{"id":25,"date":"2025-11-03T04:09:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T04:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\/website_42160b33\/?page_id=25"},"modified":"2026-01-10T14:20:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:20:30","slug":"guidelines","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

15 SIMPLE TIPS TO EFFECTIVE STORYTELLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SUBMIT A WRITTEN OR ORAL STORY UNDER 1500 WORDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5-10 MINUTES LONG.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please include a title, a short blurb about the story, & your bio.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Submit to donna@shortstorytheatre.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. YOUR STORY SHOULD BE BASED ON A TRUE EVENT<\/strong>. Storytelling is creative non-fiction. This means your story should be told in the first person and be about something that actually happened to you. <\/strong>This offers you the chance to share your innermost feelings with the audience. We like stories that go to difficult personal places. Embarrassing places. Painful places. Happy places. That being said, always remember, good stories don\u2019t have to be 100% true. Feel free to take a little creative license or change a few facts here and there to make your story more interesting and more on point\u2014just like movies do when they are based on true events. But always remember: your story should never go beyond belief. It should always ring true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/strong> YOUR STORY SHOULD BE UNDER 10 MINUTES LONG. <\/strong>When performing it is up to you to intellectually force the audience to pay attention by spinning one heck of a story. Problem is, audiences tend to get fidgety and lose concentration if a story is too long, no matter how good it is. So at Short Story Theatre, we limit stories to about 10 minutes. If yours runs 30 or so seconds it\u2019s not the end of the world. But work hard to keep it within our time frame. A good way to judge the length of your story is to count words. 10 minutes are about 1,500 spoken words, depending on the speed of delivery. But always keep in mind that it is better to leave audiences wanting more than to wish you had stopped yapping minutes ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. YOUR STORY SHOULD HAVE A MORAL OR UNIVERSAL THEME<\/strong>.  Even if your story is a unique event that happened to you, it needs to connect with a wider audience\u2014an audience that most likely never experienced that same actual event. That means they need to identify with your story somehow. How do you do that? By making sure your story executes a universal theme\u2014a theme that everyone has experienced in some fashion. For instance, \u201cdon\u2019t judge a book by its cover\u201d is a universal theme that can be used to tell a story on a variety of subjects in which first impressions were wrong. It could be a story about someone you ignored because of his or her appearance. Or better yet, someone who ignored you because of your appearance. People identify with stories that strike close to their own heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. MAKE SURE YOUR STORY HAS A POINT TO IT.  <\/strong>Before you write, ask yourself: why should anyone\u2014including complete strangers\u2014care about my story? Once you\u2019re able to answer that question successfully, you will have the point of your story. Make sure you build your story around this one central point and stick to it. Don\u2019t go off on meandering tangents that have nothing to do with advancing your story to its payoff. That means every paragraph should eventually lead the listener directly to the point of your story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. NEVER TELL THE SAME OLD STORY.  <\/strong>Make sure your story is original and fresh\u2014something no one has heard before. That doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t tell another boy meets girl story. But it does mean that the circumstances surrounding that story should be surprising and different. In other words, if you\u2019re going to tell the same old story, make sure you give it a fresh new twist. For instance, perhaps in that boy meets girl story, the girl is actually the boy and the boy is actually the girl\u2014in other words a story of a gay man and a lesbian who fall in love. Outlandish? Maybe. Impossible? Hardly. If you bring originality to the story, you have a better chance of people liking it\u2014and remembering it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. STIR THE AUDIENCE\u2019S IMAGINATION BY UPSETTING THEIR EQUILIBRIUM<\/strong>. The process of creativity begins with this principle: Everyone on this planet lives by the same general set of rules\u2014a shared human experience. Over time these rules become so ingrained in us that our expectations on how the world operates become set in our brains. They become our collective equilibrium. For instance, objects always fall up, not down. Hot fudge sundaes are always fattening. Civil service workers are all lazy and rude. Your goal as a writer and\/or storyteller is to upset your audience\u2019s equilibrium by making them say to themselves: \u201cWait, this is not how the world I know operates.