The trick to be a better storyteller - What writing Adventures of Ella Elephant taught me

Have you ever challenged yourself to write a story every day?

Try it - call it (Your Name's) Daily Story Challenge.

And make it around random subjects.

Here's how:

• Look at a random thing around you (a stone, a ball, a tree...)
• Switch on your phone's voice recorder
• Tell your story with the random thing you've chosen as the hero
• Keep an audience in mind when you tell your story (kids, teens, adults)
• Keep doing it every day for a week or two

TIP: Make the subject of your story the first thing your eyes fall on.

 

At the end of the exercise, you'd be a much better storyteller.

Adventures of Ella Elephant was born off this method.

But rather than me challenging myself, it was my baby who forced me to tell random stories.

Whenever she ate chocolate (which was every day), she wanted stories - off totally random things.

“Storeee dadeeee,” she’d go.

And she’d look around her. The first random thing that her eyes fell on would be the subject of the story for that day.

The ceiling fan, the coconut tree, the window, the crow, the toy cement mixer…

Occasionally, it would even be an episode of Peppa Pig or Masha and the Bear that I had never seen... the list was as random as it was challenging.

Sometimes she let me choose.

On one such day, the first thing my eyes fell on was an elephant.

I called her Ella.

Little did I know then that it was the beginning of Adventures of Ella Elephant. 

You can get the kindle version on Amazon.

It’ll be a fun ride for your little one, I can promise you that.