Reference
Words, Language & Grammar
![The Moth - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B09JTRRDZ6.jpg)
![Catherine Burns - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B00LDVZVAO.jpg)
How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth
The definitive guide to telling an unforgettable story in any setting, drawing on twenty-five years of experience from the storytelling experts at The Moth
"From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more."-CNN
Over the past twenty-five years, the directors of The Moth have worked with people from all walks of life-including astronauts, hairdressers, rock stars, a retired pickpocket, high school students, and Nobel Prize winners-to develop true personal stories that have moved and delighted live audiences and listeners of The Moth's Peabody Award–winning radio hour and podcast. A leader in the modern storytelling movement, The Moth inspires thousands of people around the globe to share their stories each year.
Now, with How to Tell a Story, The Moth will help you learn how to uncover and craft your own unique stories, like Moth storytellers Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Padma Lakshmi, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Hasan Minhaj, Tig Notaro, Boots Riley, Betty Reid Soskin, John Turturro, and more.
Whether your goal is to make it to the Moth stage, deliver the perfect wedding toast, wow clients at a business dinner, give a moving eulogy, ace a job interview, be a hit at parties, change the world, or simply connect more deeply to those around you, stories are essential. Sharing secrets of The Moth's time-honed process and using examples from beloved storytellers, a team of Moth directors will show you how to
• mine your memories for your best stories
• explore structures that will boost the impact of your story
• deliver your stories with confidence
• tailor your stories for any occasion
Filled with empowering, easy-to-follow tips for crafting stories that forge lasting bonds with friends, family, and colleagues alike, this book will help you connect authentically with the world around you and unleash the power of story in your life.
"From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more."-CNN
Over the past twenty-five years, the directors of The Moth have worked with people from all walks of life-including astronauts, hairdressers, rock stars, a retired pickpocket, high school students, and Nobel Prize winners-to develop true personal stories that have moved and delighted live audiences and listeners of The Moth's Peabody Award–winning radio hour and podcast. A leader in the modern storytelling movement, The Moth inspires thousands of people around the globe to share their stories each year.
Now, with How to Tell a Story, The Moth will help you learn how to uncover and craft your own unique stories, like Moth storytellers Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Padma Lakshmi, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Hasan Minhaj, Tig Notaro, Boots Riley, Betty Reid Soskin, John Turturro, and more.
Whether your goal is to make it to the Moth stage, deliver the perfect wedding toast, wow clients at a business dinner, give a moving eulogy, ace a job interview, be a hit at parties, change the world, or simply connect more deeply to those around you, stories are essential. Sharing secrets of The Moth's time-honed process and using examples from beloved storytellers, a team of Moth directors will show you how to
• mine your memories for your best stories
• explore structures that will boost the impact of your story
• deliver your stories with confidence
• tailor your stories for any occasion
Filled with empowering, easy-to-follow tips for crafting stories that forge lasting bonds with friends, family, and colleagues alike, this book will help you connect authentically with the world around you and unleash the power of story in your life.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for How to Tell a Story
"Fans of nonprofit storytelling organization The Moth, which, since 1997, has presented 50,000-plus stories, won a Peabody Award for its The Moth Radio Hour and boasts a popular eponymous podcast, will be drawn to this guide to, yep, telling stories. From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more."-CNN
"Inspiring . . . This book . . . provides everything readers need to share their own personal narratives."-Booklist
Praise for The Moth
"There are many reasons I feel compelled to tell stories. Without stories, the past starts to mush together. And that makes me very anxious. Creating stories is a way for me to make sense of life. The Moth will help you tell great stories."-Roz Chast, New Yorker staff cartoonist
"It's because of The Moth that I learned the dynamic range of storytelling."-Hasan Minhaj, Peabody Award–winning comedian, writer, and producer
"The Moth changed my brain in the best possible way. Working with their amazing directors, I learned how to share my story in an authentic and powerful way that I now use almost every day as a teacher, author, and speaker. Now, that's some brain-changing magic!"-Dr. Wendy Suzuki, author and professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University
