Advanced Storytelling
A journal and discussion of the coursework for Advanced Storytelling, READ 5230, at ETSU Spring 2006.Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Day 8
Day 8, March 14
present: All
We began with a blind walk game. One person is blindfolded. A chair is placed across the room. The group must give direct to the blindfolded person to the chair using only one direction at a time (i.e. "move right two steps").
After we all took turns as the blind walker, we discussed the activity and its relation to storytelling:
The story is a kind of territory we guide the listener through. We select our course while looking over the landscape beforehand. Sometimes the storyteller is like the blind walker, taking direction from the listener.
Cynthia shared her "scary story" project. She lowered the light, using the glow of the overhead projector for a back light. She offered a combinatorial of three stories:
1) The unwashed children of Adam and Eve. (The origin of the invisible people.)
2) The incident at the "Beauty Spot" (Danny's story.)
3) The spirit woman and the traveler.
Some observations;
The opening story began as a formulaic how-and-why story from judeo-christian biblical lore. From there it introduced a concept that was broadly appled to include the lore of other cultures and traditions: invisible beings called "gin", "faeries", "will-o-the-wisps" and so on. Some of the listeners found the biblical story off-putting and felt it difficult to remain open to the main idea. On discussion we determined that although Cynthia's tradition is rooted in Christianity, her intention was to introduce the notion of invisible beings among us. To this end, we determined that she could share the story from her tradition if she more fully developed the link to other traditions and better established the universality of her subject. In terms of the structure of her combinatorial, the opening story served to place the listener in the world of the story; a world in which unseen persons can come and go from before our eyes at will.
The second story had the effect of bringing us to the immediate surrounds; a story about something that happened nearby to someone the teller knew personally. This grounded the notion of invisible beings by offering an example from the present day. Additionally, the story posed more questions even as it answered the opening proposition that such persons are among us. The second story did not explain itself and so remained enigmatic. we discussed the need for greater clarity about the remote location of "the beauty spot" and the modern dress of the hikers as contrasted with the period dress of the mysterious woman.
The third story offered an answer to the questions of the second story and took us to a point of closure by recalling the biblical origins of the invisible beings and suggesting an explanation as to their nature and condition. The third story was in the form of local lore, linking it to the second story, yet it was set further back in time and involved the contest between God and Satan, linking it to the opening story. Aspects of the third story remained enigmatic and mysterious: did the old woman know the young women were there? Were all the women in the cabin spirits?
We discussed choices that Cynthia could make to imply that the younger women were only visible to the traveling man, to imply his assumptions about them and the house he had found, and to imply the young woman's reasons for joining the traveler in his bed. We discussed the careful construction of the movie "The Sixth Sense" by way of example. An enigmatic story that stirs a sense of mystery and awe is made effective by way of implied elements, and careful editing. What is left out can be as important as what is left in. For example, we discovered in discussion that the two men in Cynthia's second story had been drinking. The choice to leave out mention of drink, avoided the consideration that their sighting was influenced by alcohol.
present: All
We began with a blind walk game. One person is blindfolded. A chair is placed across the room. The group must give direct to the blindfolded person to the chair using only one direction at a time (i.e. "move right two steps").
After we all took turns as the blind walker, we discussed the activity and its relation to storytelling:
The story is a kind of territory we guide the listener through. We select our course while looking over the landscape beforehand. Sometimes the storyteller is like the blind walker, taking direction from the listener.
Cynthia shared her "scary story" project. She lowered the light, using the glow of the overhead projector for a back light. She offered a combinatorial of three stories:
1) The unwashed children of Adam and Eve. (The origin of the invisible people.)
2) The incident at the "Beauty Spot" (Danny's story.)
3) The spirit woman and the traveler.
Some observations;
The opening story began as a formulaic how-and-why story from judeo-christian biblical lore. From there it introduced a concept that was broadly appled to include the lore of other cultures and traditions: invisible beings called "gin", "faeries", "will-o-the-wisps" and so on. Some of the listeners found the biblical story off-putting and felt it difficult to remain open to the main idea. On discussion we determined that although Cynthia's tradition is rooted in Christianity, her intention was to introduce the notion of invisible beings among us. To this end, we determined that she could share the story from her tradition if she more fully developed the link to other traditions and better established the universality of her subject. In terms of the structure of her combinatorial, the opening story served to place the listener in the world of the story; a world in which unseen persons can come and go from before our eyes at will.
The second story had the effect of bringing us to the immediate surrounds; a story about something that happened nearby to someone the teller knew personally. This grounded the notion of invisible beings by offering an example from the present day. Additionally, the story posed more questions even as it answered the opening proposition that such persons are among us. The second story did not explain itself and so remained enigmatic. we discussed the need for greater clarity about the remote location of "the beauty spot" and the modern dress of the hikers as contrasted with the period dress of the mysterious woman.
The third story offered an answer to the questions of the second story and took us to a point of closure by recalling the biblical origins of the invisible beings and suggesting an explanation as to their nature and condition. The third story was in the form of local lore, linking it to the second story, yet it was set further back in time and involved the contest between God and Satan, linking it to the opening story. Aspects of the third story remained enigmatic and mysterious: did the old woman know the young women were there? Were all the women in the cabin spirits?
We discussed choices that Cynthia could make to imply that the younger women were only visible to the traveling man, to imply his assumptions about them and the house he had found, and to imply the young woman's reasons for joining the traveler in his bed. We discussed the careful construction of the movie "The Sixth Sense" by way of example. An enigmatic story that stirs a sense of mystery and awe is made effective by way of implied elements, and careful editing. What is left out can be as important as what is left in. For example, we discovered in discussion that the two men in Cynthia's second story had been drinking. The choice to leave out mention of drink, avoided the consideration that their sighting was influenced by alcohol.
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