The ultimate guide to questions you shouldn’t ask storytellers
September 29, 2007 by Limor
This is a compilation of all the annoying questions I, my peers and students hear constantly from others. Take a minute and read it so you know how to respect a storyteller the next time you meet one:
Are you funny? (Answer - I might be funny I might not. How does funny relate necessariliy to storytelling? if you think we are stand-up comedians, no we are not.)
Don’t you tell jokes? (Answer - I tell stories.)
Oh! a storyteller! isn’t it great reading books to kids? (Answer - I tell mainly adults and I don’t read stories from books.)
90 min.?! who will want to listen to you for 90 min.?! (Answer - you’ll be surprised…)
How much?! but you don’t bring anything with you?! (Answer - I bring the ability to spellbind a group of people for 90 min….)
Isn’t storytelling passe? (Answer - how passe can be something so many industries are chasing? - gaming, marketing, organization consulting, coaching, HR, PR, advertising, virtual worlds, futurism, brain science, education, psychology, politics….there is more on the list if you have the time..)
Oh! aren’t you supposed to be a nice little old lady? (Answer - sorry about shattering you vision…)
Aren’t storytellers all liers? (Answer - no more than anyone else mind you..)
Do you really think I believe these nonsense? (Answer - storytelling is way beyond making you believe the text. It’s more about making you believe.)
Where do you see the truth in this? (Answer - well, let’s put it this way - go and read the old and new testament, the mythologies of all the cultures you know, and then come back and ask me again.)
What is the moral of this story? (Answer - think. What ever you come up with by your self I will respect but you don’t have to have a moral.)
Storytellers of the world - you are invited to add any other questions you have met..
