Mark Goldman Named New Ad Rep for NSN Magazine
I am very excited to announce that I have been chosen as the new Advertising Representative for Storytelling Magazine, the magazine of the National Storytelling Network (NSN). Mij Byram has done a fantastic job over the past few years, but now wants to move on and hand over the reins. This will be a great opportunity for me to network with more of the storytelling community across the country, while assisting in generating ad revenue for NSN.
The magazine is published five times each year and goes out to 2000 subscribers! What, you don't get the magazine? All you have to do is join NSN. It's easy, fairly inexpensive, as far as memberships go, and if you belong to East Valley Tellers of Tales or The Westside Story Tellers (or any other affiliate of NSN), you get an additional discount on membership!
So if you want to reach the storytelling community across the nation, advertising in Storytelling Magazine could be the answer. Here's an idea: take out a larger add as a co-op ad, and split the cost between yourself and several other storytellers. I've got the inside track, and will be transitioning into the position over the next several weeks. So contact me and let's talk!
UPDATE - The Lit Lounge
Last week I told you about a new monthly event at The Lounge at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA) called Lit Lounge. I met with Lounge Director Tania Katan and got some more info on the venue. There will be writers and performers from Arizona and across the nation, sharing funny and compelling TRUE stories, fused together with live music. The focus will be on the content of the stories, so presenters may be using notes or scripts.
Lit Lounge will take place on the fourth Friday of each month, and Tania has the first few months already booked with some great presenters. The opening night, Friday, June 22, will feature among others, New York Times best-selling author Beth Lisick, daughter of our own Penelope Starr, coordinator of Tucson's Odyssey Storytelling.
Tania also informs me that there will be a Teen Lit Longe beginning on July 27th. So come on down and see what it's all about. It promises to be an exciting time!
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Talk Story Camp in Hawaii - July 20-22
Jeff Gere, in Hawaii, has put together a very interesting weekend. If you love stories and love to camp out, this could be for you. Here's the lineup of tellers:
Lyn Ford - One of America’s best-loved African-American folktale & ghost tale innovators
Gene Tagaban - Northwest Native American Raven tales
Linda Yemoto - Naturalist/nature tale specialist, co-producer of Bay Area Storytelling Festival
Millicent Cummings - local troubadour/ musical storyteller
Jeff Gere - one of Hawaii's most prolific and popular storytellers.
There are workshops, get-togethers, surfing and just hanging out for three days. The price is ONLY $50 per adult, and that includes food! Roundtrip airfares are running about $950 and up. It's a little on the high side, but what a great weekend Hawaiian getaway!
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This Saturday, June 9th ~ 10am - Noon EVTOT - East Valley Tellers of Tales East Valley Tellers of Tales is a Phoenix area guild of Storytellers and Storylisteners. We gather together to celebrate storytelling successes! We are an affiliate of the National Storytelling Network. Come and find out what this means, and how it benefits you. And join us for some great storytelling! Click here for details & info
Arizona Republic Live Storytelling Thursday - June 21 Blue Hound Kitchen and Cocktails, Hotel Palomar at CityScape
2 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix
Theme: Who we want to be - Stories of living up to the people we think we want to be, and stories of letting go of the people we used to be.
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Build a Back Story with Significant Objects
In psychology, one technique for eliciting information about a client is to ask if there is any type of object that they own that may hold some significance for them. “Where do you keep it? What does it look like? It’s important because…?”
This technique can be quite useful for building a “back story” and grounding your characters.
Let’s take Little Red Riding Hood, for example. Her object might be the necklace that belonged to her grandmother, and was handed down to her mother, and then her.
“The silver chain is thin and sparkles. The clasp is very delicate, great care must be taken so it doesn’t break. The pendant is blue sapphire. It is the birthstone of September, the month that we all were born in, and the color of all of our eyes. It symbolizes our connectedness.”
The grandmother’s object could be the china coffee cup given to her by her husband in their first year of marriage. It was not expensive, but had a drawing of a bird on it, and he knew she loved birds. It symbolizes his love for her.
Now, consider the wolf. Perhaps his object is the small stick that his mother used to toss to him as a youngster, and train him to be quick and alert, and he has kept it all these years. Or maybe it's the piece of petrified wood that his father gave him when he was little, and taught him how to sharpen his fangs on. How might the story change if his significant object were instead, the shaft of an arrow that had killed his father, and that he had pulled from the body as his father lay dying in front of him?
Take each of the characters in your story and explore what their “significant object” might be. This will help you solidify their persona and aid in understanding their motivations. The audience will never know about these things. But the audience will know that you speak with great clarity about all your characters, and who they are!
Sarah Kay at TED
Many of you know that I have been making the rounds of the Open Mics in the Phoenix area. Most of the performers are poets, or what is more commonly called spoken word artists. I have a great deal of respect for many of them, like Jason Lalli and Robert "Flipside" Daniels. Take a look at this video of 26 year-old Sarah Kay, an incredible artist and performer.
- National Storytelling Network? You should be.
