The Art of Storytelling: From Parents to Professionals

by Hannah B. Harvey

An absolute treat for the heart and mind, these 24 lectures demonstrate how to master the art of storytelling, offering insight into the process of crafting and delivering a tale to enhancing the stories you tell everyday - to your children at bedtime, in your conversational anecdotes, and in your presentations at work. Teachers, lawyers, clergy, coaches, parents, and anyone who wants to understand the power of stories to capture hearts and minds will benefit from these lessons.

You'll discover practical methods for building dynamic tension and capturing - then maintaining - your audience's attention. You'll acquire tips and techniques for finding, selecting, and preparing stories, whether they're based on your own experiences, time-honored folk tales, or beloved family yarns. You'll also learn to choose expressive language, craft compelling characters, refine your narrator's point of view, shape your story's plot, structure, and emotional arc, use body language to connect with your audience, and more.

Part how-to workshop, part intellectual study of the history of narrative, these lectures feature exercises that literally get you moving to develop your stories and make them more enjoyable. Professor Harvey's interactive activities and "side coaching" sessions are designed to make you comfortable enough with your story to tell it naturally and make impromptu changes as needed. You'll even learn what to do if the unexpected occurs while telling a story to a roomful of kids or giving a presentation, and about the practical considerations of using props, PowerPoint, and microphones in various scenarios.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Writing, Personal Development, Communication, Business, Education

13 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Amirography · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had merits. But I was not drowned in as much as I liked to be.
The course was mostly about the performance art of storytelling. Noth other more general uses.

Anyhow, It may be useful for some people.

[Armando · Rating 1 out of 5]

The concepts are good, but the stories and the voice of the author (it is an audiobook) just made it unbearable for me. After going through several hours, I decided that if I did not like the way she told stories, and she was teaching me how to tell stories like her, it was not going to work. I thought: "if she snickers one more time..." and decided enough was enough.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a whim (and a sale) I purchased this lecture series in audio format...video was available and probably would have been the better choice. Hannah Harvey lectures with amazing energy...her passion for story telling jumps-up and smacks you in the face...I would have liked to see that.
The lectures give guidelines and hints for putting together your own stories, thus the lectures should be studied much more often to really learn how to be comfortable telling stories in front of a real audience. With my one-time-through I found myself enjoying the stories (examples) more and retaining the lesson less. Even though Ms Harvey can come off as a little 'hokey', I found myself looking forward to hearing more of her stories.
I gave these lectures a '3' not because I didn't like them (which I did), but because I am really comparing them to the other lectures I have experienced (mostly history). I'll probably revisit these lectures in the future and try a little harder to be more participatory and learn more of the basics...I may even muster-up the courage to tell an actual story to another living entity...maybe even a person, or two.

[Andrea Schemehorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it a ways, but ultimately didn't finish. Nothing in the description indicated that the course is predominately oral storytelling.
I tried to take what I could from it, and picked up a couple of general tips. Really, ultimately, the reason I couldn't finish was the professor for the course, which presents/narrates her stories in a very particular way, very similar to speech and drama tournaments I attended in high school. Overly performative, I suppose? Too many pauses and every other sentence punctuated with a breathy chuckle. Too strange. Couldn't do it.

[Pinar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art of storytelling is different from culture to culture. In this audio book, narrator's storytelling style and accent was quite irritating to me. I guess Americans like exaggerated style of storytelling like in a radio theater. I would prefer more dense and meaningful content and less repetition. Narrator used at the end nice "emotional arc" method, and finished the lecture with empathy and love, that part I could give 4 star but sadly I have to stick to my negative feelings about the beginning part. Anyhow this book is useful for start telling your stories.

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Hikaye anlatıcılığı kültürden kültüre değişiklik gösteriyor. Burada anlatıcının hikaye anlatma tarzı, kullandığı aksanlar beni büyük ölçüde zorladı. Amerikalılar böyle radyo tiyatrosu şeklinde abartılı anlatımlardan keyif alıyor sanırım. Ben bu eserde hikaye böyle hikaye dinlemek yerine içeriğin daha dolu olmasını, veya gereksiz uzatmaların olmaması isterdim. Sonunda "duygusal kanca" dediği tekniği kullanarak eserin bir empati ve sevgiyle bitmesini sağladığı için 4 yıldız bile verebilirdim, ama baştaki düşüncelerime sadık kalacağım.

