Category: Blog

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Storyteller Personas

ScaredGirl_v2Over the years, I have developed a few personas that allow me to bring the gift of story to the Steampunk and Pirate communities.

  • Professor Taelstrum (Facebook): The Professor has graced the highways and bi-ways of the Steampunk world, bringing his tales of wonder and adventure to life. Ever dogged by the Council who seek to curb his enthusiasm, the Professor refuses to submit to their will! The stories must be told! Currently, he is exploring the more haunted areas of Montreal, leading thrill seekers to discover the paranormal sites, testing their courage.
  • Victor Maelstrum (Facebook): Victor is the Bard of the Eighth Sea! They might tell you there are only 7 seas, but they would be wrong. The Eighth Sea is where the stories come from, and once Victor discovered it, he gathered up as many stories as he could so that he can share them with the scallywags of the world.
  • JD Hickey (Facebook): this is my main storytelling Facebook site.
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Why Patricia Left

At the last Slamtastique Story Slam that I hosted, I told a story about why Patricia left. Patricia Flewwelling is a published author who works at TELUS, but also worked at Cafe Mariposa, which is where the Story Slam now takes place. And I’ll admit it right here: I’ve had a bit of an unrequited crush on her for a while. It’s no secret.

But new adventures have flung our beloved Patricia far and wide, but few know the real reason, so I decided to tell the masses the *real* reason why she left us. Now that I’ve heard the recording, I can tell I told it a bit too fast (the pace is off), but I’ll fix that with some practice in the future.

When Patricia met Death in the Market

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Reviews are coming in!

I’ve got about a dozen of the Did You Hear That? CDs in circulation with reviewers and the reviews are starting to come in! I’ll keep updating this post as they arrive, but so far, it’s been positive!

  • October15th: Geeky Godmother — “It’s a splendid collection for this time of year. Storyteller Hickey does a fine job of reviving a very old tradition.“
  • October 19th: Storyteller.net— “Many of the tracks contain music and sound effects, creating a feel of old-time radio shows. There’s even a bit of Canadian-influenced history here, too. Fans of creepy storytelling will be satisfied with their purchase of these stories.”
  • October 29th: Lithium Magazine — “This is the perfect time to explore a collection of scary stories, where tales are not just creepy but are rich with culture and history both local and abroad. [Hickey] does fine work in bringing these tales to life. He’s provided a fantastic outlet of reviving the scary story tradition of Halloween, something that would add great life (or death) to your upcoming party.”
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Improving One’s Art

Recently, I saw a post on the Storytellers Facebook Group from Limor’s Storytelling Agora blog that made an interesting statement:

“I’m a storyteller. What do I need to improve on?”

So I asked myself this question and here’s what I came up with.

What I need to work on is how I sell myself to schools, event organizers, and festival organizers. I’ve won competitions, I’ve won awards, I organize events, I’ve hosted storytelling events: these are all experiences that recognize that I have talent as a skilled storyteller. What continues to elude me is how to market this skill to make me an attractive artist to potential employers.

I keep trying to come up with new and innovative ideas to create storytelling shows that appeal to a mass market, but the mass market still relegates storytelling as a juvenile activity and not worthy of adult interest. Someone suggested to me recently that I need to market to a niche market instead, allowing me to specialize rather than generalize. I think there’s some wisdom in that.

In the meantime, I waffle between trying to acquire the skills myself or to hire someone who understands branding and marketing to help me bridge this gap.