This is not the task of the memory, but of the imagination and the feelings. Read and reread the story. Do not memorize it. Visualize it. Picture it mentally. Fall in love with it. See the images. Feel the emotions of the characters. Breathe the atmosphere. Absorb its spirit, scene, setting, plot, people, and parts. Make it your own creation, living anew in your own soul. Then lay the book aside, and at leisure reproduce it, part by part, in your own thought or words, making sure that you have well in mind the story’s four parts: (1) Beginning; (2) progress of events; (3) climax; (4) end.
5. MASTER THE FOUR PARTS OF YOUR STORY
(1) Your story must have a beginning, which should be brief, concrete, interesting, introducing the chief character, scene, atmosphere, or spirit of the story in the fewest possible words.
(2) Your story must have a progress of events, an orderly movement, giving the essential facts, step by step, and full of action, leading up to the climax without revealing it in advance.
(3) Your story must have a climax that cannot be missed. This is the point and pith of your story. It is that for which it is mainly told and enjoyed. If a moral lesson is to be imparted, it is here that it is enforced. And failure here is total failure. Make sure of this climax, for to miss it is like trying to tell a joke, missing the point, and meeting humiliation and defeat.
(4) Your story must have an end. A successful ending is quite as important as the climax, and needs careful consideration. It must be brief and appropriate, and leave the mind at rest, without any questioning or dissatisfaction. It may be well for the beginner at first to analyze his stories in this way, into these four parts, either in his thoughts or on paper, for it will give excellent practice and make the retention of the story by the memory a simple matter. But with practice and drill these four parts of a good story will take their place in the mind and in the telling most naturally, easily, and pleasantly.
6. INTRODUCING YOUR STORY
The consciousness of having a good story to tell, and a story adapted to the age and interests of one’s audience, is the first step to that ease, freedom, dignity, and repose which are necessary at the start. If the story-teller can select his time, as many parents and teachers can, so much the better. If he is met by an ill-prepared audience, or an audience in an uncomfortable place, or under adverse circumstances, his introduction must serve to put him in touch with his audience. If several stories are in mind, the order may be changed, and a “humorous” story or other introductory remarks may serve to pave the way for the necessary response. Then he may proceed with the intended story or stories with his own eye and heart kindled, moving in a straightforward, spontaneous, self-forgetful way toward the desired lesson in the climax, and ending happily, leaving the audience delighted and impressed.
7. RETELL YOUR STORIES
Practise your stories! “Repetition is the mother of stories well told.” Repeat them. Do not be afraid of retelling them. The younger the children are the better they like old friends. Every one loves a “twice-told tale.” (Hervey.) “Practise! It will go clumsily at first. Imagination will be dull, facts will escape your memory, parts will be confused. But persevere, persevere! Study results. Listen to others. Catch their points of effectiveness. Above all things practise! practise! practise!” (Wells.)