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Brian Miller, it was a dark and story night, once upon a time, storytelling 101, tell me a story, this one time at band camp
For the last several days my boys and I have been home from school due to the weather. While the break has been good there comes a point when you have too much time on your hands, and you have been in the house too long—and the only way you are going to survive being around each other is to get creative. We made flarp (fart putty) and did experiments, we played legos, I set up scavenger hunts, we played games. Finally after wearing them down, we watched a movie—Bedtime Stories.
If you have never seen bedtime stories, it about a guy that has to keep his sisters kids who is also trying to win the position of General Manager at a hotel. This is a big dream, because his father originally owned the hotel and since selling it, the main character has been the pool boy. In taking care of the kids, he begins to tell them bedtime stories—here is where the magic happens.
Anytime one of the children adds something to the bedtime story it comes true. This gets really crazy when it starts raining gumballs and—-well I won’t ruin it for you. For me it took me back to hearing stories read to me as a kid, or even better when someone would make up a story to tell me before bed. I love stories, and story telling.
Over the next couple months, I am going to focus on different aspects of story telling that we can put into play in our poetry. Today we are just going to focus on what makes up a story and then give you a chance to tell a story in your poetry.
While you may get an argument on what makes a good story, each of them contain five elements: Setting,
Plot, Character, Conflict, and Theme.
The first step is to set the scene, the story has to take place somewhere. We can handle this in a few words or we can use details throughout the poem to allow the reader to ‘see’ what is going on. Some writers use more detail, some use less. What you choose to include and not include is important. If I say ‘halfway thru first period,’ maybe mention wobbly desks and a chalkboard, you have a picture of a school room.
Plot, Theme and Conflict kinda go together—what is the story? What is the point or main idea? How does the story move? In poetry we often talk of this as progression. What is the tension? How is it relieved? If I had a dry erase board, I would draw a triangle for you and talk about build up to the conflict, the conflict and the resolution.
The last part is the character. Who is involved? Is the story teller involved or are you watching it play out? In most poetry we only have a few lines to really give a picture of the people. I have used phrases like ‘eyes like a kicked beehive’ to describe someone—the reader may interpret this as someone just a bit shifty or crazy. How the character interacts in the story will tell us more about their character.
Already I have covered quite a bit and we have barely scratched the surface. I don’t want to make this harder than it really is—think back to the stories you were read as a kid, think about the guy you met at the supermarket, the girl at the park, your child or spouse, something that happened to them this week…tell us a story.
Set the scene, bring on the characters, tell us what happens to them—give us enough to see it play out and then get out. It can be fiction, it can be reality—it can even be a mix, because poets love to embellish the details just a bit. ha.
You may want to keep in mind Victoria’s lesson on verbs last week to inject action into your story and select ones that really set the tone of the piece.
Ok, enough talk, let’s get to writing. Tell me a story.
If you are new here, this is how it works:
- Write a poem (telling a story) and post it to your webpage
- Click on Mr. Linky below and enter your name and the direct url to your poem.
- Visit other poets that have joined in and comment, letting them know what you liked about their story. We are a community, not a daycare for your poems where you just drop them off and forget about them.
- Promote yourself on social media. If you use @dversepoets we will find you and be able to promote you as well.
- Have fun.
I will see you, out on the trail. ~Brian
good story telling is an art indeed – and think in our tv and internet dominated time the danger is that it gets lost more and more… i love stories..so looking forward to read what you’re all coming up with…
hey all…i am in a training class that gets out at 5….i will be around then to respond to comments and read….
i will be around to serve drinks then until you turn up in the pub… have fun in the training..
Hmmmm I’m so excited about this one! Do I go Aboriginal or Cowboy? Maybe both! 😀
oh yes please…go both… smiles
Smiles
oo do one of each please…..
🙂
Okay. Lol
I love telling stories… and do it almost every week… using imagination or picking up from things you have read.. a picture.. my favourite thing..
I also link up a collaborative poem … it has a mysterious tale embedded in it.. and we finished it yesterday morning.. Hope you like it.
just read…that was really well done…
cool…look forward to seeing the collaborative one…was it hard to hold a consistent story together between voices?
This prompt should elicit some fun & exciting results, Brian; found my self, a master storyteller some say, struggling to find the opening line–reality or fiction; then per usual, the first line comes & the story begins, personal, topical, historical, spiritual, spewing on the pages. Am anxious to check out the others; thanks.
smiles… you know i would love to have a real storytelling evening in the pub…lights dim.. candles on the tables and then we would just tell each other stories…oh i would like that….