"Fans of nonprofit storytelling organization The Moth, which, since 1997, has presented 50,000-plus stories, won a Peabody Award for its The Moth Radio Hour and boasts a popular eponymous podcast, will be drawn to this guide to, yep, telling stories. From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more."-CNN
"Inspiring . . . This book . . . provides everything readers need to share their own personal narratives."-Booklist
Praise for The Moth
"There are many reasons I feel compelled to tell stories. Without stories, the past starts to mush together. And that makes me very anxious. Creating stories is a way for me to make sense of life. The Moth will help you tell great stories."-Roz Chast, New Yorker staff cartoonist
"It's because of The Moth that I learned the dynamic range of storytelling."-Hasan Minhaj, Peabody Award–winning comedian, writer, and producer
"The Moth changed my brain in the best possible way. Working with their amazing directors, I learned how to share my story in an authentic and powerful way that I now use almost every day as a teacher, author, and speaker. Now, that's some brain-changing magic!"-Dr. Wendy Suzuki, author and professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University
Short Excerpt Teaser
Introduction
In June 2015, I was given the life-changing opportunity to pitch a story to Catherine Burns, artistic director of The Moth. As a long-time fan and audience member, I was thrilled-and terrified. I often listened to Moth stories to be transported out of my own life, and to be transformed by the entertaining, deeply moving, and amazing lives of others. Now The Moth was calling me! Did I even have a story to tell?
Adrenaline (born of excitement and fear) surged through my veins. This was a chance to hone my own storytelling craft with experts, and maybe even to be heard by Moth audiences all around the world.
Storytelling lies at the heart of my professional life. As a professor of critical media studies, much of my teaching involves finding stories that can transform abstract concepts and history into relat able and compelling experiences. As an organizer striving to make institutions more equitable, effective storytelling can not only dismantle false narratives but also cut through intractable political divides to reveal how power is currently working, how we got here, and what needs to be done. As a journalist, great stories are the beating heart of impactful reporting, essays, and narrative-nonfiction audio productions.
For all of these reasons, I enthusiastically accepted the invitation. But as soon as I hung up, I felt a fluttering of fear in my chest. My own stories had made friends and family laugh, but they were really just short anecdotes told to people who were being generous. To make matters worse, my experience as a hip-hop artist had taught me that there's a big difference between telling a funny story to a couple of friends and telling it to hundreds or thousands of strangers. On stage, everything but the power of your story is stripped away, and it is very easy to fall flat. The few times this happened to me, it felt like nothing could remove the stench of doom from the air.
After an hour, the fluttering in my chest turned into panic. Every time I tried to summon a potential story from my past, a crowd of critical voices in my head would quickly impale it with a flurry of criticism: No one cares about this. Get over yourself. You've never saved a life. Why do you get to stand in front of people and talk about your weird silly stuff? Jay Allison, the longtime producer of The Moth Radio Hour, had introduced me to the Moth team, and I reached out to him to explain my predicament. Jay told me, "Well, Chenjerai, Moth stories can be deeply inspirational, but they're very different from the exclusively heroic or positive tales that some other places invite you to tell. I don't know where you'll end, but as a place to start, remember that everyone is entertained by, and relates to, a train wreck. Stories about failure and learning can be powerful."
Failure! That was something I had a lot of. I could definitely remember and tell a story about that.
Up until this point in my life, I had presented myself, and been taken seriously, as a scholar, organizer, journalist, and hip-hop artist. Stories about the confusing, awkward, and downright embarrassing parts of my life, and the lessons that might be learned from them, had been pushed to the margins of my mind. They would spill out, poorly developed, at family dinners or on dates, or in the classroom. My friends and family and students welcomed the best parts of these stories and tolerated the rest.
The pounding in my chest calmed enough for me to start reflecting and jotting down some notes. My best bet was a story about some funny and painful moments in my career as a hip-hop artist.
By the time my group, the Spooks, finished our last tour in 2005, we had earned gold singles in three countries and a gold album in the UK, and had performed in front of more than a million people. After my music career slowed down, I was forced to learn new skills, figure out new ways to sustain myself, and forge a new identity-but I never really processed or properly mourned this tumultuous shift in my circumstances.
