Tell a little about yourself and your family? What is your vocation and your hobby?
I have a husband, two grown sons, one daughter- in-law, and a granddaughter. All are dual citizen Greeks except my daughter-in-law and me because we are not blood relatives. However, I have my Greek green card.
I am also a visual artist and am currently working on a mixed media photography/batik
exhibit with my brother.
What is your interest in storytelling? How did it begin?
My interest in storytelling began when I tried to learn and duplicate my grandmother's stories (after I retired). This grew to writing and telling my own stories. I especially like tall tales written from my life experiences. I guess I have always been an embellishing type of person with my recollections and storytelling makes me more legitimate. My favorite tall tale writer is Patrick McManus.
What tellers have been influential in your life?
Patrick McManus, Steve Otto, Gary and Linda Kuntz, Anthony Clark, Joyce Slater, Jim Two Crows Wallen.
What is your favorite story?
The Other Wiseman, any Oscar Wilde fairytale, especially the Happy Prince, and the Selfish Giant. I love my own stories because they are so hard to write that I value the efforts in writing them, good or bad. My favorite vacation is in Greece where we are now splitting our time with America. We have a house we inherited and renovated and are happy moving back and forth.
Why did you decide it was important to be a member of Missouri Storytelling? How can Mo-Tell improve?
I think now that I am really passionate about storytelling, it is important to use every resource that is available to me. That is why I am a member of the River and Prairie Storyweavers, MO-TELL and the National Storytelling Network. They are especially valuable for the mentorship I have had in each organization.
by Allen DeBay
Used with permission. Please contact him for use or reprinting.
It all started on an ordinary day until I woke up. When I woke up, I heard this little tiny voice. I looked all around, but there was nobody there. Then, I saw on the floor a little tiny spider. I listened and this is what she said, “Hello, my name is Miranda. I’m a spider. Please don’t step on me.”
I took pity on the spider, and I took good care of her, until I figured out what I was going to do with her. I was going to use her for fishing, and no I’m not talking about using her for bait. I was going to use her to create massive underwater spider webs to catch fish. However, I had a problem. Spider webs aren’t waterproof enough and they’re not strong enough to catch fish. So, I devised a special diet for Miranda of ground up concrete and water sealer. Within a few weeks her webs were as strong as concrete, as waterproof as water sealer, and still as flexible as spider webs.
I drove my truck down to lake. She tied herself herself to my line, and I cast her out. Half an hour later, she was crawling up my line. I waited another half an hour, and I tried to reel in all the fish. However, my line broke.
The next time I went out, I was much smarter. I had Miranda tie herself to the back of my truck, and I threw her out into the lake. An hour later, she crawled up my line and I waited another hour, and my truck was barely able to pull those 3,000 pounds of fish out of the lake.
That’s when I saw the local wildlife and parks officer walking in my direction. He was not in a good mood. I explained to him that I was using spider webs to catch fish with. I’m not sure if he bought that hook, line, and spider or not, but he let me go.
However, he told me to never use spiders to catch fish ever again, and I never did.I knew I had a good idea though, and I asked Miranda if she could train more spiders. She said “sure.” She trained thousands of spiders. I was going to go into business selling spiders. However, people in my area just weren’t buying it. This was over 25 years ago, and there just wasn’t a good way to sell spiders. I devised a system of hooking computers up together and I called it the Internet, which you all know became known as the World Wide Web.
Business was going great. I was selling thousands and thousands of spiders. One day though, I had another problem. I couldn’t find Miranda anywhere. When Miranda was sleeping, I had accidentally sold her. I got on the phone and called everyone I had sold spiders to. It turned out that I had sold Miranda to the wrong person, which was someone for the equal rights of insects and arachnids. That person just happened to be looking for me. It was a couple weeks later that the police came, and they read me Miranda’s rights and took me away to jail. In court Miranda explained that the new diet didn’t cause any problems, and they let me go.
