We carry stories with us. As a child, my nanny told me that if I looked at the mirror at night, I would see ghosts. Then she shared ghost stories, which cemented fear in my heart. I would spend the next several years sleep walking into the bathroom at night with my right hand averting my face, my eyes, from ghosts floating on the mirror. The myth shattered at eighteen. But, every night since then, I pause at the mirror before I sleep. Stories can intervene in myriad ways.
Storytelling has been enjoying a public renaissance; it’s a buzzword that makes me smile. Consultants are teaching CEOs how to embed business data and technical information in a good story to keep audiences from yawning. Ha, I know what my next job should be!
So what have we discovered about storytelling that my great great great great grandmother didn’t know? That when we read, listen to, or watch the right stories our brains light up with cortisol, which focuses our attention, and oxytocin, which causes us to care and connect. That the right stories follow Gustav Freytag’s analysis of dramatic structure, aka, the dramatic arc.1
Speaking on UCF’s On the Issues, author Chris Abani said, “Everything we need to know about ourselves is already contained in literature. Most of us writers today, we’re sort of clever plagiarists. If you think about[sic] in many ways, all of the holy books from the Bhagavad Gita to the Bible, have covered all the stories that need to be told.”2 It would seem there are no new plots just deviations from the originals.
Why then, since we know the science and art of storytelling, do we lean forward in our seats, with one hand frozen in the popcorn carton and lips parted in an O, the shape left by the straw we abandoned? Why do our hearts race as if Tom Cruise has ever died in a movie? Because a story is an unwritten promise by the storyteller that he’ll take you there and make you care, in the end.
If story mirrors life and life mirrors story, then our lives play out this way as well, scene after scene, chapter by chapter: a beginning, which comprises exposition and rising action, a middle where conflicts peak, and an ending with falling action and dénouement. Each story that captivates us leaves us wondering and longing and hoping that the end will be good, so we can interpret the omens of our lives favourably.
History is a compilation yesterday’s stories. The best stories from the past make me desire transcendence since my life is a search for my own story. If I find it, my storytelling becomes the vehicle to transport you into my world so you can experiment with the possibility that your world can shift to accommodate mine. Someone said that the test of a great story is what people remember about you when you stop talking. If you want me to learn something quickly, wrap it in a story.
——–
P.s. What do you remember? No, don’t reread, for crying aloud, this is not an exam just an experiment without compensation! Please comment on what you remember. Or never mind . . .
©Timi Yeseibo 2014
- Zak, Paul J. How Stories Change the Brain. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_stories_change_brain, (accessed October 5, 2014).
- “On The Issue – Author Chris Abani,” YouTube video, 6:05, posted by “UCF,” January 27, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eg4XmK4k6A
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Timi Yeseibo and livelytwist.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Love it, T. I first examined this topic as a new blogger last year. Much to say on stories – though perhaps not as well as you – but they allow us to explore, reflect, play, hope.
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Indeed they do. Fascinating topic for me. I’m intrigued by the why behind the what, its application, and the implication for advocacy, etc. Please send me the link to your take on this. I’d like to read it. Thank you Diana.
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So sweet of you.
That’s why I share in your journey, because you want to see under the story. =)
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Thought provoking post, well worth the read. This captured my attention:
“Among the highest compliments you can earn is that your work made me laugh or cry. A physical response.”
Words aren’t empty and when deployed in good storytelling, cause movement. Movement- physical, spiritual- that’s what I’m reaching for. Thanks for sharing Diana.
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And you’ve been doing it, T. Thanks for the PR. =)
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Absolutely. Stories are really powerful, much more than we think. The Biggest Brands in the world today are successful because of the Unique ways they constantly/consistently tell their stories.
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Storytelling continues to be a buzz word in business circles. Advertising, marketing, advocacy, etc, are relying on the power of stories to get customers to connect with their worldview and sell products. Yes, Emeka, much more powerful than we think.
I incorporate elements of storytelling in my writing instinctively. It was nice to discover how and why it works and the science behind it. I hope to be more intentional in using it now.
