Find your Voice and Hold up a Mirror to your Audience, Professional Storyteller Says
Renowned storyteller Dolores Hydock shared secrets of her craft and connected her work to that of other professional communicators during AMP’s monthly meeting at Homewood Public Library June 14.
“There are all kinds of stories and so many different ways to tell them,” Hydock said. “Everyone’s got to find their own voice.”
It’s amazing that 26 letters can be used to create pictures in people’s heads, she continued, and that’s the job of all storytellers-–from marketers to journalists to novelists.
Hydock quoted a minister known for his engaging stories: “A good story holds up a picture frame. A great story holds up a mirror."
The most important person in any story is the reader, listener or viewer, Hydock said. For a story to be effective, the audience member has to find himself or herself in it.
Below are additional comparisons Hydock drew between her work as an actress and story performer and the tasks of communications professionals. To read Hydock’s insights related to each topic, join Alabama Media Professionals and begin receiving our monthly e-newsletter.
Just as everyone tells stories, everyone can be a writer and photographer with today’s social media. But there is a difference between people who do these things as amateurs and those who do them professionally.
Knowing your audience is vital.
Hydock’s first step in performing a story is writing it, and she said that is the most difficult part.
The task of creating a story is much easier when you have a place to start.
Observation is powerful.
Attention is currency in an information age.
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