Welcome to Story Circles.
A place to listen and be heard.
Storytelling is a timeless way we’ve passed on culture and wisdom, conveyed experience, expressed feelings and generated understanding.
Our lives are rich with experiences that others can benefit from hearing, but often we don’t have the platform to share these with our wider community. Listening to other people’s life experiences can generate understanding and inform us about our own.
Our stories are precious cargo. We don’t need to be ‘writers’ or have any previous writing experience to tell our own life stories.
Have you overcome a situation you thought would break you? When were you really brave? Loving? Risk-taking? Wild? Grieving? We’ve all known struggle and success. We’d love to hear your stories.
How It Works.
Every Story Circle event has a theme. The theme for each upcoming Story Circle is on the Events page.
The challenge and delight, is to write a story from your life that is inspired by the theme.
Your story needs to 600 words or less. A 600-word story takes around 6 to 7 minutes to read out. There will be a few minutes for engagement after each story.
Keeping to the wordcount and timing is important so as many people as possible get to read.
FAQ’s.
Why are we writing and not just talking?
Because we can all waffle and ramble. We can easily get sidetracked and caught up in details that aren’t really important, then we miss the real nugget of our story.
When we write, we have a chance to contemplate and decide what is most important. We can stay on point more easily. We get to craft and select content and language.
Do I have to read out a story to come?
No, you can just come and listen.
I haven’t written anything since school. How do I write a story?
No worries. You don’t need to be a writer to come. You just need to give it your best shot and see what happens. There are some writing tips below.
How do pay?
$10 cash at the door. If this is hard for you, less is welcome too.
Do I need to book?
No, just come.
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Write about an experience, An event. Not an opinion piece or article. Keep it personal, about you. You are the main character. Keep the story lens up close.
Think about the challenges you faced and how these may have gained momentum and got even harder.
What was the tuning point?
How did things start to change?
How did the challenges resolve, internally and externally?
You don’t have to follow this format. If your story takes a different route, that’s okay too. Write it your way.
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Take out sentences that are more or less saying the same thing.
Take out details that are not really important for the story.
Try halving the wordcount of your story. What happens?
Read it out loud and record it. How long does it take? when you listen, consider if there’s anything you’d like to change to make it stronger or flow better.
Don’t be afraid to draft and rewrite. This all part of writing.
As most of us get nervous reading in front of people, practise. Breathe, imagine you’re reading your story to a child and take your time.
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What would you like your listeners to feel?
What feelings does your story generate?
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Stories can generate fear, hopelessness, despair and anxiety. I’ve read stories that left me stuck in the emotional violence of the piece. Suffering, trauma and shocking the reader seemed to be the major focus and as I see it, this isn’t healthy or helpful. I’m not suggesting that we don’t write about difficult or traumatic events. I’m suggesting that we don’t reinforce trauma by disproportionately focusing on it. Please do not dwell on emotional or physical violence, fear or trauma. Pay close attention to the balance of the story. How did situations evolve and change?
Story Circles exists to generate understanding, empathy and connection. For further clarity please read the Alchemy of Storytelling page.