In the latest Story Works Group newsletter Glenda Bonin explains how she responds to the question, “what do you do?”

Looks of interest, amusement or skepticism are three responses I often get when I tell people I am a professional storyteller. Since my work does not seem to fall into a familiar job category, I am usually asked to explain what I do as a storyteller, what sort of stories I tell, who hires me and if it is actually possible to make a living telling stories.

Although I have been somewhat involved with performance of one kind or another for most of my life, I didn’t think of storytelling as a possible profession until 1996 after I had been downsized from a position in marketing for a non-profit organization. It was then when I took personal inventory, revisited old skills and discovered the joy that only comes from doing what I love to do. Whether I tell to audiences of children, tweens, teens, adults or seniors, if I do my job right I am able to make a connection through the art of story that might otherwise be impossible.

Every storyteller brings something unique to their work, making it possible to enrich the experience in a special way. Some people sing beautifully or play a musical instrument; others are poets, visual artists or dancers. Years ago I used puppetry and magic when I learned how to be a clown, so it is easy for me to call on these skills when I tell stories.

When I work in schools, I make certain my workshops and classroom exercises address specific educational learning standards and complement state common core standards. It is essential for storytellers working in schools to be well informed about what is expected, and be ready to provide connections in performances and workshops to as many educational goals as possible.

The popular thirty-second elevator speech that job seekers are told to perfect seldom covers all the questions I get about my work. This might be because many people inaccurately equate storytelling with pre-school story time where a book is read to a group of tiny tots. The fact is that storytelling is an age-old person-to-person form of communication allowing a storyteller to share stories with people of all ages and from every walk of life.  Stories are told by different storytellers in almost every setting imaginable, and some storytellers specialize in order to meet the story interests of a specific niche: business/corporate, healing/therapeutic, educational, religious, cultural, historic, nature, environment/ecology. This is why it is so difficult to make one single statement to answer the question, “what does a storyteller do?”

You can contact Glenda at Glenda@storyartsgroup.com.

Carolyn Kurr is an author, piano teacher, storyteller, artist, web designer and an intuitive listener. Here’s what she has to say about storytelling:

How do you use stories in your work?

Stories are the narrative of human existence. When we read a book, watch a movie, attend the theatre, talk to our friends – we are immersing ourselves in a story. Stories are how we share the experience of living.

I use stories to access emotions. When you connect with the emotions of an experience, you open the subconscious. And as soon as you open the subconscious, you can remove emotional blocks, let go of unnecessary baggage, tap into the authentic YOU and effectively use the Inner Wisdom that resides in all of us.

Do you use folk tales, fairy tales, or true stories or any combination and why?

I use all of them and in any combination that works. Our own true stories help us understand our experience. When we can understand the experience with our rational minds, we can then reinforce the positive emotional effect, let go of the negative emotions and then move forward with awareness.

Fairy tales and folk tales contain the wisdom of the ages. The act of listening puts us in a different place. And in this different place, we can more easily identify with the characters’ plight. We can understand the resolution of their conflicts and we can also put ourselves in their shoes. This experience offers insight into our own dilemmas.

What are some of the ways stories can be used to heal?

Stories can show the way to create safety, value your gifts, resolve conflicts, understand hidden agendas, and leave all the baggage that weighs you down by the roadside.

Sometimes what we say we want and what we really want are two different things. Tiger loses the coconut soup he has worked so hard to make in “Anansi & de Coconut Soup” because he lacks this awareness.  Discussing the story and playing with different decisions the characters could have made offers a new perspective, which then brings realization about your own situations.

I use stories to illuminate pathways for my clients to move forward in their lives.

You can see more at Carolyn’s website, www.listenwithcarolyn.com.

Anyone can do it. All you have to do is have a personal story that will fit the theme (see list of themes at the bottom of this post), send a brief synopsis to the curator, and be somewhat articulate. The Odyssey Storytelling staff will help with coaching and support. You don’t have to be an expert public speaker; as a matter of fact, the experts often want to learn this different way of telling because they are not used to talking about themselves and their lives.

For the last six and a half years, each month six people have been getting on stage at Odyssey Storytelling and telling ten-minute stories from their lives. I started the event at the (sadly) defunct Wilde Playhouse and moved to the Hotel Congress about five years ago.  Now almost every first Thursday of the month, you can see your friends and neighbors (and people you’d like to meet), on stage in the Club Congress. You can check out the hundreds of storytellers that have told at our website.

Adam Hostetter joined as assistant producer and co-host a few years ago. A couple of times a year we have a guest curator who’s job it is to invite the storytellers and be the host that month.  You can see volunteer and sometimes guest curator Sarah K. Smith tell a story at the “Exposed: Naked in Public” show here.

Odyssey’s tag line is To Create Community, One Story at a Time, and each month we invite audience members to announce community events, pass out flyers and make their creative ventures known.  Networking, entertaining and (sometimes) enlightening is the goal.

Email penelope@odysseystorytelling.com if you have a story to tell:

Odyssey Storytelling 2010-2011 Themes

September 2, Crazy for You: An Evening about Insanity

October 7, Bad Behavior: The Crime Show

November 4, Masks: the Hidden Identity Show

December 2, Belly Laughs: Humor for the Holiday

January 6: The Devil Made Me Do It

February 3: The Hidden Gem Show: Tucson Tales

March 3: Chutzpah! The Audacity Show

April 7: Shoulda Been Dead: Stories From the Edge

May 5: Its All Relative: Family Stories

June 2: Summer Camp

July 7: Two Sides to Every Story: Tandem Telling

August 4: Guess What? Stories of the Unexpected

September 1: The Things We Do For Love

November 3: Falling: Stories of Plunging In

December 1: Superpowers: The Extraordinary Show

Odyssey Storytelling in a program of StoryArts Group, Inc, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization.