Yesterday Bea and I went to see Donald Davis tell stories at Fearrington Barn. Hosted by McIntyre’s Bookshop, this annual event has been happening for 33 years, and is traditionally Donald Davis’s last stop on his national storytelling tour. Some people in the audience had been more than a dozen times, and for some people it was their first time. We think this was our third, but we’ve also been listening to Donald Davis stories on audiobook (borrowed from the library) for years.
Born in 1944 in Waynesville, NC, Donald Davis tells stories about growing up in a small town, with lots of family around—a “mess,” he said, was the counting term for cousins. Many of his stories center on getting in trouble with his little brother Joe (unlike his parents, who had ten or twelve siblings each, Donald had just one brother). But some of his stories are also inherited, favorite stories told by his parents about what life was like growing up for them—and these are just as captivating, and maybe even more special, because they go farther back in time and because they have this burnished feel—the details polished up by their many tellings and retellings within the Davis family.
The first story he told started like this: “My dad was born in 1901…” I won’t ruin it for you in case you’re going to the event today (there are still tickets! All proceeds benefit the CORA food bank!), but it was about a big snowstorm in 1908, seven school-aged Davises walking to school, the “new monya” (how his dad spelled pneumonia in his journal), a big bearded grandpa, and a bear. Like most good stories, it twisted and turned and went unexpected places, and people in the audience gasped, laughed, and nodded at moments that felt familiar from their own lives.
Now, Donald Davis is a champion storyteller—a wonderful accent, perfect pacing, plus that deep well of stories to draw on (before becoming a full-time professional storyteller, he was a minister). Bea and I watched closely, and made this list of things we noticed about what made his stories great, for the next time you’re at a family dinner or standing around a campfire:
How to tell a good story:
First, make sure you’ve got your audience’s attention. Maybe ask them about the story you have in mind: “Do you guys want to hear about the time Julius escaped three times on the way to the vet?”
Some stories need to be told standing up. I thought about it, and Uncle Skipper (a great storyteller) almost always tells his stories standing up. This makes it easier to gesticulate—an important part of storytelling!
Use dates and ages, especially if you’re talking about a long time ago, and get right into it (“My dad was born in 1901”). The best stories don’t need to tell us how you felt or how you interpreted the event, because the details make it clear. For example, instead of saying “Kids were very independent when my dad was growing up,” Donald said, “The teacher didn’t think a seven-year-old coughing his head off should walk himself all the way home in a snowstorm, so he sent my Aunt Mary with him. She was five.”
The audience will love to hear the little sensory details about your house or the setting: the darkness of the closet you hid in, the candy you saved for four months and what it tasted like (good or bad), the smell of the orange peel you saved. Food is a great thing to tell about in a story. Same with extremes of weather.
Don’t make yourself the hero—the best stories we tell on ourselves show the ups and the downs of life. Also, understatement is really funny. When Donald told us about using every bit of his mother’s Chanel No. 5 in a “chemistry” mixture, he didn’t say that she ran so fast into the house when she smelled it, he said, “She came in from hanging the clothes, and she wasn’t walking.”
Even better than telling a great story, is of course being told one—which you can maybe use, once you learn it well enough. The holidays are the perfect time to ask your parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles about their childhoods and what growing up was like for them. We put together this list of questions to ask while you’re visiting (and plan to use it ourselves)…
How to collect a good story:
“Tell me about” is a great way to get someone talking. Tell me about growing up in… Tell me about your grandpa/grandma/favorite teacher….
Do you remember a big snowstorm/flood/weather event? Did it used to snow a lot where you grew up? What did you do in the wintertime for fun?
When did you get in a lot of trouble? Or, what’s the worst trouble you were ever in? What was your punishment?
What’s a present you really wanted, and did you get it?
What did you get in your stocking when you were little? Or, what were traditions your family had when you were little that meant a lot to you?
Where did your family shop for the holidays? What was that like?
What’s your favorite wintertime wild animal sighting? Or, when did you see an animal that really surprised you?
How long were your winter school breaks? What did you do for fun when you had winter break from school?
Don’t forget the highest compliment you can give a storyteller: asking them to tell a story you’ve already heard before. To be the teller of a favorite story is a great position in a family.
As Donald Davis said, at the end of one of his stories, “That pig would have fed us for one night. But instead we got a story, and a story will feed us forever.”
We hope you get some great stories from your families and friends! What are your favorite stories to tell? One of ours, told differently and well by both Bea and Harriet, is the aforementioned trip to the vet that ended with this much-needed bath:
Another good tool in story telling is exaggeration. I saw Donald Davis at a story telling workshop along with Antonio Rocha telling this great story (below). What a wonderful experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch0JQxTfruc&ab_channel=storytellermime
I love the story about Julius and the trip to the vet! I can listen to it over and over again and the photo of Bea bathing Julius is the explanation point at the end of the story !
I love FTT !