Chris Gaffney: “Suddenly there was a baby”

On episode #72 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling alongside the first Great Hartford Storyslam winner, Chris Gaffney!

In our follow up segment, we discuss (and decide upon) the name for the start-and-stop episode that was so popular with our listeners.

STORYTELLING SHOWS 2019-2020 November 23: Twenty-one Truths About Love book release, CT Historical Society, Hartford, CT December 14: “Crafty” at CT Historical Society, Hartford, CT January 11: “Still Life: Stories of Stopping and Slowing Down” at the Wadsworth Atheneum February 8: “Storytelling for Students at Henry A. Wolcott School, West Hartford, CT April 4: Speak Up at the Unitarian Universalist Society, Manchester, CT

STORYTELLING WORKSHOPS 2019-2020 December 6-8: Storytelling workshop (advanced), Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health January 25: Storytelling workshop (Beginner), CT Historical Society February 22: Storytelling workshop (Advanced), CT Historical Society

In our Homework for Life segment, we talk about how a story can hinge on the way a conversation can suddenly change the way you see the world.

Next we listen to the winning story from the very first Great Hartford Storyslam, told by Chris Gaffney.

Amongst the many things we discuss include:

Balancing tone in a story with a combination of humor, tension, suspense, and more.
Effective choices for the opening a story
The effective advancing of space and time for both time and verisimilitude in a story
Preserving surprise by allowing the audience to experience the events of a story in a way that is similar to how the storyteller experienced them
The value (and possible danger) of subtlety in storytelling

Then we answer a listener questions about evoking emotion from an audience and make some recommendations.

RECOMMEDATIONS

Elysha: