Recently I've been trying to think about game in a broader sense than just picking up women. My goal has been to build comfort and get people to open up.

It has occured to me that humor is an excellent way to do this and I've found that funny or interesting stories are a pretty good medium for starting up conversations and encouraging people to let thier gaurds down and to start speaking.

I know it is very important to use gestures and to incorporate emotions into any story.

Does anyone have any links to videos online about methods of story telling?

How about names of books?

I appreciate any help you all could give

CPT

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"Wait, so let me get this straight. One really big meal a day then we go to sleep, no paper towels but a little bit of bread because we're not Nazis and as many popsicles as we want."

I find that to be a good comedian one must possess the niche for storytelling, so it would do you well to watch comedians perform. There are loads of comedic acts on youtube. I advise you to pay attention to the gestures, motions, facial expressions, voice intonation, etc. to get a feel of how a good story is told. People are used to watching comedians as a whole and not paying attention to the detail, so it might be a little difficult to shift your view. It certainly is possible though. Keep in mind though, you have to maintain pua qualities. Here are some links to the comedians:


George carlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

richard pryor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txp8B4ek_kk

Steve Martin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGwxr7g1Wy4

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"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

LOL at the george carlin clip about religion!

thanks buddy

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"Wait, so let me get this straight. One really big meal a day then we go to sleep, no paper towels but a little bit of bread because we're not Nazis and as many popsicles as we want."

I've noticed a recurring thing in all people I know who are good story-tellers...
Exaggeration.

There's always some fact that is blown completely out of proportion.
And though people may know this, it seems it doesn't affect how they think of the teller.

So I've been trying lately to exaggerate some portion of the story, to see how that affects the listener.

It may be key, but then again, I'm not by any means an expert, yet ;P


Edit: Pryor may be a bit of a player, at least his father was according to his stories...
Have you heard how Pryor's dad died ?

I see story telling like fishing;
Hook the audience - This means making your story relevant and interesting to the audience, or if it is not interesting making it interesting (relevance, exaggeration, enthusiasm etc).


Start reeling - Common mistake, you have their attention they are listening you go off on a tangent and loose them or go back to the dull way you would usually tell stories.
Add elements to the story which will compel them to hear you out ("then the weird guy, actually I'll get to him later", "So I am sat there with this massive fucking box no idea what is in it" etc).
Also you need to be gauging the group, if one person looks bored draw them back in ("I am sure you know the type of person I am talking about", "I mean what do you think about that" etc).

Almost in the bag - This is when you can elaborate, get ridiculous with you gestures and enthusiasm. Ideally you will have been building them from a good level to an insane level and keeping the audience at the same level (like being on a ski lift, then the end part of the story is bombing it down the side of the mountain).
In this stage you want to tie up a few of the loose ends but save the real who-dunnit part till the last stage

In the bag - This stage is tying up loose ends, sprinkling some humor and releasing the energy you have built up in the set, so the story and telling of it seem like events in their own right.


Hope that helps

also, looking at someone that you find interesting and modeling yourself on them can be handy. For me it is pure Russell Brand his gestures are amazing.

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Troll the trolls
free book http://www.4shared.com/file/123140320/b ... ndows.html

So here's a convenient cooincidence. When i posted this, my second semester at school was just beggining. I'm taking a class on public speaking at the moment and I've found at least one useful book to share with you all.

It's business oriented, but the tips can help in any situation. The best part is that it's short and very illustrative. It has very good notes about posture and non-verbal communication. It has 180 pages of large typed font.

It's called The Exceptional Presenter by Timothy J Koegel

Here are some other tips i've found useful thus far:

Think of a funny story to tell and just keep practicing it. Record the way it sounds by using a mic and recording software. Pay attention to the inflection of your voice, the use of fillers (um.. uhhh... you know.. to be honest with you... etc) (if you don't have software for this just google Audacity... it's free and works great!)

After you feel comfortable with the way it sounds see how it looks. Video tape yourself telling the story and watch it play back on mute. If you are able to follow the emotions by watching your expressions and gestures your story will be moving in a great direction.

I practiced telling a story i found funny 25 times in 5 days. This morning I presented my speech (story) to my class and I got a lot of laughs and compliments on it after class.

Hope this helps for anyone that's curious and looking to improve!

CPT

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"Wait, so let me get this straight. One really big meal a day then we go to sleep, no paper towels but a little bit of bread because we're not Nazis and as many popsicles as we want."

Great advice casanovareborn. Great vids as well. Comics are a great way to learn how to tell stories. They also help you with comic timing which is a great added bonus.

here's my tips on it,

story is always about people, and people loves to hear about other people,, so try to act out the character is very important... you have to have different tone and facial expression for different character of your story, it makes the story better

I'd suggest to just look for humorous situations in your own life. The stories should be about nothing, they should be interesting and funny.

Like the other day. I emptied my pool out cause I was gonna presure clean it. Next morning I go down, and low and behold. I got this big spider looking back at me. I mean this thing was huge. Not as big as a tarantuala, but big and he's lookin at me and I'm looking at him. Did I mention I'm phobic of spiders?

So I figure screw it, I aint' in the mood to deal with him right now. So he's on his side and I'm on my side and I start the presure cleaning my side of the pool. But now I got my back to this spider and I start to thinking "Hmm,, I wonder if the son of a bitch is staying on his side?"

ANyways the story sort of goes on, I'm chasing him around with the pool strainer and and he's standing his ground fighting back. I finally got him outa there.. Unharmed. You get the idea.

I like that story because it shows.
I got a sense of humor
I'm a nice guy, didn't kill the spider
Oh, and I have a pool. "The association of the spider in the pool may not be good though".
It's a true story, so I could tell it a hundred times and nail it every time.

So I'm telling a story and promoting myself.

Always open with.

"Your never going to believe this"
OR
"Wait till you here this, the craziest thing happened to be yesterday"


Ie: build up the story to be good and you'll grab peoples attention.