#StorytellingPSA
Hi, I'm a professional storyteller, and here's today's PSA:

If you are doing Father's Day or Mother's Day gigs, you have to pay attention to representation in your stories.

Not all kids are going to have moms or dads. Some will have more than one. Some will have adoptive parents, some will be raised by grandparents or relatives or fosters.

All kinds of parental figures are equally important. It is your responsibility to pay attention to what you say on stage.

#storytelling

Happy #PrideMonth! :demisexual_flag:

Remember, in the folktale tradition of your own culture you *are* the folk. No one can stop you from telling queer folktales 😉
:rainbow_heart:

#StorytellingPSA #folklore #folktales

Hi, I'm a professional storyteller, and here's today's PSA:

Unless the storyteller complains, your kids didn't do anything wrong. We are fine with wriggling, giggling, lying down, and whispering. If you tell them off after the performance, you kill the magic right there.

Kids wiggle. They ask questions, and comment on the stories. It's part of storytelling. Don't discipline them unless I ask for help.

#StorytellingPSA #storytelling #children

10. Last, every child has the right to grow up with Alice, Little Red and the wolf, Dorothy, Puss in Boots, Jack and the beanstalk, the 'Happily ever after' and the 'Once upon a time': magic words that open up the gates of imagination, and fill childhood with the most amazing dreams.

7/7

#storytelling #StorytellingPSA #children

#StorytellingPSA
The traditional stories we call fairy tales were, before the Grimm era, usually told by adults to adults.

Which means (among other things) that if you can find uncensored sources for them, they can contain a whole lot of swearing.

🤷‍♀️

I saw a meme that asked people that if they could insert one f*** into Lord of the Rings where they would put it. Now I asking myself the same question, but with folktales... 😆

#storytelling #folklore

Hi, I'm a professional storyteller, and here's today's PSA:

"Folktale language" only sounds archaic because many stories were written down and thus canonized a century ago.

Folktales in a living oral tradition always used contemporary language.

Case in point: a Hungarian folktale I just read, collected recently, that opens with "So, there was this king, and he managed to knock up a handmaid."

#StorytellingPSA #folktales #folklore #storytelling

Today is #InvisibleWorkDay, raising awareness of the invisible, unpaid labor done within the home/family or in workplaces. Very often by women.

On this day I'd like to note that there's an entire folktale type dedicated to this. In these tales a husband accuses his wife of "staying comfortably at home all day" while he works, so she suggests they swap for a day.

He learns very fast that caring for the household, children, animals, and food, is a full time job.

#StorytellingPSA #folktales

Hi, I'm a professional storyteller and here's today's PSA:

"How about Stone Soup?" is the "Have you tried yoga?" of storytelling advice.

#storytelling #folktales #StorytellingPSA

#StorytellingPSA

Beginner storytellers often ask me for advice on how to prepare for performances. So here it is:

Tighten your bra straps.

#storytelling #performance #LearningFromMyMistakes

That article about "some fairy tales are 4000 years old!" refuses to die. It was published 7 years ago, and it still keeps resurfacing. It is the Vanishing Hitchhiker of folktale news.

So, here is the blog post I wrote back then, arguing with some of the points:
http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2016/01/so-about-those-bronze-age-fairy-tales.html

#StorytellingPSA #folklore #folktales #storytelling

Actually, I'm not done.

#StorytellingPSA: If you don't like a tale, check for variants. 🤷‍♀️ I guarantee that any part you don't like is exchangeable.
Let's try Snow White.

Don't like she's rescued by a prince?
There are versions when another woman, or her own father rescues her.

Don't like she marries a stranger?
There are versions where she marries one of the Dwarves.

Don't like the kiss?
The kiss is not even in the folktale, that's all Disney.

I can keep going.

#folktales #storytelling

*Sigh*
People keep sharing this article about an app "censoring" fairy tales.
It's spectacular that it gets concepts wildly wrong on BOTH sides of the argument.
So once more for the people in the back:

1. Adapting a story is not "censorship"
2. Stop making blanket claims about "outdated" tales based on a 10-story basic European canon!
3. That study about "4,000 year old tales" was horribly flawed, btw.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/actress-kara-tointons-woke-story-telling-app-censors-inappropriate-fairytales-in/?fbclid=IwAR0FHUokyiwjbfGmLcKL7rzYcxsviyV0KQvv7pRQZ_bcE7bps-AaVcL4aNM

#folklore #folktales #FairyTales #storytellingPSA #storytelling

Hi, I'm a storyteller and here's today's PSA:

When you travel somewhere new, get a book of local folktales / legends. It will fill the place with things you recognize faster than any guide book. Stories are attached to landscape even when they don't seem to be.

#StorytellingPSA #storytelling #folklore #books

Hi, I'm a storyteller and here's today's PSA:

If you put down pillows for the kids in the audience, there WILL be a pillowfight.

I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, but it is always a thing 😄

#StorytellingPSA #storytelling #kids

Oh, I've got another one.

Hi, I'm a storyteller and here's today's PSA:

If you honestly believe that AI will one day take over a storyteller's job, you have no idea what storytelling is really about.

(Yes, multiple people have made that prediction to me.)

#StorytellingPSA #storytelling #AI #AIArt

Hi, I'm a storyteller and here's today's PSA:

"Damsel in distress waiting to be rescued" is not nearly as common in folktales as people make it out to be.

And in the one stereotypical story everyone quotes (Rapunzel in the tower), she is not even rescued by the guy.

#storytelling #StorytellingPSA #folklore #folktales

Hi, I'm a storyteller, and here is today's PSA:

Happy endings are not a weakness.
Happy endings are not a silly thing for people who can't handle reality.
Happy endings don't make a story any less serious or artistic.

Stories with happy endings have an important part to play in our emotional wellbeing.

#StorytellingPSA #storytelling

Hi, I'm a storyteller and here's today's PSA:

Recording a video as a storyteller is a pain in the ass. There is no audience interaction, you are staring into the void, not getting any reactions back, and mistakes that would be natural in a live telling become glaringly obvious.

Don't make a storyteller do this unless you absolutely have to.

#storytelling #StorytellingPSA

Hi, I'm a professional storyteller and here's today's PSA:

If you're taking photographs of a storyteller, don't get between them and the audience.

Storytelling is an interactive art form. We are connected with the audience, even when they are quiet. Don't disrupt the connection, especially not at high points in the story.

#StorytellingPSA #storytelling #storyteller

Hello all!
My name is Csenge, I am a professional storyteller and author from Hungary. I post about folktales, mythology, storytelling, role-playing games, and general nerdy stuff.

Things I usually post:

#FolktaleMoment: snippets of tales I am researching

#StorySpotting: blog posts about folktales spotted in popular media

#StorytellingPSA: comments of the life of a professional storyteller

#GirlInTheChair: research help for all your folklore needs :)

#introduction