Showing posts with label storytellers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label storytellers. Show all posts

April 4, 2021

I am a risk-taker when writing stories.

I am a risk-taker when writing. I have a radically different style and add a controversial personal topic to my storytelling and writings. I want to present a more charted presentation - words are overused especially details of a picture. The reader, listener or the viewer has their set of images, they bring to the story. Let them participate. In my writing the transitions from story to story are by the titles and subtitles. At the end of each story, I give my interpersonal opinion about the landscape to lead into the next window. The character walks or jumps into a frame of a related story then into the window of the tale. 

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The storytelling method is to connect story to story, chapter to chapter.

My driving force is a character: damsels and their powers, or tiger slipping through history, dragons shaping China, fire gaining freedom, and Sita's point of view. Several stories connected to another to create a continuous adventure, saga, history.

 A novelist uses words, a film director uses images, a storyteller frames verbal story to verbal story, so the audience provide their images - hooked into the telling.

November 2, 2020

Why do I write what I write?


 From the creators of The Insecure Writer's Support Group,

Albert Camus once said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.”

Flannery O’Conner said, “I write to discover what I know.” 

SO ← why do I write and tell traditional tales and myths? I write and tell to inform readers and listeners of the other worlds of yesterday and how these worlds affect or effect our world today, changed history, and rewritten for people in power for control of people in a culture.  

How we evolve is found in folktales, legends, myths, fables, cautionary tales, fairy tales and epics. My writings warn that these tales change to suit the ones who control the media which can be verbal, written, or filmed. The stories taken and changed from the cultures of primitives, the Hindi, Chinese, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Africans, Egyptians, Mayas, Incas, Mongols, Arabians, English and our American culture. The cultural writers give explanations of what is thought as real at that time and this time. 

Reality has the same plots, characters, concerns, fears, and hopes then as now in the analogies of what is seen and heard as evolve by language, and technologies.

 Always, beware of whom tells the tales and what is reality is use.

January 10, 2019

My favorite and least favorite question about my writing.

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My favorite question people ask about my writing:

Why did you write about faeries, elves, and trolls? Because they live around my garden and ask for their stories to be told. The reason why I ventured into the world of stand-up storytelling.

My least favorite question people ask about my writing:

My GOALS!
What are you doing next? I have many projects stewing in the cooking pot: PURSUED, the Frog Princess, the Elfin Books, and the classes on how-to-do and the appreciation of art.

December 16, 2017

Interview - Part 8, FIRE, the Hunger

Have you verbally told or written any of the fire stories before?

The FIRE stories came about when I went to Feather River Family Camp, 2005, the first week of August when the outdoors is hot and very dry. I told the stories around the first night's campfire to children and parents. Later, I presented more FIRE stories at night on the Open Stage. And I have a spot for evening stories in the Crafts Circle just before dinner, what better than FIRE stories.

After telling at Feather Family Camp, I told stories for Oaklandish, 2006, who were building pride in Oakland and having a campout at Oakland's Chabot State Park. The FIRE stories went well
 with the crowd of young adults.

Next, I told the stories for a birthday party, 2007. Parents of a young girl called me about stories; I asked if they could have a fire; the parents said yes. I narrated the FIRE stories around the pit and related how we must constrain FIRE because of the horror of eating everything, and that now FIRE was held in candles on a birthday cake and blown out for a wish. The young lady liked the stories.

The last story, Bertha Digby was published in an anthology organized by the 4th Street Studio's Saturday Salons, The Livermore Wine Country Literary Harvest, ©2006. 'Saving the Woods' is on pages 67 to 69. My folktale honors a squirrel and all animals (a metaphor for people) who restore burnt forests that other humans destroy by one means or other.

The FIRE stories were bridged together by the desire for warmth and light and told monthly at a storytelling swap in 2008, which I helped run at the Orinda library.

The folktales were written out for the April 2017 NaNoWriCamp were enhanced, modified, elaborated and bridged together
 around one of the worst predator, who eats everything, 'FIRE, the Hunger.'

Now, the segued folktales are on wattpad, a great platform to connect with readers while writing and editing. Soon 'FIRE, the Hunger' will be posted on Bublish with 'bubbles' that appear on Twitter and Facebook for publicity.

