See a photo of Cathryn, her bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A.

Q&A with Cathryn Wellner, Question 2:

Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it?

A: I dived into storytelling as a survival mechanism. I’d been a high school librarian and had told stories as a way of getting teenagers to read. I didn’t think of it as storytelling. I was doing “book talks.”

Then I spent a year in Germany and decided that when I came back I wanted to try working with young children. The school district reluctantly agreed and put me in the one vacant spot, a school with kindergarten through third grade. I had no early-childhood education and no experience working with little ones.

It didn’t take long for me to realize they didn’t need the Dewey Decimal system, at least not yet. They needed stories. Two years later I moved from Rochester, New York, to Seattle, Washington. By that time I’d become involved in a storytelling guild and felt as if I’d found my vocation. For the next 10 years, storytelling was my life.

Then one of those Major Life Transitions took me to Vancouver Island. I performed and taught storytelling classes and workshops. Then came another uprooting, to a ranch in Cariboo, in the heart of British Columbia. I no longer easy access to storytelling venues. What I did have was animals to feed and bills to pay.

That’s when I started doing community development. To be honest, I didn’t even know what it was, but I was desperate. I applied for the first contract that sounded like something I could do. The hiring organization didn’t know I was suffering from impostor syndrome. Three months later, they hired me to run the organization.

I gradually stopped discounting the value of storytelling to my work because I saw how effective it was in presentations to city councils, funders, media, and evaluators.

In a rural area, organizations don’t have the luxury of a large pool of consultants. Demands on my time grew to the point I decided to go freelance. I never had to look for work. Somehow it always found me. And it was always heavily influenced by storytelling. It didn’t take me long to realize that community development is about stories. When an existing story is no longer working or is not large enough, sometimes an outsider can help the group identify a new story that will move them forward.

So storytelling became the underpinning of everything I did. When I look back on the unexpected twists and turns of my professional life, I feel extraordinarily lucky. Storytelling allowed me to be happily employed, doing what I loved. Initially, I thought that meant performing and workshops. When that morphed into the world of community development, I realized I’d found my niche and have been happy in that ever since.

I first encountered Cathryn Wellner last year when she sent me an e-mail critical of my 9-11 blog post; I subsequently published her response as its own entry. We’ve kept in touch and become connected on some social-media venues. She is a powerhouse of thought and writing about storytelling and other topics. I’m so pleased to present this Q&A with Cathryn, which will run over the next five days.

Bio: Cathryn Wellner began her professional career as a French teacher and school librarian, in Idaho, Washington, and New York. She traveled for 10 years as a storyteller and workshop leader, mostly in the U.S., but also in Europe, the UK, and Canada. After moving to Canada, she spent 13 years as an organic farmer, small-scale rancher, and, when she realized community organizing was really about stories, a community developer. After serving as the first Project Coordinator for HEAL (Healthy Eating and Active Living in Northern British Columbia), she moved to Oakland, California to be storytelling director for Stagebridge (America’s oldest senior theatre troupe). She returned to BC to take on the post of food and health manager for Interior Health. She now lives in the beautiful Okanagan Valley and focuses full-time on storytelling and writing. She has three blogs on the go: Story Route, Catching Courage, and Crossroads.

Q&A with Cathryn Wellner, Question 1:

Q: On your bio page, you talk about transitioning from a performance storyteller to an organizational storytelling consultant: “Then I realized the secret. It was all about stories. I was in a rural community that needed to be able to tell compelling stories to urban bureaucrats, politicians, project funders, and its own citizens.” How did you come to this realization? Can you elaborate on how you applied your experience as a performance storyteller to your new career? Do you still do any performance storytelling?

A: The realization was not instantaneous. For the first while, I had the usual worries: Someone would find out I was actually a storyteller masquerading as a community developer. Then it would be game up.

What happened instead was that I began to insert stories into presentations and to use storytelling techniques to prepare reports. It wasn’t long before I was seen as a storytelling community developer. Or was it a community organizing storyteller?

As a performer, I’d always loved that moment when the room goes still, when it almost feels as if everyone in the room is breathing together. When I added stories to my community development presentations or used the narrative arc to frame a report, I experienced that same stillness, that total attention.

From that point on, my performance storytelling has taken a back seat. I still do it occasionally, sometimes as a guest who’s asked to tell a few stories, sometimes in performance. But my focus has been on storytelling as a means of sharing the extraordinary work done by people and organizations working for the good of community.

See a photo of David, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Q&A with David Kennedy, Question 6:

Q: You write in a blog entry listing three ways storytelling and social media are alike: “Both offer the opportunity to follow characters. Admit it, we stick with stories or visit social media profiles because we enjoy seeing what the characters there do next.” What are some ways people can develop their “characters” in social media? Should people keep “personal branding” in mind when presenting their “characters” in social media?

A: You should keep personal branding in mind when you engage in social media. You can really paint a picture of who you are there. But don’t just jump onto social media because you think you should. Do it because you are passionate about something. Then share that.

As you develop your character, keep these things in mind:

• Genuineness trumps all else. Be who you are, not who you think you should be. That also means that if you establish your character as a “biker type,” you probably shouldn’t flip the switch one day and become the “super mom type” That is unless your the biker/super-mom type. 🙂

• Be human. That means be courteous and thank people. Share your work and the work of others you admire. Remember, it’s not all about you.

