Interview - Part 6, FIRE, the Hunger

Are you satisfied with the way the stories follow each other?

Yes, I have made a specific point to use the animal's or the human’s desire for FIRE at the beginnings and FIRE’S horrible appetite at the end of each story to weave into the next story so the characters push the plot along. This is called bridging or the segue, in which ‘FIRE, the Hunger’ is desired for the warmth and light, and how each character managed to secure their desire, or not and the following tragedy FIRE starts. There is a difference in time when the Greek and Roman gods secure FIRE for their followers and how the animals secured FIRE in the folktales from the Americans, the ancient of all worlds.

FIRE, the Hunger

Where is the authorpreneur?

Frankly, I'm lost on a busy noisy downtown business district in a gigantic intersection lined with sky-scapers, packed with cars, buses, taxis, streetcars, bicycles, scooters, and pedestrians rushing everywhere among the loud noises. 

My car stopped at 'red' light in the intersection with multi lanes going in all directions: emails, websites, blogs, e-newsletters, subscribers, e-publishers, e-bookstores, e-books, PoDs, bookstores, libraries, info-products, podcasts, audios, and video production. All cramped into lanes waiting for the light to change. 

The green light directs "go" in my lane. I drive safely through the congested intersection while others wait, watching. When I'm on the other side, I park my car to open my computer to find 'where', 'when', 'how', and 'why' all the (^*%@*&~) traffic.

Long web lines attach from my computer stretching and dangling somewhere/anywhere from one site across to the next site in one massive jumble of links. I slip into tangle lines entranced by banners, ads, visuals, and promotions that hypnotize with flashing lights and fantastic hooks for marketing my stories. 

First, my blogs storyportfolio for my story art; then TheSTORYRealm for my verbal stories; and BlobBlobandBlogging for writing advice; LinkedIn.com for my resume and business As Is Productions; Flickr and Behance for art and photos; and my website Wordpress; for my e-newsletter Eventing . . . a provider MailChimp which formats email and manages the lists; Facebook with professional pages ART and STORYTELLING; and @twitter; Pinterest for product sales; and google+ general posts.Then there are apps, plug-ins, and widgets for your websites and blogs; Comiclife and Canvas for design; Libsyn, Audacity, iTunes, and Soundcloud for podcasting and audios; webinars; google+ hangouts; and youtube channel for my storytelling videos. For challenges NANOWRIMO and the Clarion Write-a-Thon for writing; an AtoZBlog challenge to keep the stories coming. Then Scribd., Wattpad, and Bubblish for beta readers to enjoy my works-in-progress, on and on and on. 
 
All these sites have connecting links for my readers to post comments and links to their sites or friends.

Thus, Rhyonna's story has copyright, ISBNs, and LCCN# for paperback and Kindle on Amazon with an Amazon Author Page; listed on Smashwords for distribution to libraries and other ebook stores:  iBooks, Barnes&Nobles, Kobo and now on SELL-e for Librarians; and so featured on Goodreads.
 
--> Rhyonna and my stories happily and contently stream through the web catching readers and listener from one site or another. I close my computer and relax, waiting like a spider to capture visitors that stream enchanted through the vast buzz of STORY! Successfully, I accomplished my goal.

I love STORY!

I start my car and drive into the streaming traffic working on my next projects:  Vasalisa and The Elfin Letters.

Others on their side receives the story their way.

The hope of a story is to invoke a vision for a word, stating visual accounting of what is in a scene. Sometimes the visual account is a word list. An example in this sentence, “Rhyonna’s had mud mixed with hairy gray fluff on her hands, yellow dress, and wings.” Hopefully, the reader/listener inside their visual mind travels through the list to Rhyonna’s muddy hands, then to her muddy spotted, crumpled yellow dress, and to her tattered, gray hanging wings, the way the reader/listener saw the scene.
The reader/listener fills in the details they imagine and see in their mind. This is the magic of writing and storytelling. The other on their side receives the story their way. Like the two ways of setting up a website, the back end is what the technicians set up, the front end is what the viewer sees. Or, the computer with its programs has a special language and many experts created the programming for everything we do with the computer on on the web. This is also the magic of video games children love. Many created the visuals, pixel by pixel; a child intently plays the game as an interactive adventure to pursue. The child builds a visual story. Much as we drive a car knowing little about the motor, gears, brakes, use of fuels: we turn a key and guide it going on our adventure story.? And how much went into the work for a book held or story hear; the back story is not read. Much as a piece of art! a sewn quilt, a house or apartment we live in, the tap water we drink, and on and on.


The simplified front story is the magic we play and live in everyday. Who can or wants to measure the back story that created all of this for us to enjoy? No me, just enjoy!

The director throws the image!

SUCCESS!

The reader, listener, or viewer need a stage. An artist paints images within or around a frame to bring the viewer inside and hold them, same with a photo. The writer has written words symbols that pull together and create images of person, voice, and scene/place on a flat page. The storyteller, who faces the audience, has that audience looking at them while acting the voices and gestures of characters. A storyteller directs the voice, words, gestures, and body movements.  The goal is to keep the listen/viewer in their own minds while the storyteller directs the video/movie of the story. The place, the clothing, the character the viewer/listener supplies to the story. Writing a story is like this and depends on a voice in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person and in present or past tense to immersed the reader into the scenes. The readers lifts the story off the page to play in their minds as they read. A writer need to fill in the image with more word symbols while the storyteller uses tones of voice, face expression, hands, and body gesture to direct actions. The character is not on the stage, or painted on canvas, or worded on a page; character and plot are in the mind of the listener/viewer. When the viewer looks at a picture, one is in for the moment and makes-up the story, most times without a plot. 
Using all three is an exciting way to process a story journey. The joy is creating the story.

