Come to the Workshop

regi — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:08:24 +0000

Stories from your life- because only you can tell your story

Please join me and my colleague, poet and friend Katharyn Machan Howd, on March 21, 2009 from 1-4 p.m. at the Community School of Music and Arts, 330 E. State St., next to Mayer’s Bookstore for a wonderful workshop that focuses on turning memories, moments, and dreams into stories and poems. The fee is only $15.00. If interested, please let me know through my email, soaringstories@gmail.com

Using simple chants for transitions between stories

regi — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:33:15 +0000

Yesterday, I was performing at the Johnson Museum on Cornell University to celebrate their Art-full Saturdays and a new Aboriginal art exhibit. I had gone through the museum earlier in the month in order to find artifacts and match stories from around the world with them. I tried something I had used previously and forgotten; chants in between stories to mark the end of one and beginning of the next. This time I used “A story, a story, let it come, let it go!” The audience chanted it with me. Each chant created a story wrapped like in a lovely wrapper. The audience knew when to respond to the end and welcome a new tale. If you haven’t tried this before, it’s a fun and effective way to end and begin a story.

Trying to Tell/Learning to Listen

regi — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:30:44 +0000

We all have stories waiting inside of us that want and need to be told and heard. Many people dream of telling a story that connects them to another, commemorates their life or a loved one’s life, brings a smile or a lesson to share. Is that You? This blog category is for people who want to tell their stories. I am going to help you craft a story.

First, let’s start with something simple.

In the middle of a blank sheet of paper, write down the name of an important person, character or animal in your life. Someone who made a positive or negative impact upon you, a teacher/mentor, a parent, a pet, or a friend. This story works best if you have a familiarity with them.

Circle it. Now draw tentacles in every direction from the main circle. At the end of each tentacle, write something you remember about this person. It doesn’t have to be positive or “happy.”

Take your time. Listen to your memory.

It may take several days or weeks for you to clue in to this being. As you keep it in the back of your mind, things will come to the forefront like small bubbles bursting. These are the sections of your story.

Don’t worry or judge yourself. Write down everything you remember.

Immerse yourself in each memory. Expand upon it. Focus on the physical details. What did they look like? What did they wear? What did they sound like? Let the memories spin out like a wed from a spider.

Take your time. Listen to your memory. Memories grow stronger when they are noticed. Notice your memory.

Now, choose a memory at the end of one of the tentacles. Start with the one that strikes you as their overall quality. Write the name of your person and a quality they had. For example, “Mrs. Carter was creative! “

Follow that quality now with a supportive memory. For example, “She never colored within the lines. When she put on her fire engine red lipstick, she colored around her mouth. It always looked like she had eaten a piece of fresh cherry pie.”

Continue to describe your main character in this way. Use a new adjective each time supported by a short and vivid memory. Continue building your story this way. Move through the character description first physically, then emotionally.

For example, “Mrs. Carter was kind. She read a sad book to us one day. When I cried with my head down on the desk, she walked to the back of the room and rubbed my back saying, ‘I know dear. I know.’ “

End with the first adjective again and a summary of how you felt. For example, “Mrs. Carter was my third grade teacher. I loved her. She was great.”

Take your time. Listen to your memory.

Send me your story at soaringstories@gmail.com.

(all excerpts of Mrs. Carter was Great c. of Regi Carpenter)

Soaring Stories » Crafting a Tale

Come to the Workshop

Using simple chants for transitions between stories

Trying to Tell/Learning to Listen