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" What do we get out of stories? We live in a time when we&amp;#039;re inundated with stories-- in ads, in songs, on the Internet-- and because they&amp;#039;re all competing for our attention, they tend to have overbright characters and hyped-up plots; it&amp;#039;s too much to take in, so it just sounds like noise. In the rare case when we do come across a story with human-scale characters that feel like you and me, and a way of unfolding that makes it possible to imagine what it would be like to be in that situation, we really notice it, and it speaks to our heart. In ways that news reports and debates can&amp;#039;t, great stories help the world around us make sense to us. What qualities do really good storytellers possess? Skillful storytellers know how to dramatize something in a way that feels real. They engage you by getting the action going and giving you a play-by-play of exactly what happened and what each person said. They use their own voices rather than taking on some sort of &amp;quot;storyteller&amp;quot; persona. Even when you&amp;#039;re just telling a friend about something that happened to you today, it&amp;#039;s important to keep a grasp on the why-- what&amp;#039;s exciting about your story that makes it worth telling? Understanding those stakes, and noticing and responding to the reactions of your listeners, will guide you through the telling. How can we enrich our holidays with storytelling? A nice thing about the holidays is that everyone&amp;#039;s together, and it&amp;#039;s a time for officially sanctioned storytelling, which doesn&amp;#039;t usually happen at other times of the year. The great, classic holiday stories have a mythic power to them-- they&amp;#039;re exciting, they&amp;#039;ve got warm-and-fuzzy endings, and really anyone can tell them in a successful and engaging way. What&amp;#039;s your favorite part of the holiday season? Even though I&amp;#039;m Jewish, I&amp;#039;m a sucker for Christmas music. I love the idea that here&amp;#039;s a subject that almost every artist has taken a whack at. Whether it&amp;#039;s a jazz musician, a punk-rock band, or Frank Sinatra, everyone takes on this subject matter and does their own thing with it. It&amp;#039;s incredibly fun to hear their different takes. COOL-GIFT ALERT:  The New Kings of Nonfiction ($15), edited by Ira Glass &amp;quot;What&amp;#039;s great about the writers in this book is that whether they&amp;#039;re writing about Texas Hold &amp;#039;Em, the swanky New York club scene, or the life of a 10-year-old, they are able to describe new things about the world so masterfully. A sweater can be a great gift too, but this collection of stories is a lot of fun.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/advice/a2371/share-your-stories/>