There are 101 ways to tell a story, and I don’t mean the difference between hardback, paperback and digital. I mean the format of story, what form the storyteller takes and how the audience receives it. Most of us here at Tell Great Stories are the paper or digital storytellers, and most of us get our stories from books, television, movies, and that’s about it. Sometimes we bare the occasional oral storytelling from our mums and let’s face it, as embellished as those usually are, they might as well be classified as fiction. Am I right?

But there are others, maybe less tried, maybe less true, an exceptional few creating new and experimental forms of storytelling.

Quite by accident, I assure you, as I was trying my hardest to do as little as possible with this week’s blog posts (*guilty look*) I ended up compiling a bunch of posts that had a common theme – they dealt in storytelling that pushed the boundaries of traditional as we understand it these modern days, and they are doing it with such talent. It kind of makes me want to try my hand in the wild, uncharted territories known only as, “That space outside the box.”

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Fables of the Flying City is not only the most gorgeous blog in the blogosophere, it isn’t even really a blog. It’s a story, built through podcasting, taking advantage of the tradition of oral storytelling from time immemorial and dressed in cool graphics.

Fables of the Flying City is a swashbuckling steampunk adventure and the brainchild of Jared Axelrod (whose name totally sounds fake, right?) Jared tells his tale as if it were a stage drama with voices and personalities. I absolutely adore Fables. Jared just finished the