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Haha (The PS comment made me). Another wonderful post. Solid exposition.
I remember two quotes; the first one at the beginning – everyone is a story waiting to be told.
The other one about everything has already been written, writers are just clever plagiarists.
Turns out that’s not exactly what the first quote said. I think I passed tho. (Y).
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Haha, yes Tony, you passed! It’s interesting how different aspects of a post resonates with different readers and what they remember afterwards. There is no right or wrong. Whatever grabs your attention is valid. Still I’ve been waiting for the reader who’ll remember something no one else did . . .
I’m glad the P.S. got to you and made you participate. Thank you!
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I remember the ghost stories and how funny it is that you still look twice in the mirror. Like how I still won’t sleep with open windows, doors, closets, or drawers. I guess stories also form habits that never go away
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I guess they do. They can be used to train and retrain our responses. Now you mention it, I vaguely recall being told another scary story to ‘encourage’ me to tidy my room before bedtime 🙂 I tend to put things in their proper place and like you, shut doors, etc, before I sleep.
Thanks for sharing what you remember. This exercise has been enlightening for me.
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Here again Timi, this post has made me comment twice! Interesting really, since I’d much rather watch or read than write, you must have triggered something Anyways, I wanted to share the following with you.
I told the most ridiculous stories to my children when they were children. In childlike exuberance they would invite me to fashion real fiction, often fabricated on the spot with not more than a breath’s pause. Convinced that there was a fascinating world apart from our regular, at once dangerous, exciting, passionate, romantic, horrible and just, they pressed me to even more outlandish inventions. It was magical, creating worlds and creatures, breaking rules of reality; dragon fruits could hang off molten gold trees by their tails, singing lullabies until they were ripe to fly! The denouement was never contrived but always true like a litmus test; the indicator – they exhaled, satiated, filled with deep smiles or shouted ‘enough!’, grimacing with dread. We hunted a story and the journey told itself to us. It was always special.
I do like a good story………………….
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. . . and it would appear you tell it well too!
Your words evoke nostalgia and your language is lyrical- you should think about writing (even if occasionally). So, now your children are older(?), who’s listening (reading) to your stories? Who is drawing them out of you?
I’m still thinking about this, “I may not be at the top of the mountain but I have experienced such levity, the air gets thin & I gasp for wonder,” because the imagery is powerful.
Yes, you like a good story 😉
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed all your stories.
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Superb post Timi. Really. This one hit me.
Most of us writers today, we’re sort of clever plagiarists.
–Have you ever watched that Ted talk by Austin Kleon, “Steal like an artist”? He speaks about this. He mentioned a quote by Pablo Picasso, “Good artists copy, great artists steal”. It makes me think of Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun”.
🙂
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It hit me too. I thought about the holy book I know, the Bible, and identified Freytag’s dramatic arc in the stories and main theme.
I haven’t listened to that Ted Talk yet, but with that Pablo Picasso quote, I’m sold 🙂 It reminds me of this quote: Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about. – W. H. Auden –
Thanks Stacy, I’m glad you found this post superb!
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Hahahaha, what a great quote by W.H. Auden. Thanks for sharing that.
Oh yes, the Holy book I know is also the Bible.
🙂
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I listened to it, thanks Staci. This stayed with me, “I know something that a lot of artists know, but few would admit to and that is, nothing is completely original. All creative work builds on what came before. Every new idea is just a remix or mash-up of one or two previous ideas.” 😉
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The good thing though, is that we can still make it fresh, right.
🙂
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Definitely. We can build on it and put our unique stamp on it. We can rewrite for a new generation. Thanks again Staci for adding value to me.
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Love this. Yes, yes, and yes.
You just added value to me.