\u201d That\u2019s why there are film concepts like Mr. Mom, Daddy Daycare<\/em> and Cowboys and Aliens<\/em>. And new future products actually being developed like invisibility cloaks. Of course, you don\u2019t have to think quite that big in terms of story, but you do need to upset the equilibrium at least a little to stop an audience in its thinking tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO YOU IN YOUR STORY<\/strong>.  Things happen in a good story. This doesn\u2019t mean that your story has to be like a fast-paced action movie, but some kind of action needs to happen within it. People have to do things; stuff needs to happen. Also, some kind of lesson has to be learned. Something that maybe changed you for the better. And don\u2019t just tell us how you felt when it happened. Tell us how it impacted you. Not just in words, but in the actions that took place within your story. No shaggy dog stories\u2014stories that go on and on where nothing happens\u2014allowed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. CREATE A SENSE OF MYSTERY<\/strong>.  Your goal as a storyteller is to make sure the audience will remember your story as they listen to it\u2014and hopefully, even after they\u2019ve gone home. Of course, the easiest way to do that is by having a storyline so inherently interesting and so remarkably engaging that everyone will have no choice but to pay attention. But here\u2019s another little trick you can use to involve an audience from start to finish. Write with a sense of mystery. That doesn\u2019t mean your story is literally a whodunit. Only that it\u2019s a mystery in the sense that audiences should never know what\u2019s going to happen next. Each sentence should make people want to hear the next sentence, creating suspense and anticipation as the story unfolds. Also, keep in mind that just like a movie has twists in the plot to keep an audience glued to the screen, your story might have a twist or two to keep your audience involved. Don\u2019t tell a linear story that just goes from point A to point Z in a straight line. Zig and zag a bit. Keep the audience guessing as to what comes next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. MAKE \u2018EM LAUGH, MAKE \u2018EM CRY<\/strong>.  The best stories make an audience do both\u2014bringing out emotions that make them feel like they\u2019re on a roller coaster ride. They\u2019ll love you for it. Because people loved to be emotionally moved one way or another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10<\/strong>.\u00a0YOUR STORY SHOULD BE SCENE DRIVEN<\/strong>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t just stand up and talk to the audience. Create scenes in their heads from beginning to end. Good stories, like good screenplays, tell stories in scenes\u2014giving a time and place to the action and providing brief descriptions of the characters. A good way to know if your story is scene-driven is to ask yourself this: \u201cIf I handed my story over to a film director, would he or she be able to stage a short film based on the narrative you provide?\u201d If the answer is yes, then your story is scene driven. If the answer is no, start over again.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. YOUR STORY SHOULD HAVE A BIT OF DIALOG<\/strong>.  When we say a bit <\/em>of <\/em>dialog, we really mean just that. We don\u2019t want superfluous and rambling dialog running throughout your story. Remember, you are not writing a play or movie, you are writing a narrative. So dialog should be short, sweet and memorable. Think of key lines that were said during your event and build your dialog on that. It doesn\u2019t necessarily need to be a full conversation between you and someone else. It could be just a brief exchange. Or it might just be a series of one-liners spoken by you or the characters in your story. Make sure these lines of dialog help advance your story though. Sometimes it is best to write the most interesting six to 10 spoken lines you can think of from your story before you start to write. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. GRAB THEIR ATTENTION RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING.<\/strong>  If an audience doesn\u2019t immediately get involved, they will slowly tune you out and go into brain freeze. That\u2019s why it\u2019s crucial that your opening forces them to pay attention right from the start. That doesn\u2019t mean you have to scream and yell at them. Or shock them with something outrageous. But you do need something that will stop them in their tracks, make them take notice, and get them focused on you. The opening should also have a little mystery attached to it\u2014mystery that will stir their imagination. In other words, don\u2019t give away the whole store before you get into the body of the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. HAVE A KILLER CLOSING.<\/strong>  Don\u2019t leave the audience hanging at the end. Make sure you wrap up your story and hammer the point of it home in an engaging way. Deliver it with originality and freshness. That being said, a good ending always relates back to the opening of your story. The two should be tied together. For this reason, it\u2019s best to know your closing before you write to make sure the direction of your storyline flows to its natural conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MEMORIZE YOUR WHOLE STORY.