Eserin kısa özetini için mesela Sunay Akın'ın şu videosunu inceleyin. Sesini, vücudunu nasıl kullandığına, fondaki resimlere, seyircilerle nasıl göz teması kurduğuna, hikayenin can alıcı noktasını veya noktalarını nasıl vurguladığına, ve hikayeyi nasıl bitirdiğine dikkat edin. 10 dakikada konuyu anlarsınız. Hikaye anlatıcılığı ile daha profesyonel olarak ilgileniyorsanız bu eseri tavsiye ederim.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this series of lectures. I listened to it hoping to pick up some helpful hints/techniques on "how to tell a good story", but I felt the points made were already intuitive and just a matter of plain common sense. Nothing new. The lecturer was touted as expert in storytelling, but I found the stories she told to be rather flat and uninspiring. Perhaps her style and method appeals to others (it works for them), but it didn't work for me. I had to force myself through this reading. One humorous example the lecturer gave was a short quip by another storyteller/comedian on "cow tipping". It was hilarious.

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great. Practical.

[Samcwright · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love good storytelling and want to learn more about it. I think it can help in so many area of life. This was fine. I probably wouldn’t recommend it and will keep looking for other books.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This course is about storytelling and not much about stories. The author covers everything from telling a children's story to a family story to work stories. Interesting and useful even if you have no intention to perform. Everyone tells stories. The author offers ways to improve the skills and preparation needed for effective storytelling.

[Rose Boyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for learning about story telling, theater perspectives, and use of voice inflection.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mix of expectations, narrator voice, and up-and-down quality of the content itself led to my rating for this one. I mean, I liked it overall, but I won’t be going back to it despite there being some useful things to extract from it.

First off, I was expecting this to relate to writing and/or the universality of storytelling and storytelling techniques. And parts of it are about these subjects. However, most of it discussed oral storytelling and its techniques, including posture, breathing exercises, yoga stretches, character creation, interacting with a live audience, and the types of mics one might want to use when telling a public story. There’s more to it than just these topics, but because I don’t intend on being a public performance storyteller, it didn’t really relate to me and my interests as much as I would have liked.

Second of all, the narrator is a pretty good storyteller as far as I could tell, but I got tired of her style and examples over time. She’s got a style, and it usually involves her repeating a noun by saying “that” before it. (Then the woman, that smiling woman...I saw that car and that girl and those people...) She also has a habit of snickering from time to time that’s charming at first, but becomes tiring by the middle of the series. I also haaaated the way she told chunks of little red riding hood, especially the loud growling and high pitched wolf-as-grandma voice. Both made me shudder in irritation as I was walking to work one day.

But there’s some good stuff here that CAN be applied to writing. I liked the lectures on point of view, on empathizing with your characters, and on the triangular relationship between the storyteller, the story, and the audience. The talk of stories being born out of specific contexts and experiences was also practical. And there are some really engaging stories told throughout, specifically the one about the king’s man and about the narrator’s aunt May.

In the end, if you want to learn more about oral storytelling and the performance of story, give this a go. Just know that there will probably be lectures that aren’t as pertinent to you, and you may feel like jumping ahead in some sections.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leaders need to tell great stories, and in I look for ways to help myself and leaders in my company. I abandon very few books. However, after a few hours, I found I was forcing myself to listen, and didn't really find good tips. This was good if you want to become a professional story-teller. She also has a snicker that may be endearing in her stories, but as part of the lecture it started to annoy me. I ended up returning this audiobook to Audible.

[Raimundas Banevičius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too long. Book cauld be 5 times smoller for what it has to teach.
I found myself bored to death too many times.

[Robert Roush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slowly working my way through this, listening now and then during lengthy travel opportunities. Engaging instruction and fun to listen to.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good, but I might have liked it better had I listened to it regularly instead of bits and pieces over an extended time.

[Behrooz Parhami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook in the “Great Courses” series should be required listening for everyone. We all tell stories in our daily lives, not just to our children but also to our friends, underlings, superiors, and virtually everyone else. Research has shown that humans arrange facts and remember them by weaving little stories. In other words, our brain is hardwired to build and understand stories. It relishes good stories and experiences pain when faced with bad or poorly-told stories.