🙂
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Dear Timi,
I remember the image of the upheld right hand before your young girl’s face, in the dark bathroom at night to guard her from the dreadful possibilities of the image in the mirror and what fearsome potentials it held. What ghosts inhabit the self and such horrific lessons children are taught, some worse than others, unfortunately often by the unwitting, but sometimes deliberate vehicle of storytelling! I refer here to the European fairytales of Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimms brothers that I grew up on, not to mention certain instructive Greek myths and Bible stories. But hands down those fairy tales were the worst in terms of what i know were stories designed to teach young girls to hate their bodies and themselves. If any impressionable and vulnerable girl read, for example, Anderson’s long and intense fairy tale, The Red Shoes, and was not harmed by it (I took everything i read seriously, alas) they fared much better than I. Everything in my culture and surroundings, and perhaps my own psyche that was fertile ground for it, only supported the destructive message.
Needless to say, storytelling can heal as well as harm, but I was struck by how often our elders have used it, instructionally, in ways that have hurt us. Stories need to be told to children responsibly, and the only way this can be so is through awareness of their effect on ourselves. Children cannot be protected from all harm, of course. But they need not be deliberately damaged by the messages of the likes of HC Anderson etc. At least that is how i feel about this in my 62nd year…
Many thanks for your wonderful and eloquent blog.
Pamela Wagner
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“Needless to say, storytelling can heal as well as harm, . . ” True, stories can be “instruments of torture!” Some of my friends and I were told that if we swallowed orange seeds, an orange tree would sprout from our belly button. We watched our navels with trepidation daily, but we grew and realized we’d been fed “fairy tales”.
This is by no means an attempt to trivialize the very real issues you mention. Young minds are impressionable and we carry stories with us. Vivid images can follow us for a long long time hampering our stride.
I hope carers, guardians, parents, pay attention to what young children are being fed, and provide perspective.
Thank you Pamela, for broadening the conversation and letting us contemplate not only the wonder but the worry of storytelling. You made yourself vulnerable by sharing bits about your storytelling/reading journey. I appreciate that and I like having you here!
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Thank you so very much for your kind response, Timi. I am sorry I am late to reply back, but I neglected to click on the box that would have alerted me. And so I did not know you had in fact responded. Ah me, I need to be less hasty to press “Post comment”. I do so like your blog posts and I have done this before. In any event, I am glad I thought to check back. I am glad you did not mind my sharing as I did. My frankness is not always so welcome. Thanks again. Pam
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What I know about stories is that. We all know the full story of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen but sometimes we just want to read see how it is when it’s written by Chinua Achebe and acted by Funke Akindele and then we begin to think Anne Hathaway will act that part better. Then when we’ve gone the full cycle. We hear that Timi has re-written it as a series on her blog and we always like her writings. Every story has perhaps been written a million times but like a phoenix, it can always be reborn- as the reader or writer wants it to be.
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“Every story has perhaps been written a million times but like a phoenix, it can always be reborn- as the reader or writer wants it to be.”
You’re right, sometimes I want to watch a director’s adaptation of a novel I liked. I sometimes enjoy novels with inconclusive endings, so I can write my own ending in my head. Yes, we carry stories with us!
Tobi, thank you. I’m humbled that ” . . . we always like her writings.” 😉
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I was just thinking days ago how predictable Filipino and Mexican soaps were, and yet every Saturday morning I seat cross-legged on the living room sofa, abandoning my chores to watch.
When I read this, “Why then, since we know the science and art of storytelling, do we lean forward in our seats, with one hand frozen in the popcorn carton and lips parted in an O, the shape left by the straw we abandoned? Why do our hearts race as if Tom Cruise has ever died in a movie?” I thought to myself: It’s not about how the story ends, but the journey between. That’s what takes me to a cinema, makes me grip the edge of my seat, has my lips form an O from abandoning the straw and my hand stilled midway form throwing popcorn into my mouth…..all that and the promise of entertainment.
Oh and I still stare at the mirror everyday and wonder when that ghost will pop out 😀
So to your question, I remember the denoue-what? 😀 Tom Cruise never dying because he lives on the edge of tomorrow. Your ghost story and how we hope that the end spells what our own ends will be (if only we could live our lives like the movie scripts). I remember that every story must have a beginning, middle and end; that brilliant man who says to live is to have a story and the other who talked about being called a liar.
