[This post has been published to the
past using blogger's scheduling feature]
Time with Bill Lepp was much different
than the experience at the International Storytelling Center last
night. Bill's stories were most entertaining, but of greatest value
was the time with him afterward. What follows are a few of the
stand-out moments from that time.
Bill is concerned with the believable.
Is the story, no matter how far-fetched, believable? He hammers this
point home with the metaphor that, “truth is a fluid: It holds the
shape of the vessel it is in.”
In his advice to us, he suggests that
we, “do something that other people aren't doing.” This can
represent a double-edged sword, however. As he, who is “locked”
[his word] into doing a particular type of story that he is now
famous for, has trouble veering too far off that course. He warns,
“once you get locked into a niche, you have to stay true to what
you started with.”
I felt the most encouraged that Bill's
struggles are my struggles, namely:
It can take six to eighteen to
twenty-four months to craft a story
The stories told the most often are
the stories which require the most concentration
It takes telling a story five times in
front of an audience before it can be deemed good or bad.
Finally, Bill's advice that will serve
me the best is this: “If you want to say something controversial on
stage, make a character who says it, that way it is not you saying
it. Then leave it there.” Nice Bill. Nice.
-Bob
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