Stories: Why Tell Them?

I'm scheduled to lead a "Storytelling 101" workshop in a few weeks, and I've been considering how to approach the topic. It's not for storytellers--it's for a writers conference. So what would writers like to know about storytelling? Will they come because they want to tell stories, or because they want to write them? What are the differences between the written word and the spoken word? What drives a person to do one or the other? Can a person be successful at both?

Those are the questions I've been asking myself as I prepare for the conference. I started as a storyteller, then began writing stories and poems. Oddly, I seldom write on paper (or computer) a story I tell. Why? What's the defining difference to me between the written tale and the told tale? Is there a difference?

As I mull over these ideas, it occurs to me that to be a storyteller, one must listen. A writer must also listen for the stories surrounding the idea in his or her head.

A storyteller must passionately want to share something with others--an idea, a joke, a memory, a lesson--something is pushing that story to the mind and the lips. A writer also has something to share--a story that defines itself in shaped words and phrases, developed characters, vivid places.

A storyteller is not someone who wants to be listened to, who wants to get the attention of others because they are funny, interesting, or great performers. Performers belong in drama, theatre. Storytellers are the conduit of the tale, passing on stories from generation to generation.

A writer is likewise invisible to the reader. The words, character, plot take over the stage, act out the tale and leave the message behind for anyone who wants to seek it out.

So much the same, yet so different. How will I bring these writers to the storytelling table? By telling stories, I think, letting them share the magic, bringing them into the circle of tellers that extends into the darkness before time.