Is This Thing On?

If you have ever listened to the public radio program This American Life, you have likely realized the power of a good story. I have spent many a Sunday morning, kneeling on the floor of my living room in front of a pair of oversized secondhand stereo speakers, laughing out loud or with tears streaming silently down my cheeks, fully engrossed in the tales that were being told to me via radio broadcast.

A story that will hold the interest of and entertain those who are reading (or listening) must contain certain key elements such as a plot, characters, and a conflict. It is also helpful if there is some sort of universal theme or message within the piece. In addition to these aspects, the story must be well worded and explained in a clear and captivating manner. As important as the writing is to a good story, often the yarn takes on a much stronger emotional or comic quality when conveyed orally, especially when spun by a great storyteller.

Storytellers do not always tell their own stories, although, more often than not, the pieces featured on This American Life are written and told by the same person, lending them a personal, “first-hand” quality. Every third or fourth episode of the show contains a story that has been pitched to the staff via email, the rest having been reported by members of the TAL staff. The pay for a good submitted story is $200 per hour invested (though it is unclear how the hours invested are tallied or recorded) and expenses are paid for, as well.
Another way to spread your story writing/telling skills is through live performance. Those who perform their stories in a live setting are sometimes referred to as monologists (comics fit into this category as well). This, of course, takes a certain type of writer; one who is atypical. As Spalding Grey, the famous writer, actor, and monologist said of his profession, “It takes a writer’s consciousness, and an extroverted actor’s sense. Most writers are very private people. It takes a rare combination, and a terrific need to confess.”
There are ways to get involved in the art of live storytelling on a local level, as storytelling groups exist in many different cities around the country. It may be difficult to turn your knack for telling a story into a lucrative career. Most people do it for the enjoyment of the process and performance alone, although, just like anything, if you are talented and self motivated (and in this case, highly charismatic), you can make a life and a living off of your gift for writing and sharing a wonderful story.

Storytelling links:

Submit to This American Life.

Advice on pitching to This American Life.

Submit to Back Fence PDX.

The Moth NYC

Storytelling over the radio: Where to pitch, how much you will get paid for a story.

From an interview with Spalding Gray in the Harvard Gazette:

Q: New York Times critic Mel Gussow called you a writer, reporter, comic, and playwright. I’m going to add actor to that catalogue. Can you arrange those in order of importance to you?

A: Is author in there? Writing and the performing go hand-in-hand. They’re the important ones because I’m creating the piece in front of the audience, I’m making the sentences, they’re not [always] pre-written. There are the keywords and then I speak it, so it’s a form of oral writing. It’s definitely an oral composition, storytelling in the Irish sense of first-person present talking about your own life. I suppose acting is probably at the bottom of the list. Although I do act, when I perform I’m acting myself. [Then] I’d say humorist. Or humanistic humorist reporter.



-Reyna Kohl