Personal Storytelling: Part One: How to Choose the Right Story to Tell by Now You’re Talking! & Mid-Continent Public Library

Personal storytelling empowers storytellers to embrace an “aha” moment in their lives that changes them somehow in a way that is universally felt and understood by their audience.

After a short story improv, learn about the five “beats” of narrative storytelling, and the different ways to start and end a story in a satisfying way. Then, focus on the brevity of language and throwing out “performative” and literary reciting in favor of authentic reliving of the experience. Leave with some article links on personal storycrafting do’s and don’ts, along with a few personal narrative stories to watch to see how different storytellers create compelling true stories using similar techniques.

Program registration will close 30 minutes prior to the start of the program. Participants will be emailed a Zoom access code 30 minutes before the start of the program, so please include your email in the registration.

Please note: You must sign into the room prior to the start of the program. Admittance to the classroom will close five minutes after the program’s start time. Space is limited.

The workshop is taught by Tracey Segarra, an award-winning storyteller whose stories have been broadcast on The Moth Radio Hour, as well as the Story Collider and Risk! podcasts. Tracey also hosts a popular live storytelling show on Long Island, “Now You’re Talking!”