The Rules of Storytelling

The Rules of Storytelling:

1. Assume your story is the most important story ever.

2. Always tell the truth, but don't be afraid to exaggerate. When in doubt, fluff it out.*

3. The more excited you are about your story, the better it tends to be.

4. Expression, expression, expression. Facial expressions, hand gestures, and body movement always make your story at least 12 times better. Act it out! Storytelling is all about your delivery. 

5. Use props if available, but don't overuse them. The props don't have to necessarily be accurate according to your story. In fact, inaccurate props have the potential of making your story even more humorous. For example, a table can be used in the place of a car. People can also be used as props.

6. Make sure your story is detailed. A story without details is boring. Details spice it up. However, an overly detailed story becomes too long and hard to handle. So keeping kitchen spices in mind remember, No spices: Tasteless. Too many spices: Ridiculous.

7. Never let anyone interrupt you in the middle of your story, not even if you are tag teaming it. It causes you to lose momentum. If you find someone trying to interrupt your story, increase your volume and talk over them.

8. Don't allow questions until the end. Again, it makes you lose momentum.

9. Side-stories and random facts are highly encouraged. However, the side-story must make sense within your story and the random facts must be relevant. 

10. No matter how poor the response is once you complete your story, never, never EVER end a story with "And then I found 5 bucks." You are just confirming the story's failure. Own your story with pride, because remember, it IS the best story ever.

*Clause: The only time you are allowed to flat out lie is when you are telling "scar"ry stories. If the story of how you happened to get a scar is pretty lame, you can make it have a heroic spin. For example, I am clumsy, and I often have a tendency to trip over my monster feet. So naturally, my clumsy stories turn into heroic stories about how I saved little kids from getting hit by cars.  

I hope you may find this useful for your next story-telling endeavor. Print it out and study it if you must.