When I was ready, I called Catherine, and she listened closely and supportively as I ran through several story possibilities. Breathlessly, I shared the story of meeting Laurence Fishburne on my own music video set as the Spooks were taking off. But I took forever to get to the main point, losing the thread several times along the way. Another anecdote involved me botching an Excel sheet at a temp job. It was meant to illustrate the tragicomedy of my post-fame life, but I stretched it out far too long and included a wealth of irrelevant details. I also told Catherine about meeting Laur...
In June 2015, I was given the life-changing opportunity to pitch a story to Catherine Burns, artistic director of The Moth. As a long-time fan and audience member, I was thrilled-and terrified. I often listened to Moth stories to be transported out of my own life, and to be transformed by the entertaining, deeply moving, and amazing lives of others. Now The Moth was calling me! Did I even have a story to tell?
Adrenaline (born of excitement and fear) surged through my veins. This was a chance to hone my own storytelling craft with experts, and maybe even to be heard by Moth audiences all around the world.
Storytelling lies at the heart of my professional life. As a professor of critical media studies, much of my teaching involves finding stories that can transform abstract concepts and history into relat able and compelling experiences. As an organizer striving to make institutions more equitable, effective storytelling can not only dismantle false narratives but also cut through intractable political divides to reveal how power is currently working, how we got here, and what needs to be done. As a journalist, great stories are the beating heart of impactful reporting, essays, and narrative-nonfiction audio productions.
For all of these reasons, I enthusiastically accepted the invitation. But as soon as I hung up, I felt a fluttering of fear in my chest. My own stories had made friends and family laugh, but they were really just short anecdotes told to people who were being generous. To make matters worse, my experience as a hip-hop artist had taught me that there's a big difference between telling a funny story to a couple of friends and telling it to hundreds or thousands of strangers. On stage, everything but the power of your story is stripped away, and it is very easy to fall flat. The few times this happened to me, it felt like nothing could remove the stench of doom from the air.
After an hour, the fluttering in my chest turned into panic. Every time I tried to summon a potential story from my past, a crowd of critical voices in my head would quickly impale it with a flurry of criticism: No one cares about this. Get over yourself. You've never saved a life. Why do you get to stand in front of people and talk about your weird silly stuff? Jay Allison, the longtime producer of The Moth Radio Hour, had introduced me to the Moth team, and I reached out to him to explain my predicament. Jay told me, "Well, Chenjerai, Moth stories can be deeply inspirational, but they're very different from the exclusively heroic or positive tales that some other places invite you to tell. I don't know where you'll end, but as a place to start, remember that everyone is entertained by, and relates to, a train wreck. Stories about failure and learning can be powerful."
Failure! That was something I had a lot of. I could definitely remember and tell a story about that.
Up until this point in my life, I had presented myself, and been taken seriously, as a scholar, organizer, journalist, and hip-hop artist. Stories about the confusing, awkward, and downright embarrassing parts of my life, and the lessons that might be learned from them, had been pushed to the margins of my mind. They would spill out, poorly developed, at family dinners or on dates, or in the classroom. My friends and family and students welcomed the best parts of these stories and tolerated the rest.
The pounding in my chest calmed enough for me to start reflecting and jotting down some notes. My best bet was a story about some funny and painful moments in my career as a hip-hop artist.
By the time my group, the Spooks, finished our last tour in 2005, we had earned gold singles in three countries and a gold album in the UK, and had performed in front of more than a million people. After my music career slowed down, I was forced to learn new skills, figure out new ways to sustain myself, and forge a new identity-but I never really processed or properly mourned this tumultuous shift in my circumstances.
When I was ready, I called Catherine, and she listened closely and supportively as I ran through several story possibilities. Breathlessly, I shared the story of meeting Laurence Fishburne on my own music video set as the Spooks were taking off. But I took forever to get to the main point, losing the thread several times along the way. Another anecdote involved me botching an Excel sheet at a temp job. It was meant to illustrate the tragicomedy of my post-fame life, but I stretched it out far too long and included a wealth of irrelevant details. I also told Catherine about meeting Laur...
