Understanding Storytelling : A short Guide

In order to truly understand anything, we need to name and define it. So then, before we deep-dive into what storytelling indeed is, we need to ask what storytelling is defined as.

A quick google search will tell you that it is defined as “the activity of telling or writing stories.” A deeper research through various links will tell you, that like any other topic of art, it doesn’t have a rigid definition. That however doesn’t change the fact that the general consensus agrees upon it being a culturally and socially important activity.

Stories have existed throughout all of human cultures, with the earliest version being the oral storytelling tradition. They have been told for entertainment purposes, for disseminating information and ideas, and as a way to establish human connections. In some cultural traditions, they have been used to impart teaching and moral values to the young ones.

Since, storytelling fundamentally comprises of two essential elements, namely the ‘Storyteller’ and the ‘Listener,’ it is regarded as an interactive form of art.

Types of Storytelling

Storytelling is divided primarily into four types, largely determined by the medium used to perform the act of storytelling.

1. Oral storytelling – The oldest form of storytelling, using voice and gestures. It remains important in our culture through bedtime stories, campfire tales, and local legends.
2. Written storytelling – It refers to storytelling by way of written texts. Be it short stories, fables, fairy tales or even novels. Many stories that were traditionally oral were also recorded later on with the advent of the written word. In this regard, there is no better example than ‘Aesop’s Fables’. These fables were originally passed down orally before being collected and recorded in written form.
3. Visual storytelling – This is the intricate art of storytelling by the means of images, either still or otherwise. This fascinating form of narrative expression has spanned from the early cave art of our ancestors to the modern films.
4. Digital Storytelling – With the advent of the internet and social media, the face of storytelling has changed and evolved like never before. Millions of people are using the digital platform, and some combination of oral, written or visual storytelling to share their life with the rest of the world, almost daily.

All this serves to illustrate that, despite the significant advancements in our technologies and the remarkable evolution of the human race, storytelling continues to be an inherent instinct.

Even with the idea of it being an instinct, storytelling is still viewed as an art form that some people are just innately gifted at. However, I beg to differ. I am of the opinion that it is comparable to a skill. One that can be learned and adapted and honed.

The more you flex the storytelling muscle the better you become and the better you become, the better you become at creating connections.