Sounds so cool.. 🙂 storytelling like this is a forgotten art.. in the past stories were often set in verse… for the simple reason of remember them…
so true…i had included some history of storytelling but cut it because i did not want a book…
This is something new to me ~ I enjoy reading them but writing them, not so much ~ I admire those who can weaved the words together with tension & conflict ~
Happy Thursday to all ~
i think you did really well with yours grace… happy thursday!
you know, as well as you write i bet that if you did it enough you would be wonderful at it…you def create tension in some of the more sensual pieces…it is much the same skill…
thank you for the opportunity to expand our writing skills Brian ~ i admire your knack for telling stories & if we can try our hand here, bit by bit, it would be a great ~
yep i plan on exploring different aspects each time i get a turn…should be fun…smiles.
My dad was the MASTER of bedtime stories – although after I went to kindergarten and told the teacher my grandfather had rescued Pocahontas ( the Indian princess of Pilgrim fame ) that he finally began to tone it down!
haha… oh that sounds like he was a wonderful storyteller indeed
I admit to carrying on the tradition and telling mine a few tall tales too!
hahahahaha that is awesome…i def have told my boys some tall tales…when i crack off a fact that is obscure they ask how i know it and then its off to story land…like when i lived with the aboriginals…lol
a man after my own heart – and fables !!!
Cool idea for a prompt, Brian! I like telling stories in poems, I have a hard time making them fictional though … I draw a lot from my own experience or the people around me.
yours really moved me….the parallels….didn’t see it before..
most of my story telling is non fiction as well…at least in my poetry….
The art of story-telling is similar to make a building from the blocks of our imagination… it will turn out as it will turn out. We add into it, we subtract, we even multiply and divide the words to make them walking and talking… and letting them have their say in the end.
Wonderful lesson… the setting and the characters indeed are important elements to a story.
lots of maths here…smiles… i sure like making the words walking and talking…smiles
you bring up a good point and that is how stories evolve over time…the more you tell them ….the more you refine the poem…
I remember when I was a child, my mother would start a story and stop at some point & I would continue it. I would tell it and then stop, and my mother would continue. It was a lot of fun telling this continuing story. Sometimes the story went on for a few days at a time. And sometimes if we ended up LIKING the characters we would devise yet another continuing story about them. This was a very happy part of my childhood — the telling of stories.
oh i really like this…what a wonderful idea..
that is such a cool idea…now that my boys are older that would probably really work..i might try that mary…
Not easy to do within the constraints of a poem. Took me hours this afternoon.
but was def. worth the work
ia m glad that you you did…i will be over in a few minutes to see…story telling in poetry is def different as we have to work in the constraints and dont have the word room to develop the character as much or th scene as much as in prose…
Hey Brian, a wonderful idea – I still have the flu and just posted another flu poem for the 55 – (the flu and trying to fit in job work has been taking up a lot of mental space) but this is a wonderful post, and I will try to come up with something. Being on the computer screen is a little painful so I may do prompt but not link as I don’t know how good I can be in returning comments quickly. My eyes are getting better, but their soreness has been one of the most frustrating issues with this stupid thing. k. ps sorry to be so whiny. k.
ugh… sorry to hear you’re not feeling better yet… be gentle with yourself and take it slowly…
sorry you are not feeling well and hope you get better soon…will pop over soon and see…
Great prompt _ I really enjoyed reading all of your contributions. I’m afraid I don’t have anything new, but may link up with an old ‘fairytale’ sort of story poem of mine.
oh i love a good fairytale…
go for it!
Well..i’ve never been much for fiction..but i do love to try to tell a story..to relate something to others in words…so i guess..what i wrote today is close to a story..but i do feel it is true2…so i said what the heck..i’ll include it here..but no underwear pictures today..haha…;)
true is good enough for me…mine is true as well…
be over in a few…
I enjoy stories, telling them and listening to them! This was not an easy prompt for me since we are writing poetry and not prose but I enjoyed it!
yep def a different skill set telling stories with in a poem…its the basis of many of the performance poems and slam poetry though and have heard some pretty amazing ones…
Brian thanks so much for this article and for trading with me. Actually this story-telling thing fits in with the idea of my article on song writing – a good song is usually a good story – or a place you can fit your own story in. I’ll be back next week with most of the first of the year festivities over. I’ll even try to use your suggestions here to carry on with the tale of Annabelle Jean. Thanks again everyone so much, so much for putting up with me!
hey gay! you got caught in the filter….song writing would be fun…and def a challenge to me as well….i look forward to it….hey we love you gay…smiles.