December 1, 2017

Interview - Part 7, FIRE, the Hunger

What are the lessons learned about FIRE?

FIRE is our enemy, who eats everything but treated like a hero, a treasure to be sought, a prize to have as if a best friend. FIRE is a monster and humans, especially children, need to learn this and how to control its hunger.

FIRE is never to be free, never allow FIRE out of any container holding it. By container is meant keeping FIRE in a hearth of the bricks or rocks like our fireplaces, or a simple dirt pit in the ground. We must always keep FIRE confined.
When finished with FIRE while camping, cover FIRE with dirt or drown with water. If cooking on stove that uses gas flames, complete turn off the flame. If using matches, drown the burning part with water. If ever smelling smoke, investigate. Have a fire extinguisher ready and have the phone number of the Fire Department close. 

BE WARNED!

FIRE has an enormous, ferocious appetite, always hungry, and eats furiously. From the lava formed from melted rocks in the volcanoes to the lightning that dashes through the air; fire's priority is to consume everything. 


FIRE flickers with hypnotic light and dashes as it dances over a victim with penetrating heat to consuming its prey. Fire is formless and raises up to the sky as if praying. While eating victims, fire chants with sounds like hollowed crackling, sudden pops and snapping, or a long rumbling hum. Sometimes sparks like diamonds from FIRE spray quickly into the air reaching, this is to send FIRE to its next meal. Fire is dangerously beautiful, enchanting, and hypnotic.

REMEMBER!

FIRE is a trickster using charms of heat and light as magic, this is to hide a ferocious appetite and is it always looking, searching for ways to escape a confinement to burn, sting, and roast victims causing enormous damage and pain. After FIRE eats only ashes are left.

November 13, 2017

Interview - Part 5, FIRE the Hunger

READ on WATTPAD.

How did you put the stories together?

First, I selected stories to prove my premise and compliment the theme, then arranged the order: the volcanoes and then the animals that helped to a hunter that steals FIRE to the tragedy of that theft burning down the forest, thus making the god Kaang’s warning true, “The human loss of harmony with the animals.” 

And for a constructive conclusion after the horrid FIRE ate the forest and homes, I added a creative story I wrote about a squirrel, Bertha Digby. who replants the forest. Which is fitting because if you ever lived among trees, squirrels are the busiest of creatures planting everything they get their paws on. In my yard, they are always in the Oak, Avocado, Magnolia, or Camille trees. And if they could, they would even plant apples and orange trees as they do the plum trees. The squirrels carry flowers seeds on their fur, and these seeds scatter around the ground while they dig in the acorns, walnut and avocado seed, which will grow into trees if not dug up for foods later.


  FIRE, the Hunger.



September 21, 2017

Interview - Part 4, FIRE the Hunger

READ on WATTPAD.

What is the theme that holds the stories together?

Fire’s personality is the theme. FIRE stays alive by eating, which is the horror of FIRE making it a monster. FIRE is a voracious, selfish, hungry, villain that has no guilt or shame and feasts on everything. FIRE eats oxygen out of the air, which is its very best friend.

FIRE has hypnotic powers to maintain a spell-bound entranced viewer. I witnessed this as a kid watching the hypnotic flames flicker back-and-forth sometimes yellow or orange and maybe green or blue fueled eating FIRE eating its wooden victim. As FIRE reached up into the sky, it popped sparks to escape the trees to satisfy its ravished appetite.
Where I live now, FIRE burned the dried ivy from the house next door eager to eat the house and sleeping victims and damaged our shed in the backyard. Years later an enormous FIRE came from smoldering roots in the Public Park up the hill behind our house. The wind blew the smoking embers into flames, which roared down the hill eating homes, pets, and trees. When ashes fall, and the smoke gathered around our house, I panicked. I took weird things, like the dogs, chickens, phones, frozen chicken, and all our coats. And, all the photos I had because I worked on my Father’s family tree. That FIRE was drowned by Firemen just two blocks away from our home. The just last month, the horror of FIRE, crawling and eating all the plants, animals, buildings of 7,000 people and businesses in the North Bay area of San Francisco.


