define a particular style of interacting.

The discussion begins by describing the four roles, then goes on to show how the roles are apportioned differently in different styles of coaching, directing, and interviewing.

The Four Roles

Each “role” is really a pair of roles, just like “Storyteller” and “Listener” are a pair of roles; each requires the other. Here are the roles that, together, define a style of coaching, etc.:

Role 1: Beneficiary

The paired role for Beneficiary is Helper. Between them, Helper and Beneficiary describe for whom the interaction is taking place. 

More detailed definition: Both Helper and Beneficiary can, of course, gain benefit from the coaching (interviewing, etc.) interaction. But the Helper agrees that, if there is ever a conflict between the Helper’s benefit and the Beneficiary’s benefit, the Helper will, for the duration of the interaction, give the Beneficiary’s benefit top priority.

In a paid performance, for example, the listener is the Beneficiary and the storyteller is the Helper. In a therapy session in which the client is telling a story, on the other hand, the storyteller is the Beneficiary and the listener is the Helper, as summarized in this table:

Role 2: Creative Director

The paired role is Creative Assistant. Between them, Creative Director and Creative Assistant describe whose creativity is given precedence.

More detailed definition: Both Creative Director and Creative Assistant may contribute to the creative process. But when both desire to contribute creatively, the Creative Assistant must take a back seat.

More particularly, the interaction is meant to explore the creativity of the Creative Director. The Creative Assistant may offer the results of her/his own creativity as stimulus to the creativity of the Creative Director, or may take an active role in helping the Creative Director’s creativity to flow.

In a certain kind of coaching, for example, the teller is the Creative Director and the coach is the Helper. In such a coaching session, the coach would contrive to help the teller find her/his own scenes, character interpretations and images.

In another kind of coaching, however, the teller seeks help not in unblocking her/his own creativity, but in the actual creative work. In this kind of coaching session, the coach would offer his/her own ideas for scenes, character interpretations, etc.

The two kinds of coaching styles are summarized in this table:

Role 3: Evaluator

The paired role is Contributor. Between them, Evaluator and Contributor describe whose judgment is given precedence.

More detailed definition: Both Evaluator and Contributor may exercise judgment about the results of their interaction, such as whether a particular story is acceptable, worth pursuing, etc. But whenever there is a conflict between their judgments, the judgment of the Evaluator must take precedence. Further, the judgment of the Contributor should usually be offered only when requested.

In a job-performance-evaluation interview, for example, the interviewer is the Evaluator and the interviewee is the Contributor. In such a coaching session, the coach would contrive to help the teller find her/his own scenes, character interpretations and images.

In another kind of coaching, however, the teller seeks help not in unblocking her/his own creativity, but in the actual creative work. In this kind of coaching session, the coach would offer his/her own ideas for scenes, character interpretations, etc.

The two kinds of coaching styles are summarized in this table:

Role 4: Elicitor

The paired role is Story Source. Between them, Elicitor and Story Source describe who is to try to draw out stories in a given interaction.

More detailed definition: Both Elicitor and Story Source may contribute stories. But the Elicitor’s stories are told only for purposes of stimulating the flow of stories from the Story Source. If the Elicitor is telling a story when the Story Source begins a different story, the Elicitor must immediately cease telling and begin listening encouragingly.

In interviewing sessions, for example, the interviewee is commonly the Story Source and the interviewer is the Elicitor.

Some improvisational theater directors expect to elicit stories from actors (or storytellers). Others, however, expect all the stories to be provided by the playwright.

These examples are summarized in this table:

Examples of Varied Styles

With these four role-pairs in mind, we can describe the basic philosophy of different coaches, directors, and interviewers.

Coaching Styles

For example, in my model of coaching, I expect the roles to break down one way, since I coach for the sake of the teller and see myself as an assistant to the teller’s creativity, not as a substitute for it. In my model, the teller is in charge of deciding what suggestions of mine are worth acting on. And, whenever achieving the teller’s goals calls for it, I am happy to elicit additional scenes or stories from the teller.