I must say though, that I don’t know if I remember these from the first read, or because I read every single comment here (like I always do) before commenting. I wonder if that’s cheating? 😀
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So predictability does not dissuade because of the journey between. I guess that’s why I enjoy conversations- the journey between differs for each person.
It doesn’t matter if you remember because you read other’s comments. I think these are the things that got the cortisol and oxytocin flowing in your brain.
No ghosts will show up in your mirror! When I listened to the pronunciation of denouement, I was like, “Denoue-what?” 😀 Thanks Uju for being a good sport!
p.s. they still show those Mexican soaps that they voice over? 🙂
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Yup! They’ve got a whole station dedicated to it on pay tv–Telemundo and Televista (Gotv) and Startimes’ got one too.
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My preparations for writing a blog post always include a search for a story that captures my thoughts and that can keep you reading while I share the principles I want to share. I don’t always get, that is why beginning a piece is my biggest challenge since I started writing! I agree that there really are no new stories, but there can be newness attached how the stories are told. Is that not the major difference between Nollyhood movies and those of Hollywood? You can predict the end of almost all our movies after seeing the first few minutes. Our counterparts’ re-invent stories with the promise of a new end….
I do remember your sharing about your nanny’s ghost stories that made you fear till 18 plus, the story of your encounter with LASTMA. I remember that piece every time I see those guys! Thanks Timi!
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Stories are a great way to encapsulate principles, so I can understand why you spend time searching for one that will resonate. Maybe if you just begin with what you have the rest will sort itself as you go along?
I dunno, I mean, I’m pretty good at predicting how Hollywood movies end. But the cinematography, the music, the pacing, the special effects, are superior. Nollywood is still in its infancy, but yes, the storytelling can be better.
You remember my ghost story, yay! No one seems to remember Freytag’s Dramatic structure, lol, proving that stories are much more effective than theories 🙂
Oh Lastma! I hope Fashola’s reforms are effective. Thank you for joining in the fun!
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I loved how you wrote about interpreting the omens of our lives favorably based on the stories we read or come across. Just the other day I was thinking about how mundane real life is. And that’s what most stories are about. Real Life. But when you take a particular slice of banality and dress it up with quirks and emotions and some craziness, it becomes a wondrous moment like you beautifully described – leaving our lips o-shaped from abandoning the straw we were drinking from. This was one of my favorite posts of yours:).
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When you read a story do you try to locate yourself or someone you know in it? I do. I think we mostly do.
“Just the other day I was thinking about how mundane real life is. . . . But when you take a particular slice of banality and dress it up with quirks and emotions and some craziness, it becomes a wondrous moment . . . ” 🙂 Give it up for creative non-fiction!
I like to think that the mundane can be interesting if we learn to savour life.
I’m not always sure what will resonate with readers, so it thrills me to hear that this was one of your favourite posts. Thanks Nida!
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Mundane rocks:). I wrote something related just today. Would love for you to read it.
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Read it Nida, thanks for sharing. Mundane rocks, ha ha!
I’m a creature of routine. There’s usually something interesting going on in my brain and most times I’m too self-absorbed to notice my boring life. Perhaps it’s partly because I rediscovered my passion for writing, and it consumes me. Someone read one of my posts and commented that I must live an exciting life. I replied that writing means that I can take the mundane and give it a lively twist.
I do hunger for more, not necessarily excitement, but something purposeful. If I’m deploying my energy into meaningful causes, mundane rocks!
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If I start to write all the things I remember here, people will think I’m a Stan. But I remember pasting my first comment because you asked me to make an offering (or something like that) in your WordPress 10– series.
On the other hand, the thing I remembered easily at the end of this article is that infographic about the actor living on the “Edge of Tomorrow”. A movie with that title starring Tom Cruise is one of the best I’ve watched this year. It was a lesson in storytelling for me. I knew the movie’s premise (Groundhog Day), knew the plot-line (man dies over and over) yet the telling of the story was so good I wanted to go back for seconds.
I agree that there are no new stories, but there are stories I want to tell that no one has told that way before. This the only reason why write at all.
