Story Swaps
Monthly Story Swap
The Portland Storytellers' Guild has decided to move to virtual swaps on Zoom year round!
Want to be part of the fun?
The swap is open to all, both listeners and tellers!
3rd Sunday at 3
Virtual swaps will be happening on the 3rd Sunday of the month at 3 PM Pacific Time.
To attend, Guild members will receive a link in an email a week before the swap and again a day before. If you aren’t a member and would like to participate in the swap, just e-mail psgswap@gmail.com and we will send you a link to the swap in a follow-up email.
You don't have to be a member to listen or tell -- just interested in storytelling.
Also, if you'd like to tell a 5-7 minute story in the swap, e-mail psgswap@gmail.com to get your name "in the hat". Beginners are encouraged! We'll fit in as many tellers as we can. We do ask that the stories be family friendly
Guidelines for the Portland Storytellers Guild Story Swap
We welcome the gift of new and seasoned tellers and listeners as we continue to grow our storytelling community.
Guidelines for tellers:
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Stories need to be 5 to 7 minutes long.
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Your time starts when you begin talking.
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Check with the swap host to see if additional time is needed.
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Be mindful of the host’s signals about time.
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Practice your story before you arrive.
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No reading or notes.
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Stories should have a planned beginning, middle, and end.
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Copyrighted material is fine for swaps but not for paid performances.
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Any kind of story is welcome:
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Personal
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Folktales
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Historical
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Literary
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Ask before you start telling if you want feedback about your story.
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Feel free to ask for positive feedback only.
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In the interests of allowing time for all tellers, please refrain from responding to feedback verbally. (You can always connect with someone personally afterwards.)
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Be specific about the kind of feedback you want. For example:
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Gestures
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Voice
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Content
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Ending
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No lewd or graphic content.
Guidelines for listeners:
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Expect success!
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Respect the wishes of the tellers regarding feedback.
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Try to be specific in your feedback.
(“I loved the king’s voice,” as opposed to, “Great story!”)
Suggestions for feedback
— I liked how you described…
— I liked the voice you used for…
— Your gestures were really effective when…
— Your pace was good…
— Your facial expressions added a lot
— I was a little confused when…
— I didn’t need quite so much detail about…
— I’d like to know more about…
— For me, the story really started when…
— You could play with slowing down/speeding up when you…