If you ever see a talking spider, I recommend that you just let the spider lie, or as Miranda would say “what a tangled web we weave, when telling stories that are, oh, so hard to believe.”
by Larry G. Brown, 2019
How do you know when you have told or heard or otherwise experienced a “good” story? There are probably a multitude of answers to this question, but a share a few options. You know the story is worthy of your participation when you find that the story, the teller, and the audience are all positively interacting with each other, namely that the words of the story are clear and compelling, the teller is fully engaged in telling, and the audience is involved as evidenced by their observable responses.
A good story and good telling keep the listener in the story, connected, feeling empathy with and believing the characters, finding the images in their own imagination, and affirming the values of the story. This is to say, the story becomes real for both teller and listener, it rings true to life to the degree that the listener can admit that, yes, life is like that. Therefore the teller has to shape the images and characters in such a way that the average person can identify with the who, what,where, and how of the story. These elements of the story need universality, although be delivered in specificity. The teller needs to ask of the story and the telling: Is it connecting with the listeners? And, is it prompting their engagement? If not, then modify the story and the presentation.
However, I suggest there is another very basic consideration for good telling, and that is the plot, the narrative line, the progress of the story. Good stories immediately invite the listener into the world of the story, and shortly thereafter create ambiguity, issues, problems, difficulties, and/or other complexities that beg for resolution. In one sense, the equilibrium is disturbed and maybe evendiscrepancies are revealed, which keep the listener tuned in to learn how it all turns out. Depending on the time, space, and energy constraints of the audience, a teller can create quite a web, in which to catch the listeners. There is something about human perception that wants questions answered. Of course, too many questions, too much complexity, or too many questions unanswered can leave the audience dissatisfied. Live practice can help the teller figure out what is working best. Somewhere along the plot, subtle clues are given for resolving the questions, such that the audience is supported in their “intelligence” for figuring it out in the end. To much information given too soon undercuts the development of ambiguity, but not enough given will get people lost. So here is where the refining of the plot is so important. The teller has to be making mental notes during the telling, and then literally make notes after the telling, to evaluate the balance of ambiguity and resolution, and make adjustments. A crafty teller seemingly lets the story and the audience arrive at conclusions just a few seconds before the teller; as they say, “timing is everything.” When to share information is as important as what. The post-telling evaluation involves going back over the content and sequence of the plot and characters to determine what genuinely supports the plot.
A teller should ask, “Did I need to share that information? Is that information best left to the imagination of the audience? What information is essential? What information should be supplied near the end of the story, rather than the beginning? Did the volume, tempo, pauses, physical presentation support the plot? Understand that there are no right and wrong answers, no absolute rules, but a teller can use audience response to guide in the refining process. Ask: What worked? What needs to be shifted or tweeked, what needs to be cut or added, etc.?
I tend to be a “lean” teller, and want to prompt the audience to visualize the scenes for themselves, however you may be more skilled at sharing descriptions that connect with the audience. For example, when I am telling Jack Tales, I do not describe Jack’s height, weight, complexion, hair color, or shoe size, unless such information is absolutely essential for making the plot work. I do enjoy having people tell me what Jack looked like in their imagination. I do focus considerable attention on the movement of the plot, and find that reflection very soon after each telling is very valuable. Fairly frequently I make changes during the telling, as inspiration may come at that time, and then after I have told the story, I will assess the value of those changes for future telling.
Sometimes a key word or phrase, well placed, or dropped may enhance the audience’s ability to stay with the plot. There are times when a strategic pause needs to be added, to give the audience time to process what just happened; and watch the audience for clues, they are ready to move on. There are times when the audience may give the teller clues that they are lost or confused, or “did not get it”
and the teller may need to insert a word or phrase, or repeat something to maintain the flow.
In the end, all aspects of the telling of the story have to support the plot, keeping the audience determined to get things resolved, and the world restored to some sense of integration.
Unless, of course, you are planning a sequel. . .