They can unlock this passion in our team-based storytelling program.

COURAGE is the quality of mind and spirit that a person summons to face difficulty, danger, and pain in the face of fear. Absent courage, no idea would ever be spoken or shared.

This is why we slyly encourage young storytellers to begin their journey by sharing their influences - ideas they love, from other stories, the ones they love, thereby relieving the impossible pressure of being original. There is no such thing as wholly original.

By growing the flowers of inspiration out of the soil of their influences, Storytellers who are afraid that they are “just copying” ideas from their favorite stories will learn one of Written Out Loud’s most valuable principles: “It's not where you take things from, it's where you take them TO that matters.”

Stories contain the inescapable truths that connect us all to one another. Our SKIN JUMP lesson focuses on one of the most important, mysterious dimensions of being human: CONNECTION. Creating a SKIN JUMP is one of the storyteller's most valuable tricks. (The word "trick" can sound deceitful, but the skin jump is a benevolent magic trick.)

The SKIN JUMP contains three steps: Perspective, Vulnerability, and Empathy. At the beginning of every story, the storyteller anchors their story on the Perspective of a single ("main") character. Then the storyteller exposes to the audience that main character's Vulnerability. Immediately, the audience member CONNECTS with that character through the magical portal of Empathy.

Et voila, a SKIN JUMP occurs: the audience member leaves their own skin behind, and enters thereafter the skin of the main character, through which they will now experience the world of the story.

The Creative Crews that are solidified in Lesson 3 will be the micro-communities in which the Storytellers bond and create throughout the rest of the program. At the core of the Written Out Loud methodology is that stories are best created when shared out loud with others.

This process fosters the trust, courage, responsibility, and support that all human beings need. Once these Crews define their codes of conduct and get under way creating the protagonist for their original stories, take great care to witness the joy of collaboration that emerges from their spirits.

Yes, disagreements and obstacles will emerge from this group dynamic as well - alongside the joy and laughter. These challenges present the perfect opportunity for each Storyteller to hone the life skills necessary to accomplish great feats in concert with others.

COURAGE is the quality of mind and spirit that a person summons to face difficulty, danger, and pain in the face of fear. Absent courage, no idea would ever be spoken or shared.

This is why we slyly encourage young storytellers to begin their journey by sharing their influences - ideas they love, from other stories, the ones they love, thereby relieving the impossible pressure of being original. There is no such thing as wholly original.

By growing the flowers of inspiration out of the soil of their influences, Storytellers who are afraid that they are “just copying” ideas from their favorite stories will learn one of Written Out Loud’s most valuable principles: “It's not where you take things from, it's where you take them TO that matters.”

The Call To Adventure must inspire the courage necessary to leave behind the main character's Ordinary World, and enter the story's Special World.

The Call must hold within it the power to fully and radically transform the recipient's life. When Storytellers embark upon a Written Out Loud journey, they embrace the opportunity to grow and redefine their relationships with writing, with each other, and with themselves.

Every Storyteller who answers this Call dedicates their creativity and emotional strength to discovering the awe-inspiring greatness they're capable of achieving.

In every story, a protagonist has several key relationships that effect and influence them, driving them to become who they are. But at Written Out Loud, we believe that most great stories contain a Central Relationship that acts as a direct reflection of the hero's understanding of themselves.

We see the world as we are, not as it is.

As young authors, your Storytellers will explore their own sense of identity in the process of developing the Central Relationships in their fictional stories. They'll discover how another character can mightily impact their hero, while simultaneously uncovering how they are impacted by their own perception of the world.

You may know the feeling of making a "leap" into some new commitment or place in your life. Beyond the Threshold lies a Special World full of seemingly epic dangers and unimaginable treasures. The higher highs and lower lows of the Special World lay in stark contrast with the Ordinary World being left behind, inspiring both fear and a sense of exhilaration. Crossing the Threshold into this new environment is a transformative experience as it is a moment where one proves to themselves that they are courageous enough to face the unknown lying ahead. Your Storytellers will demonstrate this courage too as they begin to take their stories onwards, into Act II of the program.