Like Zadie Smith once commented, the allure of story telling becomes even more evident when one encounters children’s books. I read Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book again a few weeks ago and was sucked into Mowgli’s vortex. This is Jungle Book we’re talking about. I know that story by heart yet I couldn’t drop the book. Stories are amazing.
I should stop now before I take up as much a space as the original blog post itself. We need more storytellers, more people that can transport us into world of wonder.
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Who cares what people think? I’m not complaining 🙂
Aha, I see why the reference to Edge of Tomorrow stood out for you. I also enjoyed the movie and liked the farmhouse scene where Rita and Cage were looking for the keys. He knows where they are but pretends not to because, as he tells her, “This is where you die, this is as far as you go.” Yes, stories can fill us with wonder, helping us believe in possibility. So, you’ve been feasting? I guess we’re in for a treat when you write. I can’t remember Jungle Book, but you make me want to remember it!
“I agree that there are no new stories, but there are stories I want to tell that no one has told that way before. This the only reason why write at all.”
Hmmm, some ingenuity required. Go Ife, go, transport us into worlds of wonder! Thank you for being a good sport and participating.
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I don’t believe that all stories have been told and re-told.
For me, the story is in the details, not in the plot arc. A story set in the mountains at night is different from one set on the beach during the day. Much Ado About Nothing in modern times in America is a different story than the one first penned by the bard and set in Italy.
Animal Farm is a different animal from a similar story line with humans at the helm. Etc.
I do think we remember details better when told in story format rather than just a list of facts, names, or dates. And history comes alive when we tell tales with full blown characters.
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“For me, the story is in the details, . . . ” On this we find common ground. Indeed, the intricacies of the dance from start to finish keeps us leaning forward. Although I may predict how the story ends, I still find myself turning pages quickly, or/and rereading some chapters slowly. That’s why I enjoy meeting people and making friends.
I not only remember details better in story format, but also enhance my comprehension. Sometimes, someone will explain a concept over and over. I nearly feel foolish because I can’t wrap my mind around it. Then they will tell a story and my eyes will light up.
Thanks Nancy!
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Me again…..your English teacher was right….an extended knowledge of her good essay “must have” is in literature where the story can either take the beginning-middle-end(linear, chronological, organic) plot structure or take the end to middle to beginning(inorganic/episodic) plot structure….which ever plot structure is adopted………. If its plot organisation goes in this direction..exposition–complication–climax–resolution. Then (my opinion) it qualify as a good story especially when its coming from writers like you, Ifeoluwa and staciyl.
Hope am not becoming unbecoming (just thinking aloud)
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Lol, you are not becoming unbecoming. If anything, you are teaching me, and I like learning. I learnt to write instinctively, reading books helped. But it is also good to know the mechanics, so one can transfer knowledge. Thanks Freeman for the free writing course! 🙂
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I was immediately captured by the ghost story, Timi. It carried back in time to my own ghosts. They lived in the graveyard next to our house. –Curt
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Aha! I knew ghost stories were universal, but I sort of expected readers to forget mine as they delved into the rest of the piece. Oh oh, ghosts in the graveyard next to your house! I would have dreaded bedtime! Share a story? Or maybe not, I like my beauty sleep! 😉
Thanks Curt for participating in this survey.
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You might find this amusing. 🙂 http://wandering-through-time-and-place.me/2013/10/30/the-attack-of-the-graveyard-ghost/
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Love your ghost story! I pictured everything and had a very good laugh. I guess having an accomplice helped. During my teenage years, sometimes I had to walk past a military cemetery on my way home. It was never dark, thank goodness. Thanks for sharing Curt. 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed it, Timi. The memory still gets my sister excited. 🙂
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“If I find it, my storytelling becomes the vehicle to transport you into my world so you can experiment with the possibility that your world can shift to accommodate mine”.
