Telling a Story

Every now and again, I am fascinated with the concept of oral narratives--you know, stories told aloud, usually recited and often theatrical. Before there were printing presses, this manner of conveying a story was kind of it. Now, here we are in the 21st century, and almost the only time we tell a story aloud is when we're reading to small children. A great thing happens when we read for kids: we take on the personas of the characters in our facial expressions and voice inflections. We dramatize the events. Often, we read the storybook in question so many times, that it is committed to memory (perhaps a few of you moms out there are nodding--and grimacing?) It's something I come back to every now and then, because as writers, it seems we can get so wrapped up in our plot structure and the more technical aspects of constructing a narrative, that we forget the magic of, well, telling the story. All the action is in our noggin, while our faces are glued to a glaring computer screen, watching pixelated, Times New Roman font letters marching one after another. It's not that we're not into it, and it's not that the story isn't alive and compelling--it's just that there's something about bringing the human voice to a story that I think is transformative.



photo source

This telling/listening concept came back to me earlier this week, when I decided to listen to part of an audio recording of a book I was reading at the time. I rarely do audio books, but this time I thought I'd give it a whirl. I got into it. I got into the narrator's voice, reading with pathos and an altered inflection when he came to passages of dialogue. It reminded me of why I like it so much when my husband and I read a novel together aloud.  It helped me put my finger on why I love it when an author has what I like to call a "conversational" writing style, a sort of casual vernacular that makes you feel like you're listening to, rather than reading the story that is unfolding and developing a relationship with the author/narrator as much as you are with the individual characters. 

So... I think I'll start reading some of my work aloud every now and then,--even though it can be a scary thing to do when it's your own stuff-- so that I can get the feel for the telling aspect. And maybe I'll recruit a few listeners, too.