The Art of Transforming Ordinary Moments into Stories

Can you imagine the lengths someone would go for a beloved childhood toy? Picture this: my father once drove all the way from Denmark to Germany to retrieve my sister's forgotten stuffed seal. Join me as I recount how this humble seal became the protagonist of my very first stories, recorded on cassettes with lovingly hand-drawn covers. Reflecting on those early days, I share how supportive teachers nurtured my creative spirit, despite my restless nature, ultimately shaping storytelling into both my identity and career.

Ever wondered what makes a storyteller truly compelling? It starts with understanding your own motivation, and believe me, that self-awareness is everything. Whether you aim to share your personal experiences or breathe life into others' stories, aligning your narrative with your identity is crucial. Discover how to find stories in everyday moments—those seemingly mundane details can often turn into the richest tales. From practical exercises like daily writing to the importance of physical presence in interviews, I'll share insights gathered from my journey, including my transition from writing in Norwegian to podcasting in English.

Personal storytelling carries a delicate balance of sharing and safeguarding one's private life. In this episode, we explore how to navigate this tightrope without compromising the authenticity and relatability of your narrative. I'll delve into the risks associated with oversharing and its potential impact on mental health while highlighting the importance of presence in storytelling. Moving beyond how-to lists, we emphasize that true storytelling is about connecting with your audience in a deeply engaging and dynamic way. Tune in to uncover the essence of crafting compelling stories and learn how to resonate authentically with your listeners.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:45

My first story was about a stuffed animal. The stuffed animal was a seal and it was my sister's seal and she really loved that seal and she had it everywhere we went on vacation. It was with her and once my father actually had to travel from Denmark to Germany because she forgot it on one of the places we were camping and you know, she was in a totally crisis when she realized that it was gone and my father just sat himself in the car and drove to get that little stuffed animal with him. So that seal was really important to my sister and I also used that seal to make stories and in the 80s and the 90s when I grew up, we still had cassettes and when we were children we had like cassette players and we recorded in these cassette players and I made stories about this seal and I made different cassettes and every cassette had one story and I also draw the front page of this cassette and draw like a book or an audio book. I draw like the front page on this cassette and this little seal seal, he actually experienced life and he made another seal. No, he met another stuffed animal and that was actually a dog, it was actually Snoopy, you know, know Snoopy from the comics. That was also my sister's stuffed animal, but we made it a girl and we called her Snoopia. So it was like the seal and Snoopia, and they had the kids, little seals and little puppies and I made stories of this family. They were going on holidays, they were like experiencing something yeah, everyday life, yeah, everything. So that was actually my first story.

Speaker 1: 3:23

And when I went to school I also wrote a lot of stories. When I went to school, I also wrote a lot of stories. My teacher used to read them in front of the class and she said she always gave me a lot of positive feedback about the stories. I was kind of an annoying child in many ways. I gave her a lot of headaches and I couldn't sit still all the time and I did a lot of stupid things. So I was kind of not the best girl in class, but I was a good storyteller and the teacher really liked that. And when I was young I went to youth school and my teacher there also said to me that I was a really good writer and one day he would see me in the papers writing stories. And that's exactly what happened.

Speaker 1: 4:20

I became a storyteller when I grew up and now in this episode I want to share some of my tips, ta-da. So here are some tips how to be a good storyteller. Since I've been a storyteller for so long and you who have listened to my stories in this podcast, you know that I actually became a storyteller because I had a tough start in adult life and I was actually jumping into it without any consideration at all. It just happened pretty natural. And yeah, and ever since that I have been working as a storyteller in, you know, professional life and it has become a part of my identity and a part of everything with me. And I'm just doing it by autopilot. And so when I'm making this episode and I'm trying to find, like, good storytelling tips, I get really confused because I don't actually remember what all the tips are and what I do right and what I have learned from all my mistakes.

Speaker 1: 5:55

So the best advice I can give from the beginning is number one why Think about why? Why do you want to work with storytelling? Only you know that answer. Do you want to tell your own story or others? I actually have been working for this 20 years until I told my own story, so I wasn't interested at all to tell my own story. I was always interested in every other story. So, no matter what you want, it's totally up to you and it's totally fine. No matter what you want, it's it's totally up to you and it's totally fine.

Speaker 1: 6:31

No matter what you, what you chose, what you choose, and maybe you're a storyteller in in a company or something and you have to tell a brand story about a particular brand or the company or the organization you're working on in, and then you need to tell stories in a different way. So, yeah, my first advice to you is actually define why you're telling this story and how is this reflecting who you are. That is the most important reflect, um, reflect the most important advice I can give from the start. So, just, um, sit down maybe after this episode, make like this note uh yeah, a paper or something, and then use some time to think and write down some words about why you are actually doing this storytelling. I used to draw a bit and I use different colors. Sometimes I make mind maps before I actually know what to answer, because when I ask you this question why? Maybe you actually don't know the answer either. You just know that you want to tell stories, but you don't know why. So try to invest some time in why you want to be a storyteller or why you want to tell stories, because maybe you'll find some answers that are really interesting about yourself. Okay, so that is the first step on the way to become a good storyteller.