When I think of story telling through poetry, I can’t help but think of “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. His fabulous tragic tale can be found at http://www.potw.org/archive/potw85.html
I’m hoping that I can come up with something for today’s prompt, but Mr. Noyes’ poem will undoubtedly be much better than what I can come up with.
nice…i think i know that one but will follow the link and see what you got…and look forward to what you bring bryan…
my muse appears to be on strike. If I can come up with a story poem, I’ll bring it here for OLN. Sorry…completely dry right now 😦
just got back on deck and playing catch up with everyone….
i will be out on the trail here in a moment…
Sharing a “Short Story” about writing short stories, but just in case that doesn’t “Meet the Bar” or wasn’t what you had in mind, have attached a link to a very brief “story” at the bottom. Thanks for the inspiration, Brian! Happy story-telling!!
i liked your link story as well and remember it…it def captures a story…and i got a good chuckle out of the one you linked…as i am a bit of a double mind with that…smiles.
Thank you Brian for this opportunity to tell a story – mine certainly miles away than one I would relate to children at night – a story nevertheless.
Kind regards.
Anna :o]
ah, but one that needs told…and in it a lesson for sure…really well done anna….
Thank you Brian.
Anna :o]
Sounds like fun!
I tried.
glad you did gail…smiles….after being stuck in the house for days…i could use a walk…
Hey Brian, Claudia, I realized that I had a poem that sort of worked – an old one that I slightly revamped–I hope you don’t mind – I don’t think anyone here has seen it. k.
cool…will be over in a few…
Thanks for this wonderful prompt Brian…I had one of my loooong narrative poems accepted for publication just yesterday (something I thought would never happen actually) so have bravely gone where I thought to never go again and posted another…feel free to print and read in the bathroom with a bookmark!
http://aleapingelephant.blogspot.ca/2014/01/off-ledge.html
woohoo…congrats on publication…ha…ok will get to reading….smiles.
Yes, must say a very interesting prompt. I have reworked on something I had written a while ago – it’s been a fun exercise to be able to do so 🙂
it was a very cool story with its own bit of natural magic…
Mine happened a couple of weeks ago. For personal reasons I was in no state to be driving that long distance. That stranger saved me.
it was def a very interesting interaction between you…and in it you probably saved each other a bit….
Happy to be here…hello all! My story really happened to me too…whew! Life is anything but routine…it seems.
smiles…yes it is…be over in a minute…
Gosh…That Brian is such a profound guy I thought…until I realised that ‘ be over in a minute’ was not referring to life:)
Not that I am saying you are not profound …mind you! 🙂
ha.
i have a bit more control than that…just saying.
“Oh that’s good to hear ” she says” having no idea what he is talking about:)”
of course not.
hahaha. thanks for the chuckles this morning…smiles…
alright, bedtime here…be back in the morning…keep the stories coming….
Life is a succession of stories – we are all story-tellers through the mere act of living.
true…all waiting for us to capture them with our pen….
think I will leave my ‘friend’ from the supermarket out of this 🙂 Mine not really a child’s bedtime story though – hope it fits.
ha. ahem. did you take the knife this time like i suggested? lol…
Late again, and slightly off mark, but I think y’all will like my entry. It’s not so much a story, as it is the story of a tall teller of them… or sumthin like that.
good morning charles….you have me in tears early….smiles.
Dear friends… I try to follow up on all excellent entries.. seems like blogger is down for me.. I try to read all the wordpress entries
really? how weird…
Very.. maybe it’s a Swedish thing… Goes to service unavailable…
It seems to be up again..
i get that every once in a while and have to refresh…i think it is a 503 or 504 error…
A fun prompt, this is! 🙂
and a cool game you brought to the table…smiles
alright…shutting the lights off for a bit…wash some dishes and get it ready for mary tomorrow…checking out the change in the tip jar for ‘both sides of the coin’…just saying….smiles.
I wrote a poem of sorts, way after your deadline and without an emphasis on setting–but I’ll do better next time. Here it is anyway: http://susanspoetry.blogspot.com/2014/01/sign-of-times.html
This is a crazy weekend, but I’ll read most of your poems by the end of it.
Happy storytelling. Have A GREAT WEEKEND.
This is a wonderful prompt, and I’m excited to see what storytelling lessons you have planned in the months ahead.
cool…look forward to seeing what you come up with as well lydia…
we will have fun with it…that is for sure…