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Why e publishing is reclaiming the ancient art of storytelling.
We all know someone who is good at telling stories. For me, it’s my dad. When little, I didn’t want stories from books - I wanted Dad’s stories of his childhood which were made exciting and thrilling by the antics of my mischievous Uncle Bob and the threat of a mythical baddie called Limpy Jim.
Oral stories traditionally serve two purposes, to warn us (Limpy Jim et al) and to entertain us, lifting us out of whatever depressing quagmire of reality we are presently in.
In history, there was no one more important than a story teller. There would be your elders, teaching you stories and rhymes to help you remember important agricultural information (red sky at night, shepherd’s delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning) but there would also be someone who would hold your focus around the fire whilst bitter winds howled outside, who could distract you from the fears of famine, flooding or any of the other threats which were all too real and possible.
Some of these story tellers became professional, setting their tales to music played on lutes and, if they didn’t have a wealthy patron…
