Secrets of good storytelling

What’s the secret to telling a good story? First, the teller must believe in the story, says Michael D. McCarty, who runs the Griot Workshop in Inglewood. Respect the story, he says, and respect the audience by doing your homework, especially if it’s a historical piece.

McCarty told the following story at his workshop this month. Here’s a look at what makes it work.

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McCarty says he uses humor in almost all his stories. In starting the tale, he wants to let the audience know they aren’t going to be “bludgeoned” with a deep, heavy story.

“Now, I’m from Chicago. I had a great childhood, grew up on the west side of Chicago; it was great. I was a spoiled kid. I grew up in a ghetto, but I didn’t know it was a ghetto, because I had two bikes. Things were going great, but one of the greatest challenges of my childhood was when my mom would go visit my Aunt Mary and take me with her.”

Engage the audience quickly. A good way to do that is to establish conflict, storyteller Joel ben Izzy says. Identify a problem, then describe how it was solved. Here, Aunt Mary’s kisses -- and soon, the idea of boredom -- set the story in motion.

“Oh God. Aunt Mary, she was classic. She wasn’t evil or nothing like that, but I swear she used a whole stick of lipstick, one stick on each lip. So when I came in there, ‘GIVE ME SOME SUGAR.’ ”

“Ahhhh, nooooo, God, ohhhh” [mimics trying to avoid her].

And she had that old aunt smell.... And when I went to visit my aunt, I had no-thing-to-do [gives the appearance of being bored]. She didn’t have any kids; there were no kids around. My mom and her would just talk. Mostly my Aunt Mary would talk, and my mom was very polite, and she would just listen, because my mom was like that.... [whimpering]. So I would sit there and try to be polite, and I didn’t have a-ny-thing-to-do.

Ask the audience questions to make them feel a part of the story, and hear their response. Telling a story is as much about listening as it is about talking, Ben Izzy says.

“One day, my mother druuuug me back to Aunt Mary’s. Oh lord, I was dying. Have you seen that commercial that’s out about dying of boredom? That’s the way I felt. But on this particular day, this little kid came to the door, and I looked at him and said, “Can I come out and play with you?” And he said, “Sure.” “

“So we went out and played. His name was Kenny, and Kenny knew all the places where kids were playing in the neighborhood, and it was great. We played at the park, there were swings, and we played ALL DAY LONG. It was great. It was so great that my mama had to come find me when it was time to go, and I didn’t want to go.”

“I said to Kenny, “You have to show me where you live, so when I come again, I can come get you.” So he took me to his place. It was up on the second floor of an apartment building just down from my aunt’s. He didn’t take me inside but he showed me where he lived and then he went in the door. And I went back home with my mother.”

Recall the sensory details. Ask yourself what sounds, sights, smells, tastes and feelings come up, Ben Izzy says. Here, it’s not just lipstick, it’s red lipstick -- and it goes with that “old aunt smell.”

“So the next time my mother said, “We’re going to visit Aunt Mary,” I said, “Yeah, I’m ready to go.” I didn’t even care about that red lipstick. “I’m gonna hang out with Kenny.” “

“So I got there and I ran over to Kenny’s apartment, and I knocked on the door [knocks on his forehead three times]. And a big kid, a teenager, opened the door. I said, “Hi, I’m Michael. I’m looking for Kenny.” He looked at me and said, “I’m Kenny.” “

“I looked at him and said, “No, I mean little Kenny.” And he said, “There’s no little Kenny here.” I said, “Did he move? How long have you lived here?” He said he lived there his whole life, and he must have been 18, 19 years old [pause].”

Remember Miles Davis. The way in which Davis used pauses in music was very effective, McCarty says. Silence gives the audience a chance to reflect. In this case: “What’s the deal with Kenny? Did this really happen?”

“I just walked back, [pause] sat with my mother and aunt, and just scratched my head.”

“And then I forgot about it, but I thought about it a few years ago. I remembered it. I knew I went to the right place, the right building, the right door, and there was a Kenny, but it wasn’t little Kenny.”

Give the audience something to ponder.

“It wasn’t until much later in my life that I started to believe in miracles, and maybe, just maybe, there was room for one little kid to have a miracle for just this one particular day, so he was free from ALLTHATSUGAR.

[Quietly] Just one little miracle.”

Know how you’ll end the story. When you get there, stop.

“They do happen. “