Carol Knarr - Storyteller and Drama Specialist

 

Sometimes I use partial stories and anecdotes as lead-ins to other stories. Other times I can use them as a frame for another story I like to tell. For example, taking care of a stray dog has become the frame for a Grimm story Old Sultan. And other times I have to drop it all together, sadly, a story never told.

 

One story that continues to plague me occurred in a dream. I was driving on Gilbert Road, Mesa, AZ, nearing a favorite Asian restaurant. I noticed a homeless woman wearing fuzzy pink slippers in the middle of the road. Naturally, I stopped to help her find her way. She requested a ride to the Korean market. As I took her to the market, there were many Korean women working, all of whom knew my name.

 

That dream is crystal clear. Meaningless, perhaps, yet a story I love to tell casually to friends. It fits nowhere in my repertoire because it is ridiculous and pointless, yet my memory clings to those fuzzy pink slippers and the feeling I had when every woman at the market called me by name. I remember the smells of the market, the shape of the woman’s hair, and the fact I was driving a pick-up truck which is completely out of character for me.

 

If a partial story or anecdote is something you truly want to tell, find a way to weave it into a longer story. Use it as a lead-in or frame for another story. Find a few partial stories with a similar theme to group them together as one story. Or, if all else fails, tell it casually to friends savoring each image as I do those fuzzy pink slippers.

 

Learn more about storytelling at www.carolknarr.com.