"Please welcome our next storyteller to the stage—Derek MacDonald!"
Welp, here we go.
I got picked to tell a story at the Moth this week. Going to these monthly storytelling events has become something of a tradition for Isobel and me, and I've been working up the courage to put my name in. After coming across Moth champion, Matthew Dicks, on a podcast recently, I'd been practicing what he teaches about storytelling structure. I'm even using what I'm learning from his book, Storyworthy, in these BUDS emails and in my weekly essays.
My story went well! People clapped and congratulated me while I wove my way back to my seat. I'd surprised even myself—putting my name in and telling a story on stage was a huge win for me. Yet, I still felt like there was something different between me and the other storytellers. The words they used felt like a complete depiction of what they'd experienced... but mine felt more like a lawyer explaining defensible statements. I realized I'd been recounting evidence rather than reliving a memory.
From the third row, it dawned on me: how you share your side of the story depends on what you were asked as a kid when you got in trouble. For example, I was always asked, "why did you do that?" But the question everybody else seemed to be answering on that Moth stage was, "what happened?"
Telling a story was really fun. But discovering the difference between "why'd-you-do-that?" stories and "what happened?" stories? What a gift. That's what I'll be thinking about when formatting, framing, and refining my storytelling going forward.
onward.
-dmac