The Power of Stories

For those of you who don't already listen to Ira Glass's This American Life might not know the man talking in the film clip below. This American Life is a brilliant story telling show that is absolutely well worth checking out. In some ways the lecture Ira gives below gives the flavour of his radio show.
His topic is stories.

”Narrative,” he says, “is basically a machine that’s raising questions and answering them.”  

He talks about how to keep your listeners attention and how that then can get your point across with a story which grabs and keeps your attention.

Towards the end as he gives his thoughts on 1001 nights we get a glimpse of the true power of stories to change people and sometimes even save lives. This is inspirational and important stuff for Showmen in all genders and walks of life.

Kurt Vonnegut on Writing

The advice in this clip is specifically aimed at writing a short story. The lesson we Showmen can take from it is by thinking of the short story like an act. In the Showman's work the act is the short story and the full evenings show; a novel.

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things–reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them–in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

{via Open culture}

And finally some thoughts on the structural shapes of stories and acts. DO take some time to ponder the similarities and what you can add of story to your act. It will greatly improve your understanding of your act. Further I would recommend thinking about your favorite acts, be it contortionists, magicians, acrobatics, handstands, clowning, stand up comedy - be it what it may - look at the act again with Story in mind and see what you learn...

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Ira Glass is the producer of an American Public Radio show called This American Life. It is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira. The show has about two million listeners a week and is essentially a story telling program. Every week he seeks out stories as diverse as psychopathy, car show culture, people who are their own worst enemies, and neighborhood watch.

In the following clips Ira Glass shares some of his ideas on the pleasures and pains of having to create stories on a regular basis. Like how when you start; be prepared for your work not matching your own standards. Remember that you are already an experienced story judge. You have read hundreds of stories and essays and for the first few years you will read your own stories and find that they fall short of your own high expectations. Your taste is better than your grasp of the craft. This is normal and everyone goes through it, or that is to say many people actually never get through this. But the great ones did. The key to overcome this is perseverance. Do work, lots of it, unpaid, or paid does not matter, you need to practice. Great advice to getting through it and at least have a shot at the Great Stories.

It is an inspirational and straight forward, practical talk. I hope you enjoy it. 

Part One:

    Part Two:

Part Three:

And Finally Part Four: 

(Thanks to Open Culture for posting this.) 

Ken Burns on the Art of Storytelling

 The following quotes are from the clip below where film maker Ken Burns shares his thoughts on story.

In a common story one and one equals two but the real genuine stories are about one and one equaling three.That's what I'm interested in.

My interest is always in complicating things.

Jean Luc Goddard said cinema is truth 24 frames a second, maybe... But it is lying 24 frames a second too. All story is manipulation. Is there acceptable manipulation? You bet! People say: "Oh boy I was so moved - to tears in your film." That's a good thing. I manipulated that.

Truth is the byproduct of the best of our stories... An emotional truth is something that you have to build.

He tells a story in his film Baseball, a nineteen hour long film, about a team which got a black player Jackie Robinson. He asks what would you do if you were a fan of that team but also a racist? You could quit baseball, you can start following another team or you can change. This is the power of story to create change. This is why we need to always consider story in our acts. The audience will see story in our acts even when you never thought of it in that way. We see story even when there is none. Animation of geometric shapes is read as story. Story is everywhere and it is human. Consider your acts as stories and think which story are they telling?

"All stories are Manipulation," Ken Burns says. "All shows are manipulation," says the Illuminated Showman. Use the shows wisely and use it for good. Take time to consider your manipulations.