Although it may be helpful to get some feedback from your listener, or even to provide some
self-feedback, remember that what you are hearing is one person’s opinion of how the story affects
that personand may not be the way it affects another person. If providing some self-evaluation, you
may ask whether you are satisfied with your storytelling, if there are aspects you could improve, how
you could better use your voice, whether your voice was pacing the story, or what you could do to
enhance the presentation. While such feedback may be useful, what is important at this point is
simply storytelling with an audience. To use the learning-to-drive analogy with which I began this
chapter, it is like you are familiar with the automobile’s controls, have driven up and down the drive-
way, and are now ready to join other traffic on the roads.
- Observe Your Listener
Milton Erickson, the master of metaphor therapy, when asked what he considered the three most im-
portant variables of therapy, is said to have replied, “Observe, observe, observe.” When you feel con-
fident telling stories to children and teenagers (whether to one or a group), start to observe their be-
havior. See what holds their attention, be aware of when they start to lose focus, see how you can
regain that attention, and observe the impact of your tale. Find other listeners. Observe the different
responses to your story from individual to individual, and group to group. Fortunately, children tend
to be more expressive and less socially constrained than adults. During your storytelling, they may be
attentive, wriggly, or easily distracted, or may interrupt with questions, displaying a good amount of
observable responses as to whether they are interested, bored, or excited by the tale. The observa-
tion of these responses offers vital clues about how to adapt your tale.
For more than twenty years, I have participated in a regular radio talk show and, in all that time,
there is something that has not gotten any easier for me—hearing people’s voices through the head-
phones and not being able to observe the expressions on their faces, or the look in their eyes. It is
similar to trying to define the emotion behind the words in an e-mail, at times. That is because we
communicate with more than our words. Take away the words—which is what happens when you
have a silent listener—and you have the reverse of my radio experience. You have only the expres-
sions. Herein will lie the cues and feedback as to how your story is being received.
Observe that feedback. How connected is the child with you and your story? Is his (or her) gaze
one of fixed and unbroken attention? Does his respiration match the pace and emotion of the tale?
Have his bodily movements slowed so the child is less fidgety or active than before this story began?
If attention is distracted, gaze wanders away from the storyteller, or fidgeting increases, these
are signs for the storyteller to examine his or her own behavior. Am I telling too much? Am I not
communicating enough? Does the story need more or less involvement of senses and emotions?
What is relevant for my listener? What needs to be expanded and what needs to be deleted? Does
EFFECTIVE STORYTELLINGGuidelines for Effective Storytelling 23
EXERCISE 2.8
■ Find a child to whom you could tell a story.
■ Observe your own experience of telling and the experience for the listener.