And, in teaching too, research suggests that stories play a key role in effective information transfer and understanding. You can talk for hours about the importance of following engineering and ethics rules in system design, but for students to internalize the concepts, you have to tell actual human stories of how skirting such guidelines can lead to loss and even tragedy.

Important skills you will learn from this course include choosing expressive language; crafting compelling characters; refining your narrator’s point of view; shaping your story’s plot, structure, and emotional arc; developing imagery, vocal cues, and intonation; and using body language to connect with your audience. Most people, whether they are stand-up comics or teachers, reuse stories, refining them prior to each new use, until they become finely-tuned and effective.

Sometimes, though, people overuse stories. It is a pet peeve of mine to see news reports that begin with a fascinating story, which potentially obfuscates the main point of the report. The story may pull in some readers with dramatic statements and teasers, but I think it could also lead to loss of focus and reader interest.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Important note: These lectures focus almost exclusively on oral storytelling and stage/screen performance. If you're looking for content on *writing* stories, best to keep looking.

I made it through the whole thing, but the lecturer has a consistent snicker/snort, and it's more than mildly obnoxious. I also had a hard time with her random and sudden slips into a thick, exaggerated southern drawl. Multiple lectures relied heavily on visual cues, but since this was in an audio-only format, these particular lectures were largely useless. Things like "Pay close attention to my posture when I do this..." or "What do you notice about my facial expression if I do this..." - I would imagine that these points come across much better in the video lectures.

Note: After checking the accompanying PDF file (included with Audible) - I can confirm that it was no help with the visuals referenced in the lectures noted above. I still found the PDF more helpful than the lectures overall. I attempted to visit some of the reference links, but even found that there were errors there:
- The National Storytelling Network, www.storyweb.org
- The correct URL for the National Storytelling Network is: https://storynet.org/

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This won't be getting a full review - just a few thoughts.

I grabbed this free as part of my Audible Plus membership, it sounded interesting. I'm always open for trying to learn all I can about storytelling and the craft of writing.

HOWEVER

This audio book/lecture series is all about crafting ORAL stories and becoming a better performance storyteller. Not a bad thing, especially considering to have been podcasting for years and am always looking for ways to improve there as well. Just wasn't what I was expecting.

At the end of the day there were some solid tips for oral storytelling, a few nuggets that can transfer to writing stories if you wanted to, but overall it was kind of just average and honestly I felt that more often than not it was less about teaching storytelling techniques as it was saying "Here's a tip, now listen to my stories." Then at the end of the lesson saying the equivalent of "You see what I did there?", with very little deeper explanation or breakdown of the concepts being taught.

Decent listen, gained a few tips, but it's NOT a book geared toward writing - this is ALL about performance/oral storytelling... if that's your thing you'll likely find a lot to dig into here.

[Suzanne Thackston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I think this ended up being pretty helpful. Like many others, apparently, I didn't realize at first that it's a lecture about oral storytelling, not written, which was initially kinda disappointing, but I thought, "Why not?" and ploughed on.

I'm a pretty fair storyteller, and do some of this intuitively. But Hannah for sure gave me some insights, some ahas, and some good ideas to make my natural talent even better.

I didn't really love it, though, and it was a push to get through it. I'm betting dimes to doughnuts that WATCHING Miss Hannah do her thing is pretty wonderful. It doesn't work quite so well in audio-only form, although that's not her fault. I like her Southern accent and her folksy style, but I didn't love all the 'example' stories because they sounded really put-on and overdone for my taste. I like her plain old lecturing style better than her storytelling. But some of the other storytellers' recordings were terrific.

I also suspect that the grunty gigglesnort that keeps showing up, often in the most inappropriate places, is charming when Hannah is in front of you, but it made me a little crazy.

But most of what didn't blow my skirts up is just personal preference. It's a good series of lectures and I've taken some good info from it.

[Brent Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

As per the other reviews: this book is a bit more about the performance art of storytelling, which isn't what I was interested in. The audiobook version isn't great because you miss the visual aspects that she describes a lot. Her voice is quite annoying too, and can be grating if you're using poor speakers (like in the car). It was quite distracting how she kept talking about everyone being smart, especially mountain people. It didn't have anything to do with storytelling or connecting with an audience but it did reveal the chip on her shoulder.

