How can one keep a professional storyteller safe to perform his craft (details inside)

Do people ever pay you to tell stories? That is what would qualify you as a professional. If you’re busking (trying to make a living at it), stand in one general area with a sign that identifies you as a storyteller. Or put a sign around your neck.

You seem to be a good storyteller, but I think you should network and get connections with local diners. Don’t a lot of cafes have open mic nights? You could make yourself a regular and get some references that way.

Of course it won’t get you money that fast, but…

The professionals I know have their own agent who books them in various venues, such as cafes and small theaters. One maintains a booth at Pow Wows around the country.

@all O.K. thank you.

you can try this group to see what kind of connections you can make or find put locations to try. It’s a worldwide community.

www.buskerworld.com

“I find that sometimes people run off and call community outreach workers when they don’t understand that I am telling a story, so every so often I get put on disability and I use that as a main source of income when people are uncomfortable hiring me in my local town for dish washing ect.”

Can you explain the sentence above? Why do some people react to your story telling in such an aggressive manner? Why would their reactions put you on disability? Why would not local people hire you for basic jobs life washing dishes? is there a piece of this story that you are not sharing with us?

If some people can’t understand that you are telling a story, then the responsibility of correcting that lies with you, the storyteller, doesn’t it?

@gailcalled

Yes at the time I was starting out in the community and trying to edge into a better life. I didn’t have enough fruit of the spirit to cope with the loss that comes from moving out of my parents home after being enabled for a very long time. I went from living with rich parents to being poor alone and desperate for attention and connections. I had little social skills and I feared being found out to be unable to fulfil my ambitions. All I had were my stories so I built my life around Dungeons and Dragons, comic books and novels… Seeing that I rarely ever get the chance to play or to have friends I really went into the character. I had hoped that A life time of reading stories could get me noticed by the science fiction community. I disliked working a nine to five job because I had faith that I could have a better life in a job I liked.

People react to my old stories because I link my personal struggles with a cry of desperation with hopes that someone would here my and free me from the struggles from day to day life.

The piece of the story I don’t tell is that I want to be a kid again that I don’t want to deal with adult problems just yet… I needed a few extra years to be raised…and I was willing to put my life on hold until I became a man and was able to cope with very basic things like, doing household chores and laundry.

I wanted to be a house husband one day and write as a hobby with a nice family until I was able to earn a living on telling stories.

Yes but the stories get better when not corrected, At the time I had plenty of hate and a lack of respect for others… to the point that I was becoming vengeful trough my stories. I choose to get help and I was helped… the little bit of money helps me care for myself, and I can avoid others until I matured enough to tell positive stories that people liked or at least until I could find a job in a comic book store in Edmonton.

I was deliberately being selfish because I couldn’t handle being socially inept and alone, and I wanted some one to take me away and care for me until I was ready to be more independent.

The concept of a evil bard is gone and I got help for being a jerk with the help of the community. Now my goal in life is to enjoy it and to just be a normal person who does his laundry and pays his bills and loves his mom, I still like writing and I like being gentle and kind… It feels better than being mean and begging others for help.

And yes I really wanted to build a time machine and give my self a hug in the past so I could have someone to cry with because I could never trust anyone to comfort me after I got burned in too many bad relationships and too many lost chances to understand that I am just human and I don’t need to put that much pressure on myself for things that I don’t want or am not ready for, yet, like a girlfriend or a car, or a cool job.

@SpideySense: Thank you for sharing all that. I wish you luck and hope that you still have a strong support system in place.