On Storytelling
I'm one of those few people who find it really difficult to tell a story about themselves. I don't usually remember things in an orderly fashion that could flow into a story. I'm feeling sad that I'm missing one of the essential things that makes us human, storytelling. I'm also a very philosophical person, so naturally I want to explore the topic of storytelling in a philosophical way.
Stories are everywhere, people from all over the world tell stories. Religion is based on stories. Many forms of entertainment tell a story, books, movies, plays etc.. It's natural that storytelling is ubiquitous because it is normal part of life. I'm wondering what exactly about stories that captivate us all? What is the story about stories (pun intended)?
In my opinion, stories are a natural way of communicating a set of real or imaginary events in a meaningful and a logical fashion so that a person can remember and retell it. A person telling a story usually strives to say something interesting and memorable. All things being equal, a set of information told in a story will usually have a bigger impression on us than not.
I remember trying to help two kids memorize a deck of cards and I succeeded. How did I do it? I told a story using each card so that every card was part of the story. I think life can be seen like a deck of cards in that life can be disorganized. Our brain sometimes needs to impose order on the world by inventing a story. So just like the kids were able to remember the deck of cards by me turning it into a story, we remember life by turning it into a story.
Thoughts?
Stories are everywhere, people from all over the world tell stories. Religion is based on stories. Many forms of entertainment tell a story, books, movies, plays etc.. It's natural that storytelling is ubiquitous because it is normal part of life. I'm wondering what exactly about stories that captivate us all? What is the story about stories (pun intended)?
In my opinion, stories are a natural way of communicating a set of real or imaginary events in a meaningful and a logical fashion so that a person can remember and retell it. A person telling a story usually strives to say something interesting and memorable. All things being equal, a set of information told in a story will usually have a bigger impression on us than not.
I remember trying to help two kids memorize a deck of cards and I succeeded. How did I do it? I told a story using each card so that every card was part of the story. I think life can be seen like a deck of cards in that life can be disorganized. Our brain sometimes needs to impose order on the world by inventing a story. So just like the kids were able to remember the deck of cards by me turning it into a story, we remember life by turning it into a story.
Thoughts?
Comments (4)
Quoting Purple Pond
There's something about both the process and the conclusion of the story that makes it interesting.
Storytelling, much like music, much like painting, is a tool for drawing out emotions, good or bad. It's more often purely about feeling than thinking, and even when it's about thinking, it plays on feelings.
We are, for whatever reason, deeply dissatisfied in our lives without heroes and monsters, without comedy and tragedy, without mysteries to solve or enemies to vanquish, princesses (or princes for the PC police) to save, and we seek these either in fables or in reality. Where it doesn't exist we create it. A "good story", as far as I can tell, is one that accomplishes any combination of these constituents while simultaneously generating a sense in its reader or listener that they're participating in some way.