The Art of Campfire Storytelling
To this day I can still recall sitting around the campfire at Bear-Gulch near Ashton Idaho and listening to the best story telling Scoutmaster in the world (Mr Davis) as he spun a yarn about the Side-Hill Galoots that lived in those mountains and if you saw their beady red eyes galooting towards you, it was too late!
That story stuck with me for years!
There is something about sitting around the glow of the campfire in the woods that transforms human beings into moths being drawn to the light. Your attention is focused on the crackling and pop of the wood being burnt along with the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees. Just as it starts to get darker and the flames start to glow lower… you now have the perfect backdrop for your campfire story.
Some of the best storytellers suggest the following tips
The storyteller must enjoy telling the story
Be in front of the audience, close enough to make eye contact.
Set a quiet mood. This also involves lights. Make sure that your audience keeps their flashlights in their pockets. You should also do the same. The spooky story with the glowing face of the storyteller kills the atmosphere.
Wait until the fire is just about burnt out. You’ll have their attention as their minds start to get tired.
Don’t be monotone. Scream when it's time to scream and try to use different variations of your voice when multiple characters are having a dialogue.
Use new material so to avoid the “I’ve already heard this one… let me guess, he had a hook for a hand, right!”
Don’t make it gory… that's just gross. Most of the time the thing that is the scariest for the person listening to the story is the fact that it's dark, the fire is almost out, and I can’t see anything past the closest tree.
Doug Wood (a master storyteller) says, “The key is to forget the rest of the story. Make it up as you go. Use your imagination, embellish, change the names, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you remember where you're going. Try to make the story your own. If you plot along trying to remember it word for word, you’ll forget. It won’t make sense any more. It’s like a canoe trip: You look in the distance to see where you’re going, and then you figure out how to get there.”
Back to Mr. Davis, my Scoutmaster from when I was a youth. He taught us the 20/80 rule when it comes to making up our own stories. 20% of the story should be based off of real events and places. The other remaining 80% should be complete fabrication.
Back in 1997 and 1998, I was a staff member at Island Park Scout Camp up by Yellowstone in the Grand Teton Council. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were my absolute favorite as we would meet at the trading post and take troops out on night hikes and tell them a story out in the darkness of the forest. The stories that I was involved in telling were; Lizigator, Homestead, Grizzly Gulch, and the all time favorite C.W. Black. To this day I still rotate through these stories that I learned when I was 17 and 18 and tell them to my Scouts around the campfire. Is my storytelling exactly word for word as what it was 20 years ago… no! But that is the beauty of campfire storytelling. The story evolves. Names change (except for the main characters), settings change, and even the plot can change from the original. Feed off of what your audience is reacting too. And the most important rule… Don’t have a flop of an ending! The ending of C.W Black always has the scouts jumping out of their camp chairs. I had one case of a scout falling backwards in his camp chair!
Keep it simple, make it memorable, and enjoy telling your story.