An exchange in the comment fields between Jim and Ruth yesterday was very rich. In it, they addressed the need to let things develop within the narration of the story. How to do that? They also address the idea of possibly using images to stabilize the story creation process. Ruth addressed the need to correctly manage actors and to pull details, but the right details in the right quantity at the right time. I thought I would publish it here:
Ruth: “Stories for me have been a mixture of enjoyable and fun and painful. I think they sometimes got too complicated. My best ones have come from images rather than scripts.”
Jim: “I wonder Ruth if the images help things go smoother because you have a clear “distraction” (for lack of a better word) from yourself. I mean to say, when we’re working with scripts, if we don’t have a picture of a celebrity or something else interesting to the kids, OR a trained actor that we can trust to move in synchronicity with our words, it can be harder for them. In that case we have to help the kids imagine so much more, and that is more challenging for students to VISUALIZE. This is why I almost always have a picture of a celeb up on the wall to keep pointing at. “Look at David Bisbal class (Not me! deep breath, nerves settle, riff on David a bit, ok back to me)” Related: Search “Wallflowers” on this site.
“How can we make sure the humor is realized? It helps if I make crystal clear that the person your student is meeting is very nervous [ed. note: or whatever the emotion is, it must be strongly highlighted]. Stress this part. He or she looks at your student and immediately gets nervous [ed. note: or whatever the emotion].”
[ed.note:I would add to this discussion that not just exaggerating emotions but also that focused and directed movement of any kind – transitions in locations, for example – brings greater focus from the class.]
Ruth: “Thanks for this response, Jim. What you said about having a “distraction” from myself during a story is really true, and I haven’t had that with scripted stories. I never thought about it that way. I’m going to try to find an image to go with the next one I try. It would be helpful for the kids and for me, too.
“When I think about it, I realize I do tend to avoid scripted stories, not completely, but to a large extent. I have tended to create stories from images, as I said, or we do Movietalk, L&D, 2 Truths and a Lie, etc. and last year we spent a lot of time on Star of the Day in 7th and 8th and Special Chair in 6th. I almost always turn whatever we do into a story for ROA, no matter how we generate it.
[ed. note: this is a paragraph that I found myself having to read a few times]: “But back to scripted stories in general. I think sometimes I have trouble with them because I don’t build them slowly enough. Maybe I think they are going to create themselves or something. I don’t think about all that potential in the white space. Know what I mean? I need to get into each scene more, create the mood, get enough details from the kids (without complicating it; just more questioning in the context). I have to get better at managing the actors, too, feeding them lines (or what?) and balancing how much I guide things and how much kids’ ideas shape them. I don’t know. I think I just have to do more of them! Practice, practice! I did have great success with your Halloween script. We had a blast! Can’t wait to do it again next month. And others have worked well, too, but I don’t do them often. I guess I script my own though, especially mini-stories, which I love.
“Thanks again, Jim. I hope someone else finds my phobia analysis helpful. I did. I’d never admitted it before, to myself even. Now I just have to do it.”