Events Blog
Five questions with Meghan Mast, workshop facilitator
By David Turner
What's the 140-character version of your talk at Going Barefoot?
Do you work for a non-profit? Interested in storytelling? Join me as we explore what makes a good story and how to creatively engage people.
What's the best story you've read recently?
Oh man, there are so many great stories out there. And so many good writers. But if I had to choose a recent one it would be an article written by Clemantine Wamariya, called, "Everything is yours, everything is not yours." She tells the story about what it was like to escape the Rwandan massacre as a child, be separated from her parents, spend seven years as a refugee and then be reunited with her family on the Oprah show.
What's so amazing about this story is the way she tells a different story than the reader expects. It isn't a heart-warming story. It's a story of a girl who has her life flipped upside down and then messily put back together. Nothing is the same again. It's very real. And what I like about it is that it's told from the perspective of the protagonist.
When did you fall in love with telling stories?
I have always appreciated a good story and used to read every spare chance as a kid. But I think the moment I really fell in love with storytelling was when I started freelancing for OpenFile, a community-based news website in Vancouver, about five years ago. It was my first attempt at journalism and since they were looking for hyper-local stories I was always on the look out. It changed the way I saw the world in a really beautiful way. Suddenly strangers became characters and talking to them sometimes lead to a story.
I interviewed, "The Raging Greenies," a group of elderly women who sang songs protesting the destruction of ancient horticulture surrounding what a historic, residential psychiatric hospital. And I surveyed employees who worked near B.C.'s largest crow roost to see how they dodged crow droppings on their way to and from work (some carried umbrellas). There were more serious stories too that pushed me outside my comfort zone and lead me to learn how to ask tough questions, like when I investigated the lucrative methadone industry run by renegade pharmacies throughout the Lower Mainland in B.C.
What's the best advice someone has given you about storytelling?
Stay focused. It is easy to spend too much time explaining the history and context of a story, or to get caught up in providing too many details. But honestly a story is much more effective if it has a clear focus. Once you have that you can decorate it with details and some context. But keep things succinct and simple! Also that one of the most important parts of storytelling is to have a compelling character and some kind of action. This is particularly important with video, which is such a visual medium.
Which other Going Barefoot presentation are you most excited about?
I'm looking forward to hearing Trudy Schroeder speak again. She is very thoughtful, intelligent and has a lot of good advice on how to run a successful organization.
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