THE STORY SOLVER BOOK!!!

The Story Solver: Solutions for Sensational Stories
Because so many people said they enjoyed the Story Solver in this format, then add that they would like “something to hold in their hands”. We have collected the articles in book form. This 164-page book will be available June 10th, 2009.
Story Solver the book is based on articles [...]

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Contest Speech Stories #3 ACTION

I’m going to make a movie. Lights! Camera! Action!
Notice that last word ‘Action!’ Hollywood is the epicentre of world story telling. If they place that much emphasis on ‘Action!’ then maybe we should follow that example.
A speech story, however, doesn’t need to be all action all the time.  Endless dashing around doing stuff loses impact [...]

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Stories for Contests #2 Character

There’s a very good chance that the character in your contest speech stories is you yourself. Why not? You only know a few of another person’s experiences but you know all of yours. It just gives you more experiences, anecdotes and stories to choose from.
If the tales are about you, you need to stand back [...]

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Stories for Contests #1 Theme

When I enter a contest I select my stories and anecdotes as I would select a dress for a very special event. An ordinary, nice dress won’t do, I need a dress with the Wow Factor.
When it comes to contest speeches I believe the Wow Factor comes from a combination of a powerful theme, an [...]

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Story Arc

We all have events in our lives that we call “learning experiences”. The more interesting (and less embarrassing) of these we call anecdotes or stories. I have a favorite personal story that dates back to my first year as a teacher. I had a decision to make about one of my Grade Two students. Let’s [...]

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Choices for a Humorous Speech

I can’t be  the only person who has weird stuff happening to them. Yesterday I took my grandson to a large specialty ice cream shop in a seaside town. Big shop on a high rent sea-front corner. Fancy awning, indoor and outdoor seating. The hard-faced teen behind the counter told us right off,  “We only [...]

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Humorous story

“Like nailing Jello to a tree” my brother-in-law used to say when he found elements of a task to be vague, unsubstantial and now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t. He liked things to be practical, concrete and reliable. He loved to tell jokes. He would have hated putting together a humorous speech, though, because so much about them is “if’s” [...]

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