Finding and Telling Your Character's Story

This section covers the unique character of a Renaissance Faire and telling in character. Your character's life is a story. How do you tell it?

• Finding a unique story in your character's life
• Stalking the wild listener
• Gotchas in the Faire venue

Finding a unique story for your character to tell

"There are only two stories in all of literature: a man goes on a journey, and a stranger comes to town."

Attributed to Tolstoy, though I haven't found it in his writings. Arne and Thompson found a few more themes. Still, most stories are stereotyped and use the audience's expectation of what should happen.

• Use stereotypes to your advantage. It's OK for the audience to know what to expect. Let them understand the theme or point of the story. Example: The Brave Little Tailor
• Keep it simple. Human short term memory uses the magic number 7 (plus or minus 2). You have the story in your long term memory, but you're relying on the listener's short term memory. You already know your story well. Your audience can not memorize it in the space of one telling. Take it easy on them and increase their chances of keeping something important from it.
  • Few names. Many stories don't name their characters, but use unnamed stereotypes. Example: The Nixie of the Millpond.
  • A single problem or situation driving the plot.
  • Most character interactions can be about a single incident.
  • Simple dialog - you have only one voice to distinguish the speakers.
  • Few plot twists.
• But surprise them. There is a tension between not taxing your listeners and not boring them.
  • Pick an unusual (therefore memorable) incident.
  • Look for the single twist that brings your listener to an unexpected ending. Example: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
• There is a tension between art and accessibility. We don't want to dumb down our story. Great stories break these guidelines. But it's difficult to do it well. Example: Twelve Wild Swans. It's a long, complex story that successfully builds an underlying theme through the whole story.
• There is a tension between simplicity and having something to teach. Any worthwhile topic has details and subtleties. Treat the details as context. Immerse the listener, don't lecture. Example: the Arthur stories are full of details of day-to-day life, dress, and customs, but they don't stop to explain any of it.
• Motivate your character. What does your character want to get across? What is important to your character? Your audience will see the world through your character's eyes. How do your life experiences shape how you see the world? Two characters may tell very different stories about the same events. This ties into larger themes: history is given broad themes and meanings beyond the simple facts of what happens. What history means depends on who tells it. That's why my favorite stories are snippets of real life.
• Motivate your story. Why is your character talking to an audience? Pretend the audience is in your milieu, or admit you're a teacher in their milieu?

Stalking the wild listener

Actors in a show have a contained structure in which the listeners come to them. Characters on the street are one feature in a larger stream of activity. How can you draw in an audience? How can you convince them to stop for your story?

• Be a character. Fair-goers are looking for them.
• Walt Disney said "There should always be some business on the screen" – something to keep catching the viewer's attention anew. Always have something going on.
• Busk the crowd. A good way to get something is to ask for it. This works for attention.
• Gimmicks attract attention.
• You're trying to scoop up snatches of attention. Subtlety doesn't do that. You may be able to communicate emotions and subtlety after you have your audience in hand. Until then, your friends are comedy and small dogs.
• Work with cultural expectations, not against them. A 5th century bard with the entire village gathered around a fire could say "This tale will require six nights for a proper telling." Your audience will give you somewhat smaller units to work with.
• If something isn't working it, abandon it and start something new. The change will restart the listener's attention span.
• Your audience wants to be engrossed. They are disposed to help you engross them. They're already your friends (otherwise they wouldn't have paid to come in).

Gotchas in the Faire Venue

The physical environment of a Faire is more difficult than a theater, living room, or campfire.

• The street lacks the natural boundaries of a room. You have a fluid and undefined boundary between people who are with you and the rest of the Faire. Your physical ability limits how big a space you can be present to. Choose your boundary.
• You are competing with other sights and sounds. An uncontrolled environment challenges your ability to keep your audience centered on you. Call them back when you need to — increase tempo or volume.
• Outdoors, your voice carries further, but is also carried away. Without walls to reflect sound into a contained space, your volume falls off in a shorter distance. Voice training helps.
• The need for volume, and your tendency to give volume without noticing, can strain your voice. Be aware of how you are using your voice and body. Hot tea and rest are your friends.
• Sometimes the Faire breeds hecklers. If you are skilled enough to engage them in an entertaining way, you can come out ahead. But that's a dangerous game. It's often safer to ignore them. Fortunately, they are uncommon.