Category: Memoir
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Storytelling tip 6: You only get a few hooks, so use them wisely
By hooks, I mean lines that stand out (and pull the listener in) because they are clever, or lyrical, or profound. Writerly lines. They may introduce a powerful metaphor or capture a meme. The tension is that if you use too many hooks, you will definitely sound too writerly—very few people speak in hooks. So…
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A Great Disturbance in the Force
NOTE: I first performed this piece on Feb. 6, 2013 at Fireside Storytelling in San Francisco. The theme was “Bad Medicine.” One morning many years ago, I was standing over the sink, getting water for my coffee, and I was overcome by the sudden bout of sobbing—that shoulders-heaving, unable-to-fill-my-lungs, abdominal-muscles-cramping, random-guttural-sounds-escaping-from-my-throat kind of sobbing. As…