A lovely lady and I'm sure her performances are good IRL but it doesn't transfer well to this format. I only got 70% of the way before giving up - too many words for not enough quality content on the aspects of storytelling I was trying to learn about.

[Randolph King · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lecture covers all aspects of storytelling, such as forming the story, connecting with the audience, the relationship between narrator-audience-storyteller, using the voice, using gestures, preparation, props, character development, and on and on. It seems almost too much, as few topics are covered in much depth, but it is a great introduction to all the material.

The material has a lot of examples. At times, Hannah references gestures or posture - or something in the video. She does acknowledge that this is the CD version and provides some additional information, there are not too many of these instances.

She is a good storyteller, the voice is clear and easily understood, the audio quality is good. There is a lot of information covering many aspects of storytelling and presentation.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this audiobook lecture series through Audible, not realizing this was about oral storytelling and not meant for writing stories or novels. However, the professor who narrated this lecture was so well spoken and animated and intriguing, and also went in depth into the original archaic sense of storytelling. Which does translate to a written story as well, and I learned a lot in that aspect about the very nature of storytelling as a whole. But I thoroughly enjoyed learning the craft of oral storytelling and the difference between telling a story and writing a story. I also learned quite a bit about public speaking, which I'm terrible at, so I'm very glad I bought and listened to the whole lecture series. Very well done and extremely well organized.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this lecture series. I was surprised how much I enjoyed most of the stories the author told - most are not things I would have expected to find so engaging. There were just a few things I found less interesting/entertaining, but for the most part it was really well done. I wish I could have watched this live to get the full impact of the body language component.

There was one video clip that didn't translate well to audio only. It was a story teller with a lot of wild tribal drumming in the background. It was painful to listen to and out of context with just the audio.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

For starters, it is evident in places this is designed as a video series and not as an audio one. There are times the listener is instructed to watch how someone uses a prop or how to use body movements, and it’s all lost in this format.

The content was almost entirely about highly dramatic stage performance storytelling. Something that I and the average individual will probably never attempt, and even if I did all the hyperactive elements of the style she is teaching would never fit me.

[Paul Triller · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you speak in front of people....ever....this course can make you a better teacher, preacher, public speaker, den mother, bartender, flight attendant, doctor. Hannah's wisdom and teaching will help you better communicate with people, whether you be in a board room giving a presentation or reading a spooky bedtime story to a bunch of 7 year olds at a sleepover. There some wisdom in here even mimes can use.

Enjoy.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ooh another find in the audible Plus library.

This a lecture series on how to tell stories, as in an aural method. Not writing them down, although she does that for copyright back up and just to jog her memory. Its useful to think about giving a speech, chairing a meeting, relating anecdotes at a family party - they are all story telling.

And in the process she plays audio of a lot of different short tales.

3 stars

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this through audible, which now that I’m done can say is not the best option of format. I feel this should have been either a video or well even better in person classes. However the passion for storytelling shows through, the examples and tips are great. I enjoyed it even if just listening, but I wish I could have been watching her facial expressions and gestures too.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah is a champion of story telling, her way of articulation, body language, even the dress to wear for the speech, she is so immense in teaching "The Art of Storytelling". The way she explained about story initiation, indication, climax, falling out and conclusion, what a way to explain, still its fresh in my mind. Best one to read!!!

[Elaine Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, but tolerating the narrator/instructor is the most difficult part. There is no way I could listen to a story she told and enjoy it. She speaks entirely too fast, slurring words and losing phrases and sentence endings, her tone grating, and everything is delivered in the same torturous tone . I barely made it through, but as I said it was informative.

[Nicolas Berryman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a blast during the first half of the book, but really slowed down in the later half. I did learn a lot of cool ideas regarding to coming up with archetypes, character development, how to connect plot points in stories and world building, but when Hannah started talking more about public speaking then what the book is about, which is storytelling, that's when she lost me. I really enjoyed how she came up with the coalminer story in regard to how she combined a bunch of coalminers stories into one, which I found an interesting way to tell a true story. Just wished she didn't talk as much about public speaking as much later in the book and more about storytelling.