Speaker 1: 8:16

The second tips I want to give you is storytell your life, or find the storytelling in every situation of your life. Look around you there is stories everywhere your life. Look around you there is stories everywhere. Remember, I started this episode by telling you about my sister and her cuddled animal seal and the stories I made for this seal and all the cassettes. I started, actually, a storytelling lecture by telling you my first story, and that is because I always look for the good stories in everyday life. You see, there's a good story in a cup of coffee. There's a good story in the butterfly you just watched. There's a good story in, yeah, listening to your neighbors argue. And there's a good story in watching the sun go down. You know there's a good story everywhere.

Speaker 1: 9:16

And when you are telling stories, you always have to pause. You know, if you're writing about a flower, don't just write about the flower, write about the grass the flower is in. Write about all the other flowers around. Write about the little bee that comes and sits on the flower and drinks the flower's tasty stuff. Write about the color. Write about everything around the flower. Just try to experience the thing you are storytelling. A flower is not just a flower. It's much more than that. A flower is a story, a big story. Make tasks for yourself, everyday tasks, if you want to write a half page every day about something. Today I'm going to storytell a coffee cup. Today I'm going to storytell a pen. Today I'm going to storytell my uncle. Today I'm storytelling the weather, no matter what. Just storytell every single thing that doesn't seem interesting or important at all, because in the story you tell, everything can suddenly matter, and that's the glory and beauty of storytelling You're just close to the story. Be in the story. Be close to everything you are telling about.

Speaker 1: 10:50

When I interview people, I have made a lot of portrait interviews in my life and I really, oh I just love that. It's some of my favorites To meet a person and really explore this person and tell the story of this person's life. And if I do this by phone or digitally or email or Zoom or something. The story is not as good as when I meet the person, physical, in person. When we sit down on a cafe, eat a good lunch together or something like that, then the story is really good.

Speaker 1: 11:26

And if you are sitting on the cafe with the person you're storytelling, interviewing, be present at the moment, experience the situation. Where are you, what kind of cafe are you in? What kind of food do you order? What kind of food does your interview object order? What happens around, what are the sounds, what are the smells, the noises, the looks on the face of the person the first time he or she takes something? Yeah, everything. Just let us feel the story. The reader should feel an experience, explore the story, be in the story. That is my second advice. And these two advice the why and to be present in the story. I think that is the most important advice I can give, and then I can give tons of other advices that will never be as important than those two. So reflect on these things and rehearse every day. I have rehearsed a lot.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Before I became a good storyteller, I rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed, repeated, repeated, repeated. And when I started this podcast the reason why I'm doing it in English is that I'm kind of tired of Norwegian because I have written so many texts in Norwegian. And when I was trying podcasts for the first time, I was thinking what if I try the English? I'm not that good in English, as you can hear. I'm speaking no English, but well, maybe I'll just call it the Norwegian Storyteller, because then my English doesn't have to be good, you know. And then I just became present in the podcast.

Speaker 1: 13:19

What is the Norwegian Storyteller? I didn't know the first episode. I actually didn't know. Then I just got to know myself and got to know the concept. Every step on the road I'm in every episode. I'm tasting, feeling, exploring. Every episode with Manus or without Manus, and without Manus is scared as shit. I'm super, super afraid, but it's also super, super cool. So just enjoy and relax and explore the storytelling. The storytelling should be in you. It's a part of who you are. Okay, so far, so good.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Remember to make pauses. And it's easy to make a pause when I am recording this podcast episode, because I usually do that on Wednesdays, because on Wednesdays I have to stay longer at my job because my son is playing chess and the place he plays chess is close to my workplace. So then I used to sit longer and I used to eat dinner at my job so he can play chess and then I can come after the game and get him and we can go home together. So playing chess is kind of a passion for my son and he does that regularly. It's kind of cool to be a mom of a boy that plays chess and the the game was really so important that he quit. He stopped playing football.

Speaker 1: 15:19

And why am I telling this story to you? Uh, did you notice that? You, that we just switched the subject and you, maybe you paid a bit more attention to the story, because I stopped after giving you two advices. I stopped and then I played some music and then I told the story about my son's chess lessons. And that is actually not connected to me talking about storytelling at all. I just made a digression in just in the middle of the storytelling, and the reason why I did that is that I don't want you to be bored. If I'm just making a lot of lectures for you now and this is how you do storytelling, this is how you do storytelling bloody, bloody, bloody you might get bored, you know. So one of the genius things to do while you are storytelling is constantly look for the digressions and stories. You can put in everything, so the listener, the reader, whatever who is accepting your history story, can stay awake all the time and concentrate on the story. It's really important to make it alive and to make pauses and to make digressions and make different stories in between everything. That's a really good technique, so that's another advice. Okay, now we are on a really exciting part about storytelling, a part that I actually worked on for many years, and I have also developed a lot of techniques in this matter.

Speaker 1: 17:28

I will tell you about the difference between being private and being personal. It's really important that you understand the difference between those two, because being private is not good storytelling. That is actually a tabloid journalism case for the glossy magazines and so on. Being private is not something that any other can relate to. On the other hand, being personal is different than being private. Then it's about the others. It's about the readers. If you're writing, the listeners, if you're making a podcast, it's not about you, it's about your audience.

