Storyteller Gives Writing Tips

To Third Graders

By Tanjua Damon

“The most important thing in a story is to visualize it,” J.G. “Paw-Paw” Pinkerton said. “What you can visualize, you can relate to, remember, and repeat. The reason you can do that is because you can visualize it. You also emotionally feel it.”

Mr Pinkerton is a storyteller who spent time with Sandy Hook School third graders March 5. He told them stories as well as gave them advice on how to be good storytellers. He explained to the students that they should write stories about things they know and about their personal experiences. He told a story about his dog Spike to the students as well as one about his family.

“The stories we tell reveal who we are and what values we hold,” he said.

He told the students that when writing or telling a story, the characters have to get into trouble. Mr Pinkerton explained to the students that they must introduce the story’s characters, have trouble come, have a crisis, bring insight, and then have affirmation. He said the most universal plot in the world is, “Somebody ran into trouble and lived through it.”

“Storytelling is a co-creation process. The teller brings the words, the listeners bring their images, and together they compose the tale,” he said. “The object is to pass the story from the teller’s mind and lips to the listener’s ears and memory, so the listener takes the story home.”

Mr Pinkerton told the students when they tell a story they should not memorize it, but to imagine the story as they are telling it and describe what they are seeing in their minds. He reminded the students to only include what listeners need to know to understand the story.

“You have to be very clear that they get it the first time through,” he said. “In a story, only use characters that are essential for your readers or listeners to know about.”

He encouraged the students to be descriptive and allow the audience to feel the story through the colorful words or phrases the author uses to portray the story. He also told the students that the characters in their stories need to have conversation.

“Your listeners love to hear conversation,” Mr Pinkerton said. “When you use conversation act it out.”

He told the students when they write or tell stories to be clear about who, what, where, and when. He explained to them that pronouns are confusing because they often leave the audience wondering whom the author is talking about. He encouraged the students to use the five senses with their characters.

One of the teachers asked Mr Pinkerton whether he thought someone could not have a story to tell.

Mr Pinkerton responded that everyone has a story to tell. “Think about the things in life that are both joyful and painful,” he said. “Only tell the story you want to tell. If you don’t love the story, you won’t easily learn it, much less tell it well. You have to really care what the story shares.”

Mr Pinkerton told the students that one of the must valuable things in life is “grace” because nobody owns it, but it is available to everyone.

“It’s the greatest thing in the world,” he said. “When you learn to do it better, it is good for you and for everyone you come into contact with.”

Mr Pinkerton is from Stamford.