The Storytelling Connection…
…and how to create story-based events to connect with your community
Humans understand the world through stories. We’re read fairytales which teach us not to be greedy or mean. Stories tell us to be careful, or to remember others, or to place us gently in the shoes of others. It’s been shown that reading fiction can improve our behaviour, and increase levels of empathy.
But, of course, stories don’t just exist in the pages of a book.
Stories are everywhere. They’re in how tell someone about what happened to you in the supermarket that time, and in how you deliver it to make it a bit funnier and a bit sharper each time. But they’re also in memorial plaques on benches. Lost sentences which float on the breeze. There’s a story in faint names scratched onto a tree, which whispers of a faded love affair.
When we talk about using stories to connect to your community, there are an infinite number of ways of approaching this. So, to get you started, here’s a brief overview of things to think about when creating a story telling project for your community.
First up…
What do I mean by community?
A community can be your village, or the people who live around you. It can be a faith group, a book group or a cycling group. For the purposes of this article, it can be guests at an upcoming wedding who you want to bond before the nuptials. Community is shorthand for a group of folk who are grouped together, whether that’s because of their location, interests or sheer gorgeous luck.
You are likely to deal with multiple communities every day but, for now, think about one group who you’d really like to run a project with. Thinking of it? Great. Let’s go!
What’s the point?
A good starting place for planning an event or project is to understand its purpose. Are you trying to connect people? Are you amplifying some voices? Are you trying to convey information, or excite an interest in something? It’s absolutely ok if your purpose is just joy. A valid reason to do anything, is because it will make people happier. Write it in a big pen and stick it above your desk…it’s a hugely motivating driver.
Where should the stories be?
The location can have a huge impact on how you think about a storytelling event, which ties into your overall purpose. If your main driver is to bring people together, should it be in your local community hall? Or do you want to connect people to place, and get them to rethink a part of your town? Does it need to be enjoyed in the comfort of their own home, or a facility they’re staying in? Or, are they discovery stories, which are placed in situ and lie in wait, ready to be discovered?
Whose stories should they be, and who should be telling them?
Further down I’ll get into ethical considerations, but for now think very broadly about how the type of stories will serve your purpose. Should you be working with traditional storytellers to tell the myths and legends of your area? Do they need to be new stories, generated or inspired by your community? Are they about the history of your area? If so, who is best placed to recount that history? Stories are a chance to place forgotten, or less heard, voices back into the telling of history. Use archives, or local historians, to look beyond the rich and powerful, and seek out other stories which shine a new light on the history of your community.
Now, you’re ready to really think about format
If you can get a clear answer to the previous questions, you can start to play with the format of your project or event. Let’s imagine you know you want to inform people in your area about the history of the early 20th century, and that you want to highlight how diverse the lives of the factory workers were…but you also want to spark some creative conversations. You could:
- Use archive photos, articles and input from local historians to run creative writing workshops at the local library, resulting in a storytelling evening about local factory workers of the industrial revolution.
- Take snippets of factory reports and put them on posters, along with any photos or images you have, and put them up around the site of the old factory.
- Get members of the community to write a letter to someone who used to work in the factory, telling them about life in the area now — and asking questions they’d really like to know about life back then. Record the letters and release them as a podcast. A follow up project could be to work with local schools, getting the students to learn a bit about conditions in the factory and then adopt the character of one of the workers and reply to the letters.
There are so many ways to approach ideas, even if you have an audience, purpose and location in mind. Crafts, art, photography, walking tours, posters in windows are all possibilities, along with live events, or publishing the stories on a website.
Think about how you want your participants to feel afterwards. Inspired? Empowered? Informed? Would that emotion increase if you changed the location? Or if there was a visual or performance element to the project?
Make a list now of five different story-based events or projects which you could organise which could meet your overall purpose. Think wildly and with hope in your heart that funding will be endless, and enthusiasm will be flowing through the streets.
