Weeping, Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth Sometimes, a story requires that we shout or yell or weep or wail or gnash the teeth. This is okay. Don’t be afraid to do so. In fact, not doing so means that we are not inside the story. Not doing so lessens the excitement of the story considerably. Not doing so, heightens the audience’s awareness of our lack of storytelling enthusiasm. Simply put and as a general rule, when a story has a screaming character, the character NEEDS TO SCREAM! So SCREAM! By way of example, here is the dictionary definition of scream: “a sharp piercing cry; . . . to utter or declare in a very loud voice; . . . to utter a sudden loud cry; to make a loud, piercing sound” What do these things require? They require that you be LOUD. Yes, LOUD. This is no time for “little, inside voices” (as I too often tell my kids). It is a time for deep breaths and VOLUME. To help you make the transition from giving mere information to moving audiences with images, please select one of the following sentences, make it your own by changing words and phrases (but keeping the intent). You must also keep the verb in question: “No! It’s mine!” she screamed, “Give it back to me!” “Wait! Come back!” he yelled, “Come back!” “I can’t wait!” he bellowed, “It will all be mine!” “What’s going on here?” she cried, “Tell me right now!” He started wailing: “Nooooooooo! Noooooooooooooooooooo!” She squealed in delight: “Yes! Yes! Yes!” He began to shout: “Help me! Help me!” Remember: when we are on a stage, even if our "stage" is a corner of a classroom, there are enhanced expectations from our listeners. They demand that we do whatever we need to do to communicate what is happening in our story. Our stage is different from normal life and normal living. DO WHAT IT TAKES!