How To Tell A Great Story.(Anna Deavere Smith on great storytelling)

Byline: INTERVIEWS BY CARA LITKE AND BROOKE LE POER TRENCH

An Interview With Anna Deavere Smith

Deavere Smith is an actress and playwright and the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant. Her one-woman shows, Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, are based on interviews and observations of real people and events.

By nature, a story is highly personal and can take time to tell, but a great storyteller knows how to edit. Share the highlights with your listeners. They will connect the rest of the dots.

Real time. In my work I'm always asking people to tell me their stories, and one thing I have noticed is that the best accounts slip into the present tense. Someone might say, "I'm crossing the street and this guy comes up to me, and he stands right in front of me!" That sense of immediacy hooks people.

Transform yourself. You don't have to be an actor to attempt an impression. If your story requires you to re-create a conversation, don't be afraid to speak as the other person. When children tell stories, they always act them out, which is something many of us lose because we're told not to raise our voices or move our hands too muchbut you have to do those things to make a story expressive and interesting. In becoming both narrator and performer, you can be so much more ...