Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need [Paperback]

This is a practical storytelling guide from comedian, winner of multiple Moth storytelling competitions, and founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade storytelling program, Margot Leitman. Did you ever wish you could tell a story that leaves others spellbound? Storytelling teacher and champion Margot Leitman will show you how! With a fun, irreverent, and infographic approach, this guide breaks a story into concrete components with ways to improve content, structure, emotional impact, and delivery through personal anecdotes, relatable examples, and practical exercises. Those wishing to create engaging performance pieces from personal experiences will find this book useful.
—Library Journal

When you watch Margot Leitman telling stories onstage, you find yourself laughing hysterically and somehow feeling less alone in a world where it seems everyone else got some kind of instruction manual. And now she's literally gone and given you an instruction manual. She's a former hypochondriac, obsessed with game shows, and a superfan of hair metal—and she'll make you realize your own qualifications and credentials in no time. In a world of experts, you've found an insightful book about storytelling from an actual human.
—Dan Kennedy, host of The Moth storytelling podcast, and writer-performer
 
Margot Leitman is a rare thing: she's a performer, a writer, and—in this book—the teacher you secretly have a crush on. Sharp as hell, Leitman teaches you how to tell your own story. Through sharing her process, telling personal stories, and giving practical exercises, she will give you the tools and confidence you need to share your story with the world.
—Elna Baker, author and regular contributor toThis American Life
 
For our improv show ASSSSCAT the success of the performance hinges on how meaty the story is that the monologist gives us. Margot always delivers a nice thlc