• Don’t be completely predictable. People follow characters to see what they do next. Throw a surprise out there every once in awhile. You’ll seem more genuine.

See a photo of David, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3.

Q&A with David Kennedy, Question 5:

Q: What future trends or directions to do foresee for story/storytelling/narrative? What’s next for the discipline?

A: The web is really driving storytelling now. It has changed everything. Television, newspapers, books and word of mouth have all begun a fast-paced evolution because of it. All these traditional and modern-day storytelling avenues will continue to change at a rapid rate. Here are my two big predictions and observations:

• Stories will continue to become more “collaborative.” The web has connected us like nothing has before. As more people gain Internet access, thanks to mobile technology, the stories of society as a whole, of organizations, of brands, of individuals and the stories we tell for pure entertainment will become more of a organic, team-like process. The ability of any of these types of stories to exist on their own has long since gone. Different messages and values will intermingle with all of these, creating communities, small and large all over the world. The ability of stories to have a true, powerful impact will depend upon how well a community’s different authors embrace each other as co-creators.

• People will demand “honesty” from stories. Again, the Internet has connected people in new and incredible ways. It’s easier than ever to ferret out the truth because we now have the wisdom of the crowd. I’m not just speaking about non-fiction and journalistic stories when I say honesty either. It’s harder and harder to hide the truth because of the wisdom of crowds, but it’s also more difficult than ever to tell a story (that really reaches a lot of people, and makes an impact) without putting some “heart” into it. So, honesty also means sincerity in this case as well.

See a photo of David, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.

Q&A with David Kennedy, Questions 3 and 4:

Q: The storytelling movement seems to be growing explosively. Why now? What is it about this moment in human history and culture that makes storytelling so resonant with so many people right now?

A: Think about it. Stories are how we communicate and how we’ve always communicated. Cave paintings came about as one of the first ways humans told their stories and the Internet is no different from that. One of my colleagues, Paul Wagner, calls Wikipedia society’s digital cave paintings. So in a sense, we’ve come full circle. Stories work.

They resonate because they are part of us, and our history. There’s a tremendous amount of information available today, thanks to the web. So people grasp the things that truly mean something to them. Most of the time, that’s a story. Stories have characters, emotion, twist and turns. More importantly, a good story gives us context, more meaning than most forms of communication.

Q: If you could share just one piece of advice or wisdom about story/storytelling/narrative with readers, what would it be?

A: Embrace your own story. Without it, your are lost. If you are lost, you can’t tell stories very well at all.

And realize your story is a process. Trust it. Sometimes, you won’t have a clue as to where your own plot is headed, but hey, isn’t that fun? I think it’s glorious. Because there are never any right or wrong words in YOUR story. The only thing that matters is what you take away from each twist and turn.

See a photo of David, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A.

Q&A with David Kennedy, Question 2:

Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it?

A: I wrote a book in the second grade about my Dad and his time in the U.S. Air Force. It mixed truth and fiction, and included my own illustrations. We created our own book covers and bound the books as well, so in the end, it was like a real book.

Looking back, I was enamored by the notion that I could string 26 characters into words, sentences and paragraphs that made sense, and took readers on a journey. I’ve always been a dreamer, embarking on journeys of my own, so I want to enable people to do the same. And that’s really what I love about stories and narrative — the idea that people can go on a journey and learn something that could potentially change them in a dramatic way.

I was drawn to David Kennedy because his academic path — with storytelling at its center — is not unlike my own PhD program. He also grew up in DeLand, FL, where I lived for the last 18 years before moving to Kettle Falls, WA. This Q&A with him will run for the next five days.

Bio: David A. Kennedy is a multimedia specialist with a master’s degree in interactive media from Elon University. He was born in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and has worked as both a journalist and copywriter, writing for magazines, newspapers and corporations. Nothing enthralls him more than a good story, so he writes, hoping to enthrall others. To find out more about him and his work, visit his website and his blog, (e)INTERtain.

Q&A with David Kennedy, Question 1:

Q: You are pursuing my master’s degree in interactive media from Elon University. To what extent has storytelling been part of your master’s program? You list some possible fields you might want to get into upon your upcoming graduation. How is that thinking developing, and to what extent do you feel storytelling will be part of your future work?

A: I chose to pursue this degree because storytelling exists at its core. I originally wanted to obtain a MFA in creative writing. But every time I tried to finally decide on that path, it didn’t feel right. And I couldn’t shake that. Until I discovered Elon’s program.

To me, interactive media represents storytelling’s future. I wanted to be a part of that. I’m not saying creative writing is a dead form of storytelling either. I still get out my pen and write poetry or song lyrics longhand. But creative writing is just one aspect of interactive media, and to take on the challenge in integrating images, audio and technical tools with writing, my first love… well, it’s a challenge I couldn’t resist.

Look at my multimedia portfolio; there’s a story in every one of those projects. It’s at the core of how we communicate.

I graduate May 20, and don’t have a clear path in front of me yet. But I know, no matter what, storytelling will be at the center of whatever I do. Whether it’s multimedia journalism, digital public relations, educational technology or something else, I can’t not tell a story. I’m a writer at heart, but all writers are storytellers.

Paul Auster, one of my favorite authors, said this: “Becoming a writer is not a “career decision” like becoming a doctor or a policeman. You don’t choose it so much as get chosen, and once you accept the fact that you’re not fit for anything else, you have to be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your days.”

No matter what, I’ll keep walking that road.