Now, the actual stories…
How to create the stories themselves is beyond the scope of this article, but I will just add two wee points…
- Character. There’s a huge amount of power in using character. If you’re encouraging people to tell stories about their own experiences, what happens when you ask them to put it in the third person? What happens if you run a session where everyone is asked to put on a simple costume (a cape, a hat, or a different coat) and adopt a different name and persona? Can that create a bit of distance between their personal experience, and the story they actually want to tell? True stories are powerful and important…but consider leaving space for fiction. It can sometimes weave itself into interesting spaces where cold hard reality just won’t fit.
- Narrative. You’ve probably had it drummed into you since childhood that stories should have a beginning, a middle and an end. And, for sure, a lot of great stories absolutely do. But, it’s also valid to have a tiny flash of a story which offers a snapshot of a life, or a situation. A few sentences which open the door into someone’s home, and then quickly close it again. One more thing: think about the narrative of your entire project or event. Where should the audience start, and where should they land? If you want to leave them with hope, think about what story will do that.
If the creation of stories is something you’d like to know more about, I’d recommend Into the Woods by John Yorke, or On Writing by Stephen King.
And now…Pitfalls to Think About
If you’ve decided that your storytelling project should involve gathering stories from your community — that’s great. You’re helping voices to be amplified, and encouraging the idea that everyone’s story is valid.
But.
If you’re asking people to share personal experiences, please be careful that you’re not asking people to share trauma if you don’t have the support structure to handle that. It’s a fine line between making sure people are heard, and making sure you’re not accidentally encouraging greater disclosure of personal experience than they would actually be comfortable with.
A few tips I’ve learnt along the way to try and keep everyone safe:
- if you’re running a session, ensure there are rules set at the beginning which everyone agrees to. The group can help come up with them, but it should include the idea that this is a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space. As a rule, don’t be on your own with a participant in a private space…if only one person shows up, then move it to somewhere like a cafe.
- allow people to edit, fictionalise and withdraw their story if they’d like to. Never pressure someone to be involved in a public-facing element, as there are a whole heap of reasons they may not want (or be able to) be involved.
- encourage stories which focus on moments on triumph and strength.
- if you think there’s even a chance that the conversation could get into areas where you’re not qualified to help, then have a handout with contact information for groups which can.
Other things you may need to consider…
- should someone else be telling the story? Is it your story to tell, or should you be inviting other people into the project? Whose territory are you in, and are you making sure that marginalised voices are being given space?
- language/literacy are an important consideration. If a language is widely spoken in the area where the project is taking place, should the stories be translated? Can you offer an audio version for the visually impaired? Which leads to…
- layering your project. You can’t make a project which is the right project for everyone. But, you CAN try and create a core project, which can be accessed in different ways for different people. Can your live show be live-streamed so people at home can watch? Can you offer a guided walking tour where the stories are shared…but also have them written on small plaques which people can find and enjoy at their leisure?
Feeling inspired? Go and scribble some ideas on a piece of paper! Quick! While you’re fired up. There’ll be plenty of time for planning and collaboration, I promise. Think about the ways stories can fulfil the purpose you thought about, all the way at the top of this article. Think about the ways stories can communicate ideas, in a way that nothing else can.
Once you’ve got your idea all cleared in your mind, here’s one final practical section to turn those daydreams into a viable event.
- Consider your Minimum Viable Product. It’s a very business-y term, but an MVP is a great way to think about your event. Can you get started with a small workshop, to see how it goes, and then make some adjustments before you get more people involved? Can you write a story yourself, and share it with your community to see if it does the job you hope it will? Don’t invest all your time and money before you know you’re on the right track.
- Think about money, and think confidently. Once your MVP is set-up, it’s time to work out how much this will all cost. Even if you just use volunteers, there will still be costs for materials, or venue hire, or posters. Local businesses, or ones which have a connection to your community, could be happy to chip in money, or services in kind. Understand what small funds are in your area — if there’s an educational element to your project, there are often a groups like the Rotary Club which have grants available.
- And on that note: it’s ok to pay yourself. Really. You are valuable, and volunteering is a fantastic experience but, if you’re really putting in the hours, it’s ok to add yourself to the budget.
- And, a final boring administrative note. If you’re running a project by yourself, get Public Liability Insurance, or work with an organisation who can cover you.
Good luck, story lovers. There’s a world of imaginative possibility in the world of community-based storytelling, and I hope you have fun exploring it.
xxx