I remember how your diction connects and transport me into your world of possibility where you are using printed words to mend souls and bring to many diversion, education, information while performing its chief role “entertainment”
“That the right stories follow Gustav Freytag’s analysis of dramatic structure, aka, the dramatic arc.1”
While I can’t totally disagree with this…..I believe, When a story is rendered in prosaic form where the narrator speaks in the first person………I think the “exposition-complication-climax-resolution” structure also give credence to the story and qualify it as a good story…….
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Thank you Freeman for sharing what you remember. I feel good whenever I’m able to use language to build bridges that connect us. What would you say is the chief role of your writing?
If I understand you correctly, and I may be off-target, you’re saying that articles like this one, which isn’t a typical story (oh my, what is a typical story?), can follow Freytag’s dramatic structure, and still qualify as a good story?
Food for thought. When I’m writing fiction, I pay more attention to the dramatic arc. In writing non-fiction pieces like this one, I remember what my English teacher taught me- your essay should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Hmmm, maybe they are one and the same thing. 🙂 Thanks again, you’ve given me homework . . . I like it!
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I love the image of ghosts in the mirror… it reminds me of my own childhood when my nanny would tell me there was a ghost woman with a stroller sitting in the living room so to stay in the bedroom. Got me thinking about how even the stories told to us by the people around- are really just oral story telling in their purest, unedited form– no commercial aspirations, even, just the sharing of a story to entertain, enlighten, or get a young girl to go to obey.
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You were told ghost stories too? 🙂 Oral storytelling is powerful- see how much we remember and the emotions the stories (still) evoke.
“But the best stories- those retold through generations and translated into other languages – do more than simply present a believable picture. These tales captivate their audience, whose emotions can be inextricably tied to those of the story’s characters. Such immersion is a state psychologists call ‘narrative transport’.” – The Secrets of Storytelling by Jeremy Hsu.
Thanks Diahann. Today, I’m fascinated by the connections our brains make.
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I remember to come here every Sunday for another great post by Timi. With a little help from my blog reader…
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So, the prize goes to your blog reader 🙂
Seriously, that’s the best thing to remember . . .
Thanks, Eric!
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I thought you meant what do I remember about this particular post without rereading? A dangerous question for a menopausal mush mind! But other commenters are talking about your previous works so for me hands down it’s Body Magic!!! Reverberated in me to my very core. Has stayed with me in a hard hitting way ever since I found you! About this specific piece? I retained “story mirrors life and life mirrors story.” And “there are no new plots.” And your great grandmother maybe need to read you Dr. Suess instead of ghost stories!! (This is without cheating and scrolling back up btw!) oh and something about our lips parted in an “O” shape from an abandoned straw (nice imagery!) and Tom Cruise dying! Lol. Fascinating post (and exercise for me to do) Timi! Thanks.
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Thank you Stephanie for participating in this “dangerous” exercise and not cheating while doing so! 😀 Forget menopausal mind, you remembered everything that mattered to you. I once read that there are seven original plots, whatever! There are no new plots 🙂
The adults around me shared scary stories to ensure compliance- it worked for a while. But most times, I was transported to wonderful magical worlds. Stories can intervene in different ways.
Ah, The Body Magic . . . Recently, someone tried to sell me a piece from the collection. I almost gave her the link to the post 😀
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Dear Timi, I don’t respond much but had to today. My response is not so much of what I remember of what I read, but what I read made me remember.
I remember that my life, like many others, is one massive extraordinary story! However, for many of us, the gravity of unkind influences & voices has shaped our view of ourselves, combined with a (un)natural instinct for self-deprecation; results in at best an ordinary account and very often, a regrettable report. Shame really. I hear it all the time. My story, reduces me to tears, inspires me, gives me grit, makes me grateful, fills me with joy & regret; triumph, failure, love, passion, foolishness and indulgence all feature copiously. I may not be at the top of the mountain but I have experienced such levity, the air gets thin & I gasp for wonder. I don’t know the depths of misery but I have endured incredible pain. Sheer rictus!! I looked hard, swapped my muddied and obscured spectacles for Grace & Mercy, and now I can always come up with a marvellous story in my life. Amazing really…………..
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OluFemi, amazing really!
