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Episodes
- S1 E1 - Telling a Good StoryOctober 31, 202332minWhat qualifies as a story? Learn the significance of storytelling in various cultures; the ways this art is distinct from other forms of performance or literary thought; and how the craft of professional storytelling can help you improve your own storytelling abilities. Listen to tales from the professor’s life and get an introduction to the “storytelling triangle.”Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E2 - The Storytelling TriangleOctober 31, 202331minTelling a story is a three-way dynamic relationship between you, and the story, and the audience. In the first of three lectures that analyze this storytelling triangle, look at The Old Maid and other stories in depth to understand how the process of storytelling works. Then, consider why you’re drawn to certain stories.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E3 - Connecting with Your StoryOctober 31, 202337minWhat kinds of stories appeal to you most? Look at the variety of stories that are available for you to tell and some practical resources for finding them. Assess the intellectual, social, and cultural connections we develop with stories and identify how you can add depth and context to the stories you tell.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E4 - Connecting with Your AudienceOctober 31, 202329minFocus on this second aspect of the storytelling triangle—your relationship with your audience—by looking at the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual contexts of this relationship and how stories work to bring audiences together. End with an exercise that helps you identify stories that connect with a variety of audiences.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E5 - Telling Family StoriesOctober 31, 202331minExamine the hidden meanings of the family-story genre, including why we tell family stories, how stories organically emerge from families, and what remembering these stories entails. With these hidden meanings in mind, consider how you can tell your own family stories in a way that captures your audience’s attention.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E6 - The Powerful Telling of Fairy TalesOctober 31, 202334minWith classic stories, fairy tales, and myths, there’s a lot more than “they all lived happily ever after” going on beneath the surface. Use Little Red Riding Hood and other fairy tales to understand the psychology of storytelling and what fairy tales do for children in particular. Then, see why the themes of these tales can be just as appealing to adults.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E7 - Myth and the Hero’s JourneyOctober 31, 202331minUse ancient myths from East Africa and ancient Sumeria to break down this structure and investigate why the archetypal figures and pattern of separation, initiation, and return found in the hero’s journey resonate so deeply. Pause to consider how you can apply these ideas to craft stories that reach your audience on a meaningful level.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E8 - Tensive Conflict and MeaningOctober 31, 202331minDissect the layered process professional storytellers use when preparing to tell a tale, which involves an interconnected cycle of talking, writing, imaging, playing, and rehearsing. Explore the concept of “tensiveness,” the dynamic quality that reveals a story’s opposing forces; then step back from one of your stories to see the potential relationships between larger parts of a narrative.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E9 - Giving Yourself Permission to TellOctober 31, 202329minEngage in “stretching” exercises to learn to let go of things that may hold you back from telling your story, and give yourself permission to play with the story, make mistakes, and really immerse yourself in the narrative. Listen to the story Mama’s Wings to identify its tensive pulls and unifying themes and images.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E10 - Visualization and MemoryOctober 31, 202331minLearn to visualize a story’s people, places, and events through interactive exercises that get you “seeing” the story in front of you. Explore techniques that help you remember a story without memorization, and methods for immersing yourself in the scene while shifting into “epic mode” to focus on your audience.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E11 - Discovering Point of ViewOctober 31, 202330minThere is no such thing as a purely objective narrator. Consider how the narrator’s perspective and point of view guide the audience through the story, and how even the most familiar stories can be reinvented by narrating from another character’s perspective. See why age, gender, heritage, economics, and temperament shape your vantage point.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E12 - The Artful Manipulation of Time and FocusOctober 31, 202331minExplore how you as a narrator can artfully guide the audience’s experience of the story by looking at techniques for controlling events, manipulating time, and making the past tense feel present. Consider when to take your narrator out of the characters’ conversations to increase the pacing and energy.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E13 - Narrator - Bridging Characters and AudienceOctober 31, 202332minBegin thinking about the narrator’s relationship with characters and how control may be ceded to certain characters at points throughout a story. Learn how using focal points can distinguish between personalities, and establish the physical and emotional relationship you have with those characters through storyteller Motoko Dworkin’s performance of a Japanese folktale.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E14 - Developing Complex CharactersOctober 31, 202332minHow old are your characters? Are they “head-centered,” “stomach-centered,” or something else? Experiment with gestures and body postures that add depth and dimension to your characters. Then, gain insight into how you can develop characters into memorable people your audience really enjoys seeing in action.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E15 - Plot and Story StructuresOctober 31, 202330minDoes your story need to be told in chronological order? Use your storytelling journal to organize the pieces of your story into a structure that conveys the underlying meaning. Learn to separate plot from emotional arc and gain tools that are useful when you’re developing the frame, structure, and resolution of your story.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E16 - Emotional Arc and EmpathyOctober 31, 202331minFrom ghost stories to family stories, empathy is crucial in giving your audience an emotional entry point and permission to feel. As you turn from plot sequencing to development of your story’s emotional arc, learn how to build a compelling beginning and emotional climax through an exercise that explores the motivating desire of your primary character from first- and third-person perspectives.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E17 - Varying the Narrator’s PerspectiveOctober 31, 202332minLearn to build dynamic tension through your characters and achieve satisfying resolutions. Understand ways to personify the negative force your protagonist is struggling with so it becomes a “little character.”Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E18 - Vocal IntonationOctober 31, 202330minFocus on using vocal intonation to evoke the “sensorium” of a story for your audience with a lesson on how the voice operates, featuring warm-up techniques. Perform mouth and tongue stretches and articulation exercises, then learn how pace, pauses, and sound effects can create character distinctions, contribute to the emotional arc, and draw in your audience.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E19 - Preparing to PerformOctober 31, 202332minSynthesize everything you’ve learned so far by integrating the elements of storytelling in writing and performance exercises that help you look at your story from various angles. Create a story outline, tell a “side-coached” version of your tale, do an exaggerated run-through, and write a script. Finally, consider the meanings your story holds.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E20 - Putting Performance Anxiety to Good UseOctober 31, 202330minWhether you consciously deal with performance anxiety as a barrier to communicating with others, or you want to become a more energized and engaging storyteller, this lecture is designed to teach you the physiology behind performance anxiety; the correlation between anxiety that debilitates and energy that enlivens; and practical tools for channeling nervous energy.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E21 - Adapting to Different AudiencesOctober 31, 202332minConsider the physical parameters of informal and formal storytelling scenarios; how stories emerge in these different settings; and what specific audiences—from children to employees—typically need from a story. Learn how to handle yourself as a storyteller in relaxed situations, boardroom settings, and the classroom environment.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E22 - Invitation to the Audience - MindsetOctober 31, 202333minHow do you get and keep your audience’s attention? In this lecture, you’ll learn about on-ramps and off-ramps—how to lead into your story and make it relevant, and how to conclude gracefully. Acquire specific tools for putting your audience in the proper mindset to listen, whether you’re engaged in conversation, giving a presentation, or telling a story to children.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E23 - Keeping Your Audience’s AttentionOctober 31, 202333minOnce you’ve hooked your audience, how do you keep them from straying? Learn general rules to live by as a storyteller and ways to keep your audience engaged, including the use of audience participation, props, and repetition. Learn to adjust to what the audience needs in the moment and to cope with interruptions.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E24 - Remember Your Stories - The Power of OralityOctober 31, 202333minWrap up the course with some final considerations for keeping your audience interested, from the technical aspects of microphones and PowerPoint, to the more nuanced ways that you can read audiences and understand their needs on the spot. Finally, return to the nature of orality itself as a cultural force that shapes us all.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
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