This can be summarized in the table below as “Doug’s coaching.”

In another coaching style, though, the coach expects to be Creative Director and expects the teller to look for new stories and scenes outside of the coaching session. This style appears as  “Coaching style #2” in the table below.

This simple table shows important differences in coaching philosophy. I believe there is a place for many styles of coaching. At the same time, it is vital that the coach and teller match each other’s expectations.

Directing Styles

Similarly, a very traditional theater director might expect to be the creative "dictator" of a production that interprets a playwright’s work. (See “Traditional Director” in the table below.)

But a different kind of director expects collaboration with actors (or storytellers) in creating new material based on the actor’s creativity. This style is “Directing style #2” in the table:

Both styles (and other variant styles, too) have a place. But if actors and directors expect different styles, trouble can ensue – especially without a shared vocabulary to describe these different expectations.

Interviewing Styles

With all that in mind, we can look at interviewers. The data-seeking census interviewer, for example, probably expects to be the Beneficiary (or at least to be a stand-in for the Beneficiary, who may be the interviewer’s boss: the government or the people it represents).

What about the story-seeking interviewer? I can imagine several different, equally valid styles.

The Seeker of Family Stories

Suppose an interviewer wants to discover the stories a teller knows, but doesn’t want to find stories of a particular kind. (This might be true when interviewing a family member in the hopes of finding some stories of any kind from your family.) In such a case, the interviewer might expect to be the Beneficiary, the Elicitor and the Evaluator. (The interviewer gets to define what a "story" is.) Since the interviewee decides how to tell the stories, this interviewee is the Creative Director.

Helper for a Family Member

Now suppose that an interviewer is helping a family member discover stories, so that the family member can write a book. The expectations might be that the interviewee is the Beneficiary—and also the Evaluator, since the interviewee decides which stories s/he might want to include.

Charity Fundraiser

Finally, consider the case of someone from a charity interviewing a person who has benefited from the charity’s programs, so that the charity can use the person’s stories for fund-raising. In the case where the interviewer wants stories that will meet the organization’s purposes but also preserve the intention of the interviewee, the interviewer will expect to be both the Beneficiary and the Evaluator.

All these story-interviewing styles are summarized in this table:

Which Roles Do You Want?

When you seek a coach, director, or someone to interview you, ask yourself these questions:

• Do I expect to be the Beneficiary?
• Who do I expect to be the Evaluator
• Who do I expect to be the Creative Director?
• Who do I expect to be the Elicitor?

Equally importantly, ask yourself the same questions when you find yourself coaching, directing or interviewing.

In all cases, take the time to compare your expectations with those of the other person involved. You can get what you want—but first you may need clear language in which to describe it.

]]>

Table 1: Summary of the Seven Differences

Stories Concepts
1. Mode of Listening Creation Evaluation
2. Essence Unique event:
• one moment,
• one character,
• one place,
• one action Abstract commonalities:
what many events (etc.) have in common
3. Causes & Effects The specific
which may lead to the general The general
which may evoke the particular
4. Owner of Meaning The Listener The Speaker
5. Precision of Meaning Diverse
(wider range) Shared
(narrower range)
6. Scope of Meaning Contextual Literal (“Textual”)
7. Emotional Responses Empathic Reactive

Contents

1) STORYTELLING, EARTHQUAKES, AND GETTING THROUGH

2) I WANT TO DO MORE TO HELP HAITI

• Use your 20%-off coupon at the Story Dynamics store

1) STORYTELLING, EARTHQUAKES, AND GETTING THROUGH

I was making myself lunch the other day, listening to a radio interview.

The guest was the director of Partners in Health, a local Boston non-profit that has worked for years in Haiti.

The talk turned, naturally, to the recent earthquake. I listened numbly as the host and guest outlined the disaster and predicted that weakened buildings would continue to collapse for days and weeks.

Then the host summarized a staffer’s urgent email:

S.O.S. – S.O.S. – Please help us – Pain meds, bandages needed.

