This is a guest post written by Kendra Beckley.
Camping season is what we live for, with longer days to enjoy every bit of sunshine in nature and beautiful late sunsets that turn into lovely warm nights, perfect to tell some spooky, funny, or enticing campfire stories.
Although a seemingly easy task, telling a compelling story, especially to children, can prove quite difficult. Things like pace, intonation, story length and of course the topic can definitely make or break your storytime.
Read on to find out some tips on how to tell the best campfire story and keep your campers, staff, and even your family and friends besotted with your tales!
STAND UP
Standing up draws the attention to you, the storyteller, which will increase the engagement of everyone else around you. Furthermore, when you’re standing you can project your voice
better so everyone can hear you.
It’s not strictly necessary that everyone else stays seated, but if you’re the storyteller, make sure you’re stood up!
PERFORM
A storyteller is a performer, and good stories are not just told, they’re acted too.
When telling a memorable story, especially if it’s to children, it’s not enough to speak for characters or simply describe their actions. Using different voice tones, accents, hand
motions and body movements are all good ways to perform your story and make sure it
causes an impact in your audience.
PICK AN AGE APPROPRIATE STORY (and also one you like)
Depending on the age of your audience, choose a scary story with more or less graphic details or morbid topics. Make sure the story you pick isn’t going to scar the children if they’re too young, but also remember to kick things up a notch if your audience is older, as they may get bored otherwise.
Another important factor in being a good storyteller is telling a story that you like, as it’s obvious when you’re enjoying the tale you’re telling.
Moreover, if the story you pick has a relevant life lesson or moral of the story, you’ll engage your audience whilst teaching them about life, love, compassion, sharing, or whatever else you want!
EMBRACE THE NATURAL WORLD
Since you’ll be telling the story outdoors, what better way to captivate your audience than to create a scenario from your surroundings? You can tell stories that take place in locations
like summer camp, the zoo at night, the beach or a farm.
MAKE EYE CONTACT
Research suggests that when you make eye contact whilst telling a story, your listeners are more likely to believe you. This is because eye contact exudes confidence and authority, as
though what you’re telling are straight-up facts.
Making eye contact is important when telling any kind of story, but it’s particularly effective when telling scary stories, so even if you have twelve audience members, make sure to make eye contact with every single one from time to time.
DON’T USE GREEN OR SEASONED WOOD
Try to prepare for your campfire with kiln-dried wood. This will prevent you from having to scavenge for bits of wood all over the place.
Moreover, green, or seasoned wood tends to take far longer to light, smokes a lot more and has a bad smell. The last thing you want whilst you’re telling your story around the campfire is for
your audience to be coughing, uncomfortable or moving around to avoid smoke blowing into their eyes.
LISTEN TO OTHERS TELL THEIR STORIES
Sometimes it’s good to tell your story and give the podium to someone else. This way, you can keep the stories going on into the night without your audience getting tired of your
voice.
On top of this, hearing others tell their stories may give you good insights on how to perform better, as well as getting ideas for new stories and maybe even borrowing someone’s (if they’re okay with it!).
SUMMARY
Camping is a wonderful time to enjoy with old and new friends, and nothing compliments it better than a good story around the fire!
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Kendra Beckley helps companies enter a new market and build long-term relationships with partners. She is also interested in writing articles on various topics at Coursework Writer and is a business development manager and editor at Write My Assignment .
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