<\/strong>  At Short Story Theatre, you don\u2019t have to tell your story from memory. You are allowed to bring the text up on stage with you. But you should rehearse your story sufficiently so that you almost know it by heart to create more intimacy between you and the audience. If you do lose your place in the story while performing, don\u2019t apologize to the audience or make a pained face. Just improvise a bit, even if it\u2019s somewhat meaningless, until you find your place again. Chances are nobody will even know you screwed up. And if they do, they will admire you for being a trouper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. MEMORIZE THE OPENING AND CLOSING<\/strong>. It\u2019s important that you establish eye contact across the room at the opening of your story to create a personal bond with the audience\u2014to signal that you are sharing something important with them. And it\u2019s just as important to memorize your closing to reestablish the bond you created at the top. Also, good closings will usually evoke a response from your audience that you won\u2019t want to miss. Applause. It\u2019s your reward for a job well done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are always looking for something that breaks the mold, like a 16th tip when there are only supposed to be 15.  So feel free to surprise everybody with a story that ignores or bends our guidelines. But it better be good. And it better be entertaining as hell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15 SIMPLE TIPS TO EFFECTIVE STORYTELLING SUBMIT A WRITTEN OR ORAL STORY UNDER 1500 WORDS 5-10 MINUTES LONG. Please include a title, a short blurb about the story, & your bio. Submit to donna@shortstorytheatre.com 1. YOUR STORY SHOULD BE BASED ON A TRUE EVENT. Storytelling is creative non-fiction. This means your story should be told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-25","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nGuidelines - Short Story Theatre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guidelines - Short Story Theatre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"15 SIMPLE TIPS TO EFFECTIVE STORYTELLING SUBMIT A WRITTEN OR ORAL STORY UNDER 1500 WORDS 5-10 MINUTES LONG. Please include a title, a short blurb about the story, & your bio. Submit to donna@shortstorytheatre.com 1. YOUR STORY SHOULD BE BASED ON A TRUE EVENT. Storytelling is creative non-fiction. This means your story should be told […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Short Story Theatre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-10T14:20:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shortstorytheatre.com\\\/website_42160b33\\\/guidelines\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shortstorytheatre.com\\\/website_42160b33\\\/guidelines\\\/\",\"name\":\"Guidelines - Short Story Theatre\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\\\/website_42160b33\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-03T04:09:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-10T14:20:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shortstorytheatre.com\\\/website_42160b33\\\/guidelines\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/shortstorytheatre.com\\\/website_42160b33\\\/guidelines\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shortstorytheatre.com\\\/website_42160b33\\\/guidelines\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\\\/website_42160b33\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Guidelines\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\\\/website_42160b33\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\\\/website_42160b33\\\/\",\"name\":\"Short Story Theatre\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\\\/website_42160b33\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Guidelines - Short Story Theatre","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Guidelines - Short Story Theatre","og_description":"15 SIMPLE TIPS TO EFFECTIVE STORYTELLING SUBMIT A WRITTEN OR ORAL STORY UNDER 1500 WORDS 5-10 MINUTES LONG. Please include a title, a short blurb about the story, & your bio. Submit to donna@shortstorytheatre.com 1. YOUR STORY SHOULD BE BASED ON A TRUE EVENT. Storytelling is creative non-fiction. This means your story should be told […]","og_url":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/","og_site_name":"Short Story Theatre","article_modified_time":"2026-01-10T14:20:30+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/","url":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/","name":"Guidelines - Short Story Theatre","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\/website_42160b33\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-11-03T04:09:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-10T14:20:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/guidelines\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\/website_42160b33\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Guidelines"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\/website_42160b33\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\/website_42160b33\/","name":"Short Story Theatre","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rxh.rwl.mybluehost.me\/website_42160b33\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25\/revisions\/234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorytheatre.com\/website_42160b33\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}