I need a story to tell.

Speed Racer

Hey, this help and advice forum might just be a good place to seek help and/or advice!

So, anyway. I'm on my school's competitive speech team, and one of the categories I'm going to be competing in is storytelling. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a particularly good resource for stories. So, I figured I'd ask for some help.

Stories are only allowed if they've been officially published, and both it and a short introduction that I have to write for it must last between 7 and 9 minutes, meaning that the story itself should be somewhere between 2 and 3 pages long (3 full pages is pushing it a bit). A big part of storytelling is using different voices and gestures to flesh out the characters, so stories with large amounts of dialog are preferable. Though not necessary, it's recommended to use light-hearted stories with a reading-level of about 5th or 6th grade. Classic fairytales and fractured variations thereof are pretty worn out, so it's best to keep away from them. The piece can be an excerpt from a longer work, as long as it's fairly self-contained and requires little to no setting up.

If anyone has a favorite story that meets these criteria, or knows of an author or website that might have what I'm looking for, I would very much appreciate it.

Raiden333

The first story that comes to mind is Johnny Truant's story about the ship, the birds, and being a pit boxer from House of Leaves. Some friends and I used it for our high school video productions class.

Smug Duckling

I'd say that you should look through your library's picture-book section. Some of those books, especially for older children, have really great stories that are fairly short. It's probably just what you're looking for.

Speed Racer

Smug Duckling wrote: »

I'd say that you should look through your library's picture-book section. Some of those books, especially for older children, have really great stories that are fairly short. It's probably just what you're looking for.

...That's a pretty obvious idea that I probably should have thought of. Thank you.

Hakkekage

The Scarlet Ibis was a favorite of mine a while back. It's sad, though.

There was also one we read a while back in English that was Catcher in the Rye-like...some kid who worked in a grocery store and made snarky comments about the fat ladies that visited. I forgot what it was called, though. Despite the main character being as annoying as Holden, it was still pretty good in the way of wording and such.

Raslin

Hakkekage wrote: »

The Scarlet Ibis was a favorite of mine a while back. It's sad, though.

There was also one we read a while back in English that was Catcher in the Rye-like...some kid who worked in a grocery store and made snarky comments about the fat ladies that visited. I forgot what it was called, though. Despite the main character being as annoying as Holden, it was still pretty good in the way of wording and such.

I know what story you're talking about, despite never actually reading it... I wanna say AM-PM for some reason.

Hakkekage

Raslin wrote: »

Hakkekage wrote: »

The Scarlet Ibis was a favorite of mine a while back. It's sad, though.

There was also one we read a while back in English that was Catcher in the Rye-like...some kid who worked in a grocery store and made snarky comments about the fat ladies that visited. I forgot what it was called, though. Despite the main character being as annoying as Holden, it was still pretty good in the way of wording and such.

I know what story you're talking about, despite never actually reading it... I wanna say AM-PM for some reason.

YES

A&P by John Updike, that's it

This thing

It may be a bit inappropriate for the audience, though

Tarantio

There's a story in The Salmon of Doubt (the posthumous collection of Douglas Adams' stuff) that I used as a monologue once.

Ok, here it is:

http://www.karenika.com/book/salmon_doubt.html

In retrospect, it's probably too short for your purposes, but it's still a great story. If you happen to have the book or a library card, I wouldn't be surprised if there were another story that's a better length for what you need.

Edit: Ok, I re-read the OP... yeah, I guess my idea didn't actually fit any of your criteria. At least it, uh, didn't take very long to read.

Kate of Lokys

Mushroom Pie wrote: »

Though not necessary, it's recommended to use light-hearted stories with a reading-level of about 5th or 6th grade. Classic fairytales and fractured variations thereof are pretty worn out, so it's best to keep away from them.

If that's the sort of thing that's recommended, it's a pretty safe bet that most people will pick something along those lines. It's safe.

If you want to *kick the recommendations in the goddamned teeth*, try Neil Gaiman's "The Price" on for size. The length should be just about right, and while it doesn't have any dialogue, it is an excellently-crafted story, and it really lends itself well to being told out loud: it's written in the first person, with a very conversational tone, and the twist at the end is just heartbreaking if you're not ready for it. (And, for big softies like me, even if you are).

Speed Racer

Kate of Lokys wrote: »

Mushroom Pie wrote: »

Though not necessary, it's recommended to use light-hearted stories with a reading-level of about 5th or 6th grade. Classic fairytales and fractured variations thereof are pretty worn out, so it's best to keep away from them.

If that's the sort of thing that's recommended, it's a pretty safe bet that most people will pick something along those lines. It's safe.

If you want to *kick the recommendations in the goddamned teeth*, try Neil Gaiman's "The Price" on for size. The length should be just about right, and while it doesn't have any dialogue, it is an excellently-crafted story, and it really lends itself well to being told out loud: it's written in the first person, with a very conversational tone, and the twist at the end is just heartbreaking if you're not ready for it. (And, for big softies like me, even if you are).

I don't think that piece fits storytelling well. What it does fit, however, is prose interpretation. Storytelling is sort of like a mash-up between Prose interp. and acting. You basically need to act out the story as you're telling it, something I probably should've clarified earlier. A lot of your grade is dependent on how good your characterizations are. It's why children's stories and pieces with lots of dialog are the best suited to it. Prose is just a straight reading of something, and you're actually not allowed to move your lower body at all.

I do like that story a lot, so I might have to look into getting into Prose.

Agrehond

Try to find Daniel Pinkwater's Fishwhistle or his Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights. These were originally radio commentaries on NPR's All Things Considered, so I think the length would be just what you're looking for.

If you can find CDs of Pinkwater's actual commentaries, that would be better. Not all authors can read stories well, but Pinkwater can, and he's hysterical doing it.

DrFrylock

The book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman is a collection of personal anecdotes (i.e., stories) told in the first person (often with incidental characters) from a curious character. Richard Feynman makes things at least twice as awesome as normal, because, well, he's Feynman.