FIRE is a monster and the humans needed to know this and how to control its hunger.



 

August 1, 2016

Describing fantasy characters or beasts!

in the air, a plant seed spirit floats
in the air, a seed spirit floats
the plant spirit lands and sets out roots
landing, the spirit  grows
When describing a fantasy character think movement. Move their wings, feet, arms, faces, ears, eyes, heads around in your mind as you see the beastie. Then think of the voice or noise it makes. Best of all, become the creature; you are the actor: stand up, and talk, move as you want the creature to act. The more you move, the more you speak as the character or beastie, the better your description of the character in your verbal telling as well as your written words. When you charge the looks or emotions of a fantasy character, put in hints of the movements and voice, you visualize. Seed us clues along the way to create surprise. (Remember, do not describe all at once, which is boring and has no suspense). All of us have some idea how to visualize a griffin, dragon, monster, wizard or witch, warrior or princess in our minds; we need just a bit of your imagined details and off we go into our minds to enjoy your story.

October 29, 2015

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!

January 23, 2010

The thinker at work on the 'where'!


The where! Here I am again in my head going over and over the place of the story - this voice and that voice of the characters here and there. Oh! there's the character.

WHERE IS this character?

I see her dancing in the sky. I'm carefully observing what the character looks like, and how does she move, what age. Opps! That's me! I'm looking around thinking. Where? There she is, young about 10 years old, dancing on a dry dirt path, yes, with her friend. Or, is that her brother? Yes, her brother who is younger. They run to catch huge green grasshoppers. The dirt path is dusty and long. Now I see the overview: the long dirt road through the field of tall dry grasses in front of them, the old brick train buildings behind and to the left, and the trees and creek to the right. They are running on the old train road in the old forgotten train yard.

Okay that is the physical place?
How is the character feeling about the path, her brother, and the grasshopper? How she feels is the emotional place for the reader or listener --- the audience.

Where is her mental place?
Okay, I'll float awhile gathering the moment. Happy, tired, excited, or maybe mad? No, she is happy running and dancing. The air is hot, she is sweating. No breeze, still and hot! Only for wind created while running. Opps! the grasshopper she holds spits on her hand, now she jumps, screaming, ICK! No, water to wash he hand. Her brother, much younger, comes over to help. He wipes the 'tocacco' off. She feels love and trust for him. They are on a journey alone with no mom and dad to their grandma's house. They run fast afraid of many bums, which live there. They have seen them and hear the stories of their gangs. The girl is very thirsty and getting tired from the running, now dancing. Although happy to be with her strong brother, they are in a race to reach Grandma's and to enjoy her fresh baked cinnamon rolls with butter which always wait for them.

Now the story unfolds.
Next, dear writer, what do the characters look like?

October 11, 2009

The thinker at work on novel ideas.

Theirs, His, Hers, Mine and Ours!


Oh my, here I am - think, think, thinking - voices of characters going through my head which to use? Who is the strongest? Do I want the strongest? Who are the rest? Why are they important?

REALLY whose story is this!

To whom are we talking with or at or to. WOW!

I can see why I look dizzy, maybe skeptic, humorous, HO, WHOA! What about the lack of spelling skills, the spilling of word mistakes all over the pages? That is under the control of editor!

I see I am a little wicked or possibly determined. There is light on my head, notice the darkness around me. That darkness is the doubter. Who said that? NO! The mistakes come from my fingers not focusing on what I'm typing, or that child poet inside that likes to mix the 'by' with 'my', and the 'bit' with 'bite' when I'm thinking, not the editor, she is always right. I like her, a bit bitter and opinionated, however, always checking to see if I'm in her world and that I'm wording correctly so others may read the story. The one playing images with words is my poet having fun. YES, she is child and I need her play, especially in November during the Month of Novel Writing.

Actually, I need the whole staff, the dreamer, the doubter, the critic, editor, poet, here and with energy and enthusiasm. We got stories and images to craft into words. Our job to announce who is the narrator! Who is she? What age? Where is she? And what is her attitude? And to whom she tells her story.


June 3, 2009

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: