Embellish and Relish

I wish it was a kind of sandwich so that I could sell it. Unfortunately, it is an idea I will share for free.

I, for a very large portion of my life, was focused on facts. When I told people about something that happened, I made absolutely sure that I was giving the most accurate information. If I wasn't sure what was correct, I would stop, try to figure out what was right, and then give up and say that I don't remember and continue on talking. I was a terrible storyteller. I was never interesting, never went anywhere, never got the reaction I wanted, and never told stories worth repeating (you had to be there).

Kelly, on the other hand, is a great storyteller. He will wrap you in, get you interested, make you laugh, and then make you laugh more. When I hang out with him, I'm always amazed at the crazy things that happened that gave him all of the great stories he had. Then I found out they didn't.

As I heard the same story told over again, I heard a new version of it each time. Suddenly the facts were a little different. They got the same point across, but they flowed better and made people laugh (which was their point).

It bothered me at first, seeing inaccuracies just naturally come forth and the speaker being ok with it. Now, I don't mind it at all. I realized the purpose that it serves. It keeps people in the story, not getting lost. It tells them what they need to know and brings them to the punchline. It makes for good, interesting storytelling.

I now advocate the process that I call embellish and relish. When you are telling a story, embellish the facts, especially if you don't know what they are. Make it obvious what you are getting at. Never stop the story. Get your audience to care. Even if you are telling a you-had-to-be-there story, if you tell it well enough, it will feel to the audience like they actually are there. And if you want your audience to care about your story, then you need to relish telling the story. Love it from the beginning to the end and have just as much fun telling it as you did experiencing it.