Mary Medlicott, Storyteller and Author - Storyworks

Storytelling Starters – Pick a Card

Making up stories is something many people are nervous of doing. Yet, as I hope my blogs over the last few weeks have demonstrated, there are lots of painless ways to practise. And anyway, what does it matter if your story isn’t the best that’s ever been created? The fun lies in the doing. And the doing teaches you an awful lot about the way stories work. 

Story Cards

This week I’m writing about story cards as a beguiling way to play with stories.

One box set I keep in my study is called Life Stories. It encourages reminiscence: Remember the time …

Another box set is Edward de Bono’s Think Links. It has two separate sets of cards inside, one with pictures, one with words. These can provide the basis for all kinds of games, including storytelling games. I used to use it a lot with one of my four god-daughters when she was at Primary School. At a very young age, she displayed a talent for stories. I especially remember her suddenly introducing a sophisticated flashback into a story we were creating together.

More fun in my experience than the box sets you buy is to create your own set of cards. I’ve done this in adult workshops and also with children. Either in groups or on their own, people begin by brainstorming what kinds of things might be found in stories. Fairy stories make a good genre of story to use. Cavern … dragon … pearl… princess: the participants then use felt-tip pens to write the concepts that spring into their minds onto a large sheet of paper. After that, they choose about six of the words to create their own personal set of story cards. File cards in different colours are perfect for the purpose. Each chosen word goes on a separate piece of card.

After the preparation comes the fun. Play around with the cards, arrange them into an order, then perhaps re-arrange them to experiment with what different ideas and feelings the changes in sequence produce in your mind. Stop when you’re satisfied with what you’ve got. And already by that point you may be feeling that your sequence has carried you half-way along towards making up a new story. And of course the story may be reminiscent of others. That’s how the world of stories survives.

This week, I’ve taken photos of each card in a set I created for using with adults or children.

Why not use these words to make your own set of cards and see what story you come up with?

Then tell the story to someone else.

Or get them to make up their own different story. Then why not email me the story you’ve made? It would be fun for me and I’d love the feedback.

Next Week: Let’s Move – the last in my series on Storytelling Games

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