There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories…Ursula K. LeGuin

Where do we find stories?

Most people would probably say: In a book!  However, if you look a little harder you will find stories take many forms.   Start by thinking about all the different names we have to describe ‘stories’, such as: tale, legend, myth, novel, short story, ballad, verse, poem, song, lyrics, film, art, script…

Story telling is an ancient art…

In ancient times, stories were passed along without being written down.  This is generally referred to as ‘oral tradition’.  Elders retold stories to younger generations, who learned the stories by heart so they could pass them on to their children and grandchildren.  It can be a little bit like ‘Chinese Whispers’, and after many hundreds or thousands of years, numerous versions of the same story may appear.

Writing Spot

In a group think of a great story starter (for example:

It was a dark and stormy night… 

• Once everyone has written this down, set a time limit (2 minutes usually works well) and have everyone in the group continue the story.  
• When the time is up, pass each story on to the next person. 
• Give everyone a chance to read the new story in front of them before starting the timer again. 
• Everyone must continue writing on the NEW story in front of them. 
• Once you have swapped stories 4 or 5 times, it is time to read them aloud.

You can vary this activity by folding paper over so people may only see the last line of the previous story.  Alternatively you could play this using an online messenger –somebody starts the story and passes it on to be continued…you could print it out at the end to share.