I have a casual acquaintance who is excellent at spinning captivating stories out mundane experiences. I've been on trips with him that weren't anything special at the time, however to hear him retell them makes it sound like we were extras on the Hangover.

Seems like it would be an excellent skill to have. How does one become better at it?

Practice? Talent? Luck?

I've read EdBratz's thread on being a standup comedian, but it's more about the nuts and bolts of being a comedian- not this sort of thing.

OOT must have some people among its ranks that can help me out.

Lying helps.

In fantasy novels, there's always a bard who makes his living telling stories and entertaining in taverns. I've always wanted to hear one of them perform.

Then think about the epics (Gilgamesh, Odyssey, etc) that were passed down from mouth to mouth for generations before being ever written down.

That kind of storytelling is something we'll never be able to really experience.

This. One post in and I'm on the edge of my seat.

Your friend is having a better time than you are.

It's in the details, the timing/delivery and vocabulary. Plus it helps if you can come off as colorful.

Like me.

Some people just have a knack for telling stories. In writing you can improve in a technical sense, and I guess learn some theory and study literature for doing it orally, and develop some skills with practice. But ultimately, some people just have a knack for telling stories.

this is one of the most annoying features a person can have, when every movie they watched was "the best one this century", every party they went to "the party of the year" and every festival they attend "the woodstock of our generation" .

its in the vocabulary, timing, and tone in your voice. Its a skill I used to be pretty damn good at before drugs, and has since faded with unhappiness and being unable to bring the right words to my mouth.

Still, I am starting to practice telling stories and its coming along better, just keep trying.

Who cares? Just start mumbling to yourself if you can't remember a story. People will be entertained.

Make people feel like they were right there with you in the moment - the details, what was going through your mind - exaggerate the good parts, save the best part for last. And if no one else who was there is in the room, you're totally allowed to make **** up and add it to the story to make it even better. In fact, it's probably recommended.

This is something that that comes naturally to some people and i doubt it can really be learned, if your conciously trying to make a story sound extra funny and interesting it seems false, i doubt your friend even knows that it comes across that way he is just being himself

I think its something that is passed on through familys, if you find a funny storyteller they usually have a brother or father who have have similar traits

Actually, what ^this guy said is better advice than mumbling. Mumbling can be a backup plan.

Making **** up sucks though. I have some pretty good stories with some fairly unbelievable **** that actually happened. If I ever made anything up in my stories no one would ever believe the true stuff.

My big advice to OP would be to keep track of what parts people seem to respond to as you tell the story, then punch those up and enhance them with each telling. Also look for stuff like ironies, and random connections from one part of the story to the other. Those make nice segues. Everyone loves irony. Try to foreshadow stuff early in the story that is important to the payoff at the end.

But mostly it's something you should have a knack for if you're ever to be good at it. I know quite a few people who constantly tell stories, but aren't very good at it and never seem to get any better.

I care. Theres nothing that kills a story like taking a 15 second break going uh, uh, trying to find the word youre looking for.

The thing is that you dont need to make the story sound extra funny or embellish too much or anything, but a story told with the tone of 'this fact happened and then this fact happened' its not terribly entertaining, no matter how hilarious the events in the story are. Its about moving the story along with good rhythm and tone and having a good word choice. It also helps if it shows that you are entertained by the events of the story as well.

15 seconds? I meant more like 15 minutes straight.

I don't know why some of you are saying that there's no way to learn to be a good storyteller, it's a skill like almost everything in life. And as with everything that's a skill, with practice even those that don't have a natural talent for it can become proficient.

SirGarbled missing the point and posting like a moron as usual.

I totally got the point, everyone else seems to ignore it.
He wants to make his lame adventures sound like they were awesome.

csb

SirG,

What do great storytellers do if not make the mundane exceptional? What's this thread about, if not exceptional storytelling?

I'm just talking about embellishing small details to enhance what's true. Not the kind of thing someone's gonna fact check you on later and bust you.

RDH, don't feed the Garibaldi.

There's the Scottish Storytelling Centre here in Edinburgh and they do classes. A friend of mine works there, my mum has done some training sessions there, I'd recommend them as a resource if you fancy a trip to dark, dreary, awesome Scotland.

If it's not Scottish storytelling it's crap!