Describe a meaningful learning experience that started with a story that you heard. What made it impactful for you? What senses did it appeal to? Did you recognize any of the storytelling techniques reviewed this week?

My grandmother used to tell us the story of how she changed her entire career in order to feel whole and happy. I will call her Nana as that is what we referred to her as. Nana loved to watch all her grandchildren grow up and pursue their dreams and anytime she noticed one of us struggling with our future plans she would tell us this story. As a young girl she absolutely loved design and art. She was creative and it excited her however her parents were convinced of her having a traditional career so she began working in a bank, and then a law office. After she had children and grandchildren she decided that a 9-5 office job was no longer fulfilling and focused on her creative side. She went to school, opened her own business and was a successful interior designer. 

This story was always impactful for me no matter how many times I heard it. Everytime I felt like I did not know what I wanted to do in life it was impactful and when she passed last year and I went through a year of deciding my career plan was no longer what I wanted to do I didn’t panic. Even without her here I still went back to that story and felt calm. 

Storytelling techniques I noticed were making it personal and ending with a positive takeaway. Instead of Nana creating a story that may not be true she used her own life in a way to inspire the people around her and the story ended positively giving myself and others hope of having the same outcome.

What storytelling techniques have you used instinctively and which ones require more work for you? Which techniques will you focus on moving forward?

After watching the incredible TED talk videos I noticed which techniques come to me very easily and which not so much.

Storytelling techniques I have used instinctively: End with a positive takeaway. I found that the easiest technique that comes to me quickly is ending the story with a positive takeaway. This could be a story of something that happened to me and I relay to a friend, even if it may not be the most positive story I will still find a way to change the negative into a positive. This also includes that I find it easy to use the technique of telling a personal story. I like to take examples from my own life and when telling stories. This may involve changing small details like names or dates but it will always be based off of something I have experienced.

Storytelling Techniques which require more work: Creating suspense and immersing the audience in my story are two techniques I struggle with the most. I don’t think I have found a way to create suspense without taking away from the rest of the story. This also involves immersing the audience in my story. Sometimes I focus too much on creating suspense and then I get caught up on not adding enough detail and I find my audience getting distracted or losing track of what is going on. This is not always but when it does happen I feel like my work is not done to my best ability and it normally involves just being too much in my head. I will focus on these two techniques the most moving forward.

My Experience Using Twine

Below is a screenshot of my Twine story I created. The story follows a small fish known as Jasper who has many options to make in order to save himself from the Shark. My experience with Twine was very positive, although I found it confusing at first. Once I got the hang of it I felt like I could add onto the story for much too long. I used descriptive words to add to the story and keep the reader engaged and immerse them with what they were reading.