5 Powerful Tips for Aspiring Storytellers
Just as in learning any skill, successful storytelling
requires consistent practice. Stories can effectively be
used in persuasion, healing, therapy, or together with
hypnotic inductions and NLP techniques.
Each chosen story you intend to memorize needs to be
considered from all sensory angles. The story can be
memorized using all major representational systems
including visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK) methods.
Repeat the following steps as many times as necessary
until the story becomes a part of you. I recommend choosing
healing or positive goal-oriented metaphors and stories
which will affect your listeners by helping them to discover their latent
capabilities. In addition, the following exercises will
embed the story deeply into the unconscious mind
transforming the storyteller as well.
1. Write it out.
After reading the story several times you should have a good
feeling of what kind of theme or moral the author is trying
to convey. Start by writing the story down on paper while
considering each word. Say every word out loud as you write
it. Think of different reasons the author may have chosen
that particular word and why. Perhaps you would have said
it differently?
2. Sing the story.
Sing a few sentences at a time. Apply any familiar melody
you can think of to it. The more absurd the melody is, the
easier it will stick. Sing in a high voice, and then sing
in a low voice. Repeat two or three sets of words over and
over until you memorize the full sentence and move on.
Do not be embarrassed. After all, no one is watching you,
right? Just belt it out.
3. Alter tonality and accent.
Use different tonalities as you read through the story out
loud. Slow down your voice and then speed it up. Play with
pitch. Again, read in a high voice and then try it out with
a really low voice. Read the story with different accents,
even different types of personalities.
4. Use a digital recorder.
A digital recorder comes in very handy for memorizing
large amounts of text. A computer with a microphone and a
free audio editor and recorder like Audacity will work just
as well. Write out the story again, only this time leave
one or two words out of each sentence. Now record yourself
while you read back this story, pausing where the word you
removed should have been. Now burn the audio file to CD or
transfer to your MP3 player.
As you listen back to your recording say the appropriate
word out loud when you come to its pause. Record your story
as many times as necessary until you have covered most of
the major words in each sentence.
5. Practice a mental rehearsal.
Imagine yourself in vivid color telling your story to a
group of people. Create your perfect setting. Feel the
temperature on your skin. Are you sitting or standing? How
does that feel? Work out how your voice will sound. Put on
your best clothes. You can even change the time period.
Is your audience smiling, laughing, or crying? This is
your inner landscape so do what you want. Tell your story
to as many imaginary groups as possible.
admin :: Jul.12.2007 :: NLP, hypnosis, metaphor, storytelling :: 1 Comment »
Great tips!