Blow the Tannery Whistle

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Comment by Ol' John Brown on December 15, 2008 at 11:43am

I can relate to it a bit. I tell a few stories for family and friends now and then that change slowly like this. One of these was a really short old joke that grew into a full story over time. This one grew in reverse for some reason, keeping the main part of the old joke at the end.

As it grew I added some and took away the stuff that didn't work on my patient listeners. I like to play with the colorful wording as well because I love to hear the adjectives and such used well when I hear others tell stories. I find it interesting that what I hear in my head often sounds different coming out of my mouth to those listening, including myself.

Comment by Gary Carden on November 4, 2008 at 5:18pm

Well, it is a bit of a shock to see myself on TOGETHER WE READ. Of course, I'm not reading - I'm talking, and I'm wondering, is it possible that talking is a "creative art" like writing or poetry? Watching this little segment, I do realize that storytellers have an advantage. We can continually revise and edit whereas the poet and the fiction writer is caught forever, like a bug in amber. I've been telling "Blow the Tannery Whistle" for 25 years, and the story has changed ... very slowly. A nice adjective is added here and there ... maybe a little bit about Albert coaching me to tell Granny when we geto home that we "have been to a revival." If it doesn't add anything, I can leave it out .... next time. When I first told this story, it was 26 minutes long. Now, it has been edited down for my current DVD to one hour. Is there anyone out there that identifies with this process?