Selling a story

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Storytelling can be big business -- and that's no fairy tale.

"If you love something enough, it is possible to make a living at it," said Rachel Hedman, a professional storyteller from Layton. "I know some national storytellers who make six-digit incomes."

Of course, not every storyteller rakes in that kind of cash.

"There are thousands and thousands of part-time storytellers in the United States who wish to be full-time storytellers, though they get shy about quitting their day job. Perhaps about a couple hundred are full time," Hedman said.

Those who do take the plunge, and have the talent to back it up, may travel the country performing more than 300 shows a year.

But these days, there's more than one way to make money with stories. Storytellers are using their skills in courtrooms and boardrooms, classrooms and hospital rooms.

In the classroom

You can't teach students what they don't want to know, says Dallas storyteller Elizabeth Ellis, who (along with Hedman) is appearing at next week's Weber State University Storytelling Festival.

But you can use stories to create a desire to know.

"If you want to illuminate something, tell a story -- and tell it from more than one point of view," she said.

Take, for example, women's fight to vote: "Tell the story from the point of view of a suffragist, and the point of view of a preacher, and you see why it took 100 years."

Ellis says stories can be based on real characters or take the "Forrest Gump" approach, using a fictional character to share facts.

"If you want me to understand what it was like to live on the American frontier, tell me ... a story of someone who lived on the frontier and how they dealt with the loneliness and isolation," she said. "Then I begin to understand ... and I want to know more about it."

Stories also help students remember the associated facts, said Hedman.

In the courtoom

Ellis says she's worked with lawyers to hone their storytelling skills.

"One of the problems we're having in the American legal system is that Americans are so sleep-deprived that if you put 12 of us in a warm room and talk to us, we go to sleep," she said.

A well-crafted, well-told story keeps the jury awake, helps them remember evidence, and can help sway their feelings about the victim or defendant.

"There's more than one way to tell about what happened and still be truthful," she said. "It's what you focus on, and how you help people see themselves reflected in the experience being discussed with things like, for instance, rhetorical questions. 'How many of you have ever been really angry -- so angry you couldn't control your anger, so angry you did something you lived to regret?' ... Just about anybody on any jury can relate to that question, and it helps them see the person being accused in a different light."

In the hospital

The Healing Story Alliance is a special-interest group under the umbrella of the National Storytelling Network.

"People in the field of medicine use stories in many different ways. Often, people need a story more than anything else," said Ellis.

Even folk tales can help, said Hedman.

"A lot of times, when we have stories from another time and place, we can get more hope from those kinds of stories than in the now, because we can remove ourselves from the present suffering time," Hedman said.

In church

Hedman says some of the top storytellers in the nation are also church leaders.

There's a physical reason why storytelling is good for the spirit, Ellis said.

"Storytelling is an aerobic workout for the right side of human brain, that side deals in imagination and creativity," Ellis said. "How can you interact with a god you can't see, feel, taste or touch without imagination? Without imagination, you're a spiritual cripple."

Storytelling also helps people in the ministry reach their congregations.

"Teaching people the rules, 'Thou shalt not ...' really doesn't work," Ellis said. "But when I tell you a story, I help you learn to care about the people in the story. And when you care about people in a story, your life can be transformed."

In the boardroom

Hedman says she majored in business marketing because it's close to storytelling. Some of the most memorable commercials are story-based, she said.

She uses stories, instead of lists of costs and benefits, in her insurance-sales business. Stories of real people help clients understand the need for insurance.

Nancy Donoval, a storyteller from Minnesota, also works as a communication consultant. (She is not appearing at the WSU festival.)

One of her clients, MenTeach, recruits men into teaching careers. She helped one of the group's speakers sharpen his pitch by using a story from his life, when he went to a childhood-education conference.

"He was surrounded by a sea of women. ... When he tried to find a restroom, all of the men's rooms had been converted to female restrooms, because the expectation was that all of the people at the conference would be female. He finally found a bathroom in the basement, by the custodian's office," Donoval said.

"You can say the number of men in early childhood education is 4 percent, but it's just a number," she said. "But the story he tells is funny ... and very real and memorable."

TALE-TELLING TIPS

Nationally known storyteller Elizabeth Ellis, performing at Weber State University's Storytelling Festival, has a few tips for telling a compelling story.

-- Get to the main plot quickly to capture attention. Subplots are better left to novels; for oral storytelling, pare it down to one clean narrative line.

-- Use expressive voice. "Don't be afraid to whisper or shout," she said.

-- Tell the story a little slower than you usually talk. "You want to give people a chance to make pictures in their minds before you go racing off to the next scene."

"Trust that people want to hear the story, so you don't need to hurry," Ellis said. "You can take as long as you need to take, as long as you're holding people's interest."

-- Verbally paint a clear visual image. "What I'm going to remember is the way your grandmother always wore her heavily starched apron with a big bow in the back, because you've given me a vivid visual image."

-- "Try to activate all five of my senses," Ellis said. "Draw me in and cradle me in that space of story, and don't let me go till the story's over."

-- Instead of sharing a bunch of facts, share what the story means on a deep, human level. "Look for the beating heart of the story," she said.

-- "Ask me some questions to stimulate me," Ellis said. "Let me answer internally, so I can immerse myself in the experience of the story."

-- Don't clutter the story with unnecessary detail. "Tell me everything I need to know, but don't tell me what I don't need to know," she said. "Don't bog us down in details unless the details matter."

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