Speaker 1: 18:20

So if I'm going to talk to you about, for instance, marriage, life and relationship issues, I can choose to be private and I can say well, I argued with my husband last night and he's such an idiot sometimes because he says this and that that is being private. It's not good because then it's about me and I also talk bad about a person that is recognizable, and it's not good storytelling because it's affecting someone else and it's also tell something about me. That is according to me as a person. But if I'm more personal, if I used personal storytelling, I would rather say well, sometimes being married can be hard. We all experience bad times in life and good times in life. I actually had an argument with my husband last evening and it can hurt. You know, we can still love each other, but still we can hurt each other.

Speaker 1: 19:39

So if I tell the story in this way, I'm more personal. And then I tell you that being married is not easy. It involves some arguments now and then, but I'm telling it a way that makes you understand that this experience is also about you. It's not all about me, it's not all about my marriage. It's also about your marriage, if you're married, and it's also about you who are planning to get married, or something you know, because maybe I have some good advices, or well, maybe not, but maybe I also have a way of expressing some feelings that you feel inside of you, and that is really good storytelling when it's not about me, not about the storyteller, but about you as a listener in this matter, because you are a podcast listener. If you had been a reader for a magazine and I was the magazine writer, you would have been the reader, and so you always have to have that in mind, that you are not telling your story.

Speaker 1: 21:00

To tell your story. If you understand, you are telling your story to change people's life, you know, to make a difference and maybe to learn something the other way, and so that is really interesting and important difference you have to learn, and I have seen and heard so many bad examples for private storytelling, and private storytelling can really irritate me sometimes, because when people overshare from their own life, it's only awkward, you know, because it's about them, it's not about the one who receives the story. So this is a place where you really have to think through what do you want to share, and sometimes it's hard to share personal things from your life and you can overshare. There's a risk of oversharing and there's a risk of you later regret that you actually shared something you shouldn't have shared. So what is really important is that you find some boundaries in your life. What do you want to tell and what don't you want to tell? Because if you have made that clear once and for all, okay, these are my boundaries, I want to tell this and this and this, but not that you know. Then you just have these boundaries through the entire storytelling all the time. You know you have these boundaries all the time. Maybe you have experienced something bad in life and you think, well, I don't want to share that experience, that is too private, I want to keep that for myself. Then you should keep it for yourself. Don't tell everything you know.

Speaker 1: 23:02

Like I told you in other episodes on this podcast, I have been speaking about my life as a young adult, when I had a mental health condition that was not good and it makes a lot of problems in my life, and it's several years for me to talk about this. And as a storyteller, I was not able to tell my own story. And so this podcast it's the first time I actually tell something personal that is as personal as it is right now. I have told fragments of my life that is really hidden in all sorts of metaphors and opinions before, but I haven't been so open as I have been in this podcast. But I still have my boundaries. I still know what to share and what to not share, because I have worked as a storyteller in so many years now, so my boundaries are so internalized in me so I'm not afraid to push it too far and every episode has felt good because I am totally aware of my boundaries. So that is really really important.

Speaker 1: 24:25

Or else you can hurt yourself telling stories If you tell too much and if you feel pressured to tell too much. If you tell too much and if you feel pressured to tell too much, then you can really hurt yourself and that is not good because oversharing can be actually bad for your mental health. If the oversharing just make you afraid and lots of anxiety and just makes you feel bad, you know. So don't tell too much if that is not your thing, okay. Okay, we're about to end this episode now and what's really important at the end is that you're actually heading towards a conclusion and a natural end. So don't come with too much new content at the end of the storytelling.

Speaker 1: 25:34

And to sum it up, I would say the most important thing to remember is to be present in your story, no matter what, because your presence is actually making the story. Like I told you, you have to look around. You find storytelling in everything you see. I have experienced periods where I was not that present in the story and then my storytelling was really bad. So I did the lower quality work in these times when I just wasn't present enough. And the reason I was not present enough was that I was downing myself. I was downing my storytelling and I was insecure about what direction I should go, because a lot of the storytelling in the beginning was me trying to find out the way in my life actually. And when I found that I totally forgot the foundation of my storytelling, I totally forgot my mission in life, and I had a long period where I just tried to be a good storyteller and not focus on the presence. And it actually made me a good storyteller not focus on the presence and it's actually made me a worse storyteller.

Speaker 1: 27:06

And, as you already have listened, this is not an episode with a list of how to do. You know, because if you Google and use your artificial intelligence to find all those lists about how to do good storytelling, you will find hundreds of web pages and hundreds of examples on to-do lists and I'm actually not a fan of those lists. And I'm actually not a fan of those lists because I think it's a boring way of storytelling and it's nothing about the presence, because I think the presence is so important. I don't want to discredit those storytelling lists completely, because it's much good stuff in it. It's a good way of learning storytelling and I have used it myself also. It's not like I don't use it, but I also think it's an instrumental way of storytelling. You know, it's not like you're building a furniture or something. It's about telling stories. So don't forget the presents. Okay, that was my last advice. Bye. Thanks for watching.