The Art of Story Telling -- Hints and Techniques

Reviewed by Cheri Eastwood

The Art of Storytelling is a site packed full of information about storytelling and its considerations from ethics to story resources and organizations for storytellers. This page is one of at least three sites authored by Barry McWilliams who, among other things is a storyteller and missionary. The site is divided into four sections including hints on techniques, online storytelling resources, storytelling organizations and publications, and links to other storyteller's web pages. There are a few broken links which indicates the site has not been thoroughly updated recently, but it provides a well-rounded wealth of information about storytelling for beginners as well as seasoned tellers. McWilliams can easily be contacted by the e-mail link at the bottom of the page. The following quote made a good impression on the reviewer, "Story tellers must also be story listeners. Finding a story is the first step. Then the story should be studied and connected to its roots, whether an author, a culture or a folk tradition. Proper storytelling etiquette requires giving credit to sources and respecting copyrights. Gradually the story takes on a personal meanings within. Then the story teller can begin to tell it as his or her own." (Barry McWilliams) from http://www.eldrbarry.net/rabb/joy.htm a link from the page being reviewed. The site is very simple with little use of color or graphics, and provides navigation links at the bottom of each page to return to the main site or other sites by the author. Information from other storytellers is included and cited in the linked pages within this site. This is a very useful site.

Reviewed by Pennie Lange

Accuracy-
The site was created and edited by an individual that has a personal interest in storytelling. There is no reliable affiliation to any source.

Authority-
Although the author’s income does not stem from storytelling, he was an associate pastor. I could not find any indication of his storytelling experience outside of his preaching experience.

Objectivity-
The author creates most of the links. The rest are a random compilation of what he deems best. It seems like a site of personal favorites.

Currency-
The site was created in 1997. There are several dead links, but overall okay.

Topics-
A narrower focus on what the author knows from experience would have created a more authoritative site (e.g. ministry, bible school). There was a link to one list-serve, again a personal favorite. There are several nice resources, but I had to hunt through a pool of links to find them. I think this site could be useful to people interested in the role of storytelling in the Christian church. However, I found the site to be cluttered, with too many random links.

Reviewed by Mary Preston

One of the websites I reviewed was “The Art of Storytelling”, url address http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/art.htm by Barry McWilliams. Within the website, one can find accurate information on storytelling practices and techniques. It is evident that great care was expended with the creation and maintenance of the website by the links on the page (especially a link to the personal homepage of Barry McWilliams). As I perused the website and followed the links, I found a variety of storytelling information for the many storytelling situations one may encounter, despite the creator’s background (which is church-affiliated). There are links for storytelling in church settings, nursery settings, and classroom settings. There are even links for storytelling performances to young adults and links for beginners, as well. One of the best sites is “Eldrbarry’s Joy of Storytelling”. This site links the user to a host of other very useful sites, like “Snow White” stories, that exposes the user to different versions of the tale and controversial viewpoints. Probably my favorite link is “Stories, Legends, and Folktales from Around the World”. African, Columbian, Indian, and Chinese stories are featured and make a great reference for the public and school librarians. Each country has their own set of stories and pictures from the culture, which makes it doubly interesting, grace the page. The best point about visiting all the web pages is that each one leads the user to another link. Another cool site on the page is http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/loreindx.html . This is a Native American site and the song that is played is haunting, but authentic. The site has scores of Native American stories that coincide with different tribes. The topics found on the website range from studies in nature, bible stories, Australian and Jewish folklore, professional storyteller profiles, and articles about the profession. One of the professional storyteller sites, Kay E. Vandergrift’s site, is a site that is loaded with information for librarians on the importance of biographies and works for the young adult, children’s literature, and issues such as censorship are explored. The greatest challenge on the master site is non-working links. About a third of the sites found on the master page are dead links, but the other sites make up for those not working. The other piece of good news is that sites appear to be current by the dates found on them. Overall, this is a wonderful resource for storytellers who are seeking a diverse amount of professional information.

Reviewed by Sarah Timmerman

This website was assembled by Barry McWilliams. Although he doesn't have a storytelling education he does seem knowledgeable about storytelling. This site is mainly a storytelling index. It has links to storytelling basics and techniques, storytelling resources online, storytelling organizations and publications and storyteller pages. The site is free and registration is not required. Many of the links are currently not working since the site has not been updated since 1997. The links that are working mostly lead to sites of other storytellers. This site does have a link to the author's homepage where much more storyteller information is given. The site is easy to read and navigate and lists the author's email address. All in all, this site is useful, but there are probably more up to date sites that could be even more useful.