The guest said she had heard more from that staffer’s field hospital:

There are reports of a lot of casualties that are coming
there with only one doctor and no medical supplies still.

Without realizing it, I began to imagine myself as that lone doctor, trying to attend to hundreds of injured people without supplies.

I imagined myself looking over rows of makeshift beds, thinking, “Where is the rest of the world? Why aren’t they helping me?”

In the process of imagining, I had stopped being so numb.

I had begun to weep.

Before eating my sandwich, I went to the computer and made a donation to Partners in Health.

Why Was I Weeping Now?

What was so different about those two sentences? How did they break through my haze? How did they motivate me to interrupt my lunch to make a donation?

As far as I can tell, those two sentences had three important qualities.

The first quality: narrative

First, those two sentences told a little story. Therefore I had something to imagine.

But the director had told other stories already. She had told about her group’s history in Haiti and had narrated what groups were sending aid.

So what other qualities were important?

The Second Quality: A Single Point of View

The director’s other stories were about organizations, hospitals and agencies. They weren’t about individual people. Most of them weren’t even about individual locations.

But the two moving sentences evoked a single doctor in a single location.

As soon as the director described one person’s point of view in one place and time, I begin imagining empathetically.

The Third Quality: Innocence

Looking back, I realize that the immediate context of the director’s story played nearly as big a role as the story itself.

In particular, the director’s story wasn’t a “pitch.” It wasn’t (it seemed to me) pre-calculated to have an effect on me. It came up in response to a question by the interviewer.

I can imagine that the following sentences would have had a much smaller effect on me:

We need the help of those listening to this program. We have a hospital near the airport that urgently needs doctors and supplies. Please donate!

Why? Before she could even describe the need – as soon as I felt that she was trying to persuade me to take an action – I would have unconsciously closed the door to my heart.

Implications for Your Storytelling?

If you use storytelling to persuade in any way, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:

1. What stories (however brief) can I tell about my organization?
2. Which of those stories concern (or could concern) a single person in an easily imagined situation?
3. What opportunities do I have, that would allow me to present narrative apart from a plea? In other words, can I trust the story to do the work of persuasion by affecting my listeners’ hearts? Can I trust my listeners to make their own best decisions based on my straightforward narratives?

If you make any experiments along these lines, please let me know the results by adding a comment, below.

2) I WANT TO DO MORE TO HELP HAITI

As the previous article says, I gave a modest donation to help the Haitian relief efforts of Partners in Health. But that doesn’t feel like enough to me. I would like to donate more than I personally can afford.

Let’s Help Together?

Here’s what I came up with. For the next four days (while the need is greatest) I will donate 50% of each purchase of goods or services from my store to Partners in Health.

With your help, I hope to donate a total of at least $1000, and perhaps $2000.

You Can Save Money While You Help Out

I’m going to add a further incentive for you to become partners with me in these donations.

I’m offering a 20% discount on any purchase over $100. (This applies to all products and coaching services, but not to workshops or upcoming courses.)

Here’s the 20%-off coupon code:

0f1047

(If you like, you can read full instructions at http://www.storydynamics.com/coupon )

An Example…

Here’s how this will work. Suppose you purchase the complete, online version of the Storytelling Workshop in a Box.

The normal price is $395. With the 20%-off coupon, you will pay just $316.

I will donate half that amount, $158, to Partners in Health. Together, we will have taken action to help the earthquake victims.

Let’s Make This Happen Quickly

I will make these large donations for any qualifying purchases made through this Friday, January 22. Please be sure to make your qualifying purchases before then. That way, we can both be part of helping those in need.

Yours in storytelling,
Doug Lipman

P.S.#1, I know there are lots of fraudulent pleas for donations. To reassure you that I’ve kept my pledge, I will post the receipt for my donation to Partners in Health by the end of the month at http://www.storydynamics.com/pih

P.S.#2, To qualify for my donation pledge and the 20% discount, please make your purchases by FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010.

• Use your 20%-off coupon at the Story Dynamics store