Reading your comment, I see all the elements of Gustav Freytag’s Dramatic Arc. The Climax is the turning point. But without the “gravity of unkind influences & voices, failure, foolishness and indulgence, incredible pain,” how could you or I, appreciate the climax?
I like the lens through which you see your story. I will remember this: ” . . . and now I can always come up with a marvellous story in my life,” because I know I will need it in time to come.
You write beautifully. I think you should write more often. Or maybe you do?
Thanks!
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I remember your wonderful quote by one of my favorite writers, Isak Dinesen: “To be a person is to have a story to tell.” This is so true! Our lives are the sum total of the stories we have lived. This is why I love stories so much, be they novels, movies, TV shows, or short stories. I love mythology, epic poems, and the dramatic form. They tell us so much about the people who populate the earth and are endlessly fascinating.
Stories and books communicate with us and help to understand one another and how to live and connect. They can also shake us up as well they should. As Kafka said: “A book must be an ax for the frozen sea in us.”
Well written piece and impressively resourced. .
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Ah, what you remember resonates with you deeply. Good 🙂
“Our lives are the sum total of the stories we have lived.” I am nodding my head in agreement. I also like to think that we can be active participants in the stories we have yet to live by the choices we make.
Books and music have shaped me as much as anything else. Thank you for sharing the Kafka quote. I remember one book that did that for me- broke me in places that needed to be broken.
When I read your blog, your passion for stories show up in your reviews, which I enjoy. Indeed it is our stories that connected us!
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I still remember the story that you told here about a young woman, who was dressed less than modestly, sitting with you for lunch and how much more of a real woman you seemed in comparison. I’d like to share that story with every young girl I know!
Always a pleasure to read your words,
Christina Chase
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Truly, we carry stories with us! Christina, that was a story I shared in a post called, I’m not What I Wear and Other Lies we Tell Ourselves. When we dare to share our stories with others, who knows where the ripples will stop?
It’s always a pleasure having you here. Thank you Christina!
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I mean ” will ever be written”
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I remember your Nanny’s ghost stories, I remember what you said about us still being carried away by movies that we already know are not true while eating popcorn and taking a drink( o shape on d straw), I remember seeing your illustration that depict that actors never die( although our emotions still rise and fall even when we are so sure of that fact), I remember the writer that said when he was small, they called him a liar but now they call him a writer, I remember you quoting a writer that said all that writers are doing now is just systematic, dressed plagiarism since all that are and have been written had all been written before in one holy book or the other, I remember you saying ceos are now being thought to present business data/ policies in story form to encourage assimilation( and that reminds me of a tortoise and hare story by shared by my husband that taught lessons like synergy, teamwork and identifying your strengths.)
Timi as you can see, if this were an exam, I would have passed excellently😃, one read and all these!
What does this tell me?…That you are an excellent storyteller even with all the big grammar.
Love you and God bless.
Keep this up!
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My gosh Julienne, I would have liked to “copy” your work if we were in school together! You get an A-star for story retention!
It’s interesting that we know how the story ends, yet we still sit on the edge of our seats. The plot may be the same, but the dance to the end differs. I relax and enjoy movies more now that I know the leading actor will emerge victorious at long long last! 🙂
I’ve heard a tortoise and hare story used to illustrate similar concepts like your husband shared. The same storytelling techniques we’ve used to teach children are used by advertisers, advocacy groups, etc. It’s an area I’m open to exploring . . .
Lol@ big grammar. Thanks Julienne, and thank you for participating in the survey. I’m still wowed by you! 🙂
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I remember you are a great writer and that you are in good contact with every aspect of your life, past, present and future. Your at
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*Your write up tells me * This were my intended statement before I accidentally clicked on post.
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Aw, Busola, you are too kind! When I’m writing examples from my life just pop up. I guess the same thing happens to you, where your brain makes connections from your past that are relevant to your present, as you share stories with others. You know that point in the conversation where you say, “I remember when I was five . . . ”
Thanks for returning to complete your comment, and for participating in this survey 😉
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