The Producer for BobbieTales

Characters have public persona!

We take snap shots.

A public persona is how you let others view you, your 'story', which is mixed with a public slant, the 'take' of a viewer, which is your, an adapted personality, the actor. Basically, you as a storyteller, a writer, an artist, or all three, who creates your public persona, 'STORY' which your public sees and hears.
 --> So beware! Do you know yourself in the public eyes! That persona is important when starting a professional career, especially on the Internet. With all the places to market yourself as the creator of ebooks, blogs, podcasts, webinars, videos, book tours; you build that persona. Your photo, still or playful, one or many views give snaps of you. Be appropriate! There is a history forming about you. The colors you wear:  just black or a rainbow, mode, pastels, or just pink. Most important is what you say:  innocent kid-like, intellectual or shy, sexually teasing, professional with humor, or mysterious vage. Words, written or spoken, add to your persona, a voice talking for, to, and with fans, readers, listeners, and supporters, encouraging them, putting down life, critical, or adapting to changes, and actions. They watch and listen building your appearance/character/persona by what they see you played.

-->  Beware, I have a friend that got locked into what was not and has played that part, never being true to the audience, which causes injuries. If you are a strong women and play weak, you will give a wrong picture. If you are a shy person and nervous this is seen. If playing expert but not knowing what is; or always correct, pushy; or maneuvering to be first and in front, or lecturing. These characteristic are observed. Style your public persona/character to be sincere, trustworthy, helpful, maybe humorous, and maybe a bit mysterious? Do not get stuck in who you are not.
 --> Watch yourself in videos and selfies, do them privately, practice. Check who you play, what type of character you see, be critical; you wear this persona all your career! Standing up to tell a story in front of listeners who are observing you as the characters is a great way of understanding persona and yourself, as the narrator, the creator -->You are the BRAND!

The Producer for BobbieTales

GESTURES

Writing is not easy and the scribe must add more words for the visuals of the story then when verbally told. The gestures of body, face expressions, and the voice add clues to the spoken word for a listener. A read can imagine but if the writer wants more control, more words of description are necessary, only caution not too many or the reader is bored. BALANCE  is the key, and the SECRET is clues positioned here and where within the text for a picture of the scenes and with the characters, just enough, not too much, or, no clues like a picture book or poem. Let the listener/reader illustrate their vision. Picture books do have illustrators still not as good as how the mind sees.

Storytelling helps the writing!

Oral story, the oldest form of storytelling, vibrates
in our bones. We tell stories all day to many
people. Writing the stories follows the same
structural processes of plot, characterizing, and
scenes as a verbally told story but we use word
symbols for the voice symbols. In verbally told
stories we can use body movement and facial
expressions for the characters. For both crafts,
concise, clear words paint images and bring the
characters alive to hear and see.

When crafting the ‘oral story’ the first sentence is
the set-up -- the when, where, who, and what:

Once upon at time so-and-so lived somewhere and felt something. In a picture
book the first three illustrations are the set-up (when, where, who, and what). In
a chapter book or middle-grade novel it's the first page, and in a young adult or
adult novel the first chapter is the set-up for the story. Then the listeners or
readers are lead by words to the emotional event -- the why: a conflict, problem,
or puzzle to resolve.

Clear, accurate words direct and focus the journey. Plotting starts. For the
youngest audience, one character interacts with someone or something in three
to five scenes. For the more mature audience, many characters interact in the
main plot with subplots traveling an A to Z path with many emotional events.
The storyteller or writer intrigues the audience with twists and mystery to
enhance the story.

Carefully selected written or verbal words focus the characters in action. The
characters move, react, and talk -- not telling but showing the characters in the
scenes. Words connect images to the listeners or readers. The present or simple
past tense makes the drama stronger. The characters push the plot forward.

The emotional actions, reactions, and dialogues of the characters reach out and
emotionally cord, bonding to the listeners or readers, who then plug into motives and feelings of the characters’ or their own. The charge is the emotional impact of conflict, adventure, or the puzzle. The audience is glued into the story waiting for the final charged event -- the how. Satisfying stories have a solution for the audience. The conclusion shows change in the characters, and the ending brings the audience back to their world.

A story can be told in five sentences or written into hundreds of pages to enjoy
for days. To know how your written story affects readers, tell the story to
listeners and watch their expressions. The facial expressions will tell if the story
is good, or needs more work.

STORY seems so simple, however; STORY is complicated on many levels.
Here are websites that post events and classes, fests, and workshops for
storytelling, ultimately helping in crafting the written story.

Stagebridge is a school for seniors in acting and storytelling. In one semester you'll experience teachers and their special skills and styles.You learn how to have fun while developing stories. Check their website stagebridge.

Storytelling Association of Alta California has a calendar of events for storytelling. STORYLINE (SAC newsletter) is a $30 yearly subscription, which lists all upcoming
storytelling events. Check out SAC,  Facebook

SAC Storytelling Festival, 2010 was the 25th celebration Bay Area Storytelling Festival, which is a feast of stories told by selected professional storytellers. Check out BASF for next years events.

National Storytelling Network, NSN for a listing of event and storytellers.

A MUST! An archive of stories since September 2006! A feast for the ears! Jackie Baldwin's radio show, Story-Lovers World!, airs every Sunday from 5-6 p.m. Pacific time on public radio station KSVY in Sonoma Valley. Contact to Jackie visit her website story-lovers.

Bobbie Kinkead is an illustrator, author and storyteller, can be viewed at following web addresses to learn more about BobbieTales and her work:

Welcome to Story Tells 2009

YouTube
Professional Storyteller
National Storytelling Network
LinkedIn
Follow Bobbie on Facebook
Twitter Bobbie!