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provides a behavioral intonation of unsurpassed expression.

Secondly) practice their skill on every given opportunity. Children singing into hairbrushes in front of the mirror are acting out the initial skill of entertainment. Storytellers can learn much from these private bathroom auditions by reciting a story to a mirror. Study your facial expressions, use props (brush, hat, scarf, etc) that add to the story line and assist the message to implant in another's mind. Overact and emphasize your chosen story, just as a stage entertainer does. From the safety of a mirror, move on to reading and acting out to a small group of willing listeners. Study the relationship between the story and the listener. Are the listeners involved or are they merely entertained by your antics? Involvement with the story is the desired outcome. While entertainment is a sub ability, the storytelling ability is the goal of success. Does your audience frown at frownable moments, mist up at the sadness of the words, laugh, yell or register disbelief in accordance with character trials and tribulations? Does your audience copy your body's reaction to the words, or do they look away in embarrassment and boredom? Read your audience as though they are words from the story. These subjects are your mirror and your practice partners in your attempt to perfect your ability to story tell.

Thirdly) perfect the craft of storytelling ability by moving onto unsafe audiences (people you do not know so well). Audiences that will not protect your feelings; that will laugh at your amateur theatrics; that will scorn at your howling at the moon, are the critics required of your developing skill. Imagine you are deaf, ignore their words of scorn or praise and read their relationship with the story. Just as words on a page evoke strong feelings and body reactions within us, so too should storytelling create a visible relationship between words read and an audience experiencing them. The body reactions of your unsafe audience will tell you if your storytelling ability requires honing or if it has reached success.

Mime artists and Operas in unknown languages are tools that I continue to use to increase my storytelling ability. I feel their story without having to know what it is about or whether I have correctly understood it. This is the ultimate gain in storytelling ability.

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