by Loren Niemi – March 27, 2022

What do you remember about your favorite fairy tale? The major characters? Three pigs, a wolf… The basic plot? They build houses, the wolf blows the first two down but can’t shake the third. What else? The setting? Where were the pig’s houses? The time of year? Springtime or was it Summer? Who is telling the story?

Ahh, now there’s the first question that needs be asked about traditional tales, and personal tales as well. While most traditional tales are told in the third person (they/them), there is an argument to be made that when told in the first person (I/we) the story has more “energy” and greater emotional engagement. What is the story when told from one of the pigs or the wolf’s point of view?

That is what the Reimagining Traditional Stories class is all about. Over the course of three hands-on 90-minute Zoom sessions Wednesdays, March 30, April 6th and 13th. From 7:00 – 8:30 PM Central time we will explore what happens when you change the point of view, the time frame and even where the story begins and ends. Bring a story you want to work on and see how what you thought the story is/was takes on a new vibrancy as you work with the tools for reimagining the familiar.

This is being taught by Loren Niemi, the American School of Storytelling’s founder and principal teacher. With over 43 years as a professional storyteller, 26 years of teaching the craft at Metro State University, and the author of two books on story structure (The New Book of Plots, Point of View & the Emotional Arc of Stories) he knows of what he speaks.

It’s $120 for the series and begins this Wednesday with an option of a discounted cost for additional individual coaching after the three sessions. Register for this one at Eventbrite.