Published Work Review: How to Tell a Story by The Moth
The essential guide to The Moth style of storytelling gives lots of tips to first time tellers-- is any of it useful for playwrights?
After a particularly difficult week of work, I treated myself to a solid hour at the local library. Libraries are my safe place. If I feel sad, or angry, or utterly hopeless, I know I will feel just a little bit better if I go spend some time at one. That’s probably due to the fact that I spent about half of my childhood helping my mother at the library she ran, and my love of books, but I also think that libraries are just…calming. They’re quiet, but not silent. Public, but not crowded. For my AuDHD brain, it’s just perfect.
I ended up with a solid stack of four books on this particular visit, one being How to Tell a Story by The Moth. If you don’t know what The Moth is, they are a storytelling group that started with a radio show and podcast centered around telling the true stories of anyone and everyone. They are also well known for events such as their StorySLAMs, in which community members are able to get up in front of each other and tell true, personal stories of five minutes or less.
This book is supposed to be the ultimate guide to The Moth style of storytelling, which comes with a few basic rules:
Stories must be true.
Stories must be 10-12 minutes (Main Stage) or five minutes (StorySLAM). No more!
The teller must be the main character of the story.
There must be concrete, identifiable stakes.
No stand-up routines! This is storytelling, which can be funny, but that is not the sole point.
These rules aren’t too difficult to follow, honestly, and make sense for the things that The Moth is trying to accomplish through the sharing of true stories— i.e. community and connection.
The book goes into more detail than this, of course, and is divided into four separate parts: “Everyone Has a Story”, “Developing Your Story”, “Telling Your Story”, and “The Power of Story”. The longest part is part 2 about developing your story, which goes into story and character arc, structure, backstory, humor, point of view, and beginnings and endings. Essentially, this is the section about “writing” your story— I put “writing” in quotation marks because The Moth actually recommends that their storytellers do not write out a script for themselves. They want the teller to instead structure their story out in bullet points, drawings, etc. so that they can remain more “in the moment” on stage.
The third section, “Telling Your Story”, focuses on the performance aspect, keeping those who’ve never performed in mind. There are tips for combating stage fright, forgetting your place in the story, connecting with the audience, and more. For those of us who perhaps got into theatre from acting, this isn’t anything new. The final section is more philosophical, talking about why storytelling of this kind matters, how it’s helpful for everyday life, and more.
For the playwright reading this book and mining it for helpful tips, I suggest focusing specifically on section 2, “Developing Your Story”. This section talks the most about “writing” in The Moth style. I particularly think this would be very helpful for any playwrights specifically writing something based on a true, personal story— if you’re writing a solo show inspired by or about a true, personal story, it’s a must read, especially if you’ve never done so before. There are some really great pieces of advice that would be very applicable to the solo show writer/performer, such as to tell a story within a specific time frame, to focus on the change in yourself as a character from beginning to end, and to clearly identify the stakes. The book states that Moth style stories document a storyteller’s transformation. And while not all solo shows based on personal experiences need to do this, I think it’s a great thing to keep in focus (once again, especially if it’s your first time writing such a thing).
However, if you are not a playwright that creates plays focused on personal or historical events, I’m not sure how helpful or impactful this book would be. The Moth style of storytelling is very specific to personal, true stories. While they discuss many points that are applicable to good storytelling in general, if you are anything more than a beginner you will not see anything you have not read or heard before. It can be great to read these basics reiterated in new and different ways, but after a while you probably are looking for something deeper, tips and tricks that are more specific to either playwriting or your specific style/genre. If you would consider yourself a more “intermediate” writer and/or you’re not looking to write anything from your personal, true experiences, this might be a skip for you.
I greatly enjoyed reading this book as someone who does write solo shows based on my true to life experiences. As a theater teacher, I found myself consistently thinking, “If and when I teach a course on solo performance, I will be using this book for the unit on solo shows based on personal experience.” It’s just a great resource for people who have never told a personal, true story in front of an audience before. As I read, I gleefully identified things I had done in my previous solo shows (I love making connections, ADHD brain go brrrrrrr—). I took colorful, organized notes in my special “educational stuff” notebook and had a grand old time.
All of this to say, if you like The Moth, want to write and/or perform solo shows about personal experiences, or are writing a play based on something that actually happened to you, this is worth reading. Support your local library by checking it out there!
That’s it for this published work review! Do you have any suggestions for me for other books, published plays, or theatrical media to review? Let me know by responding to this SubStack via email, DMing me, or leaving a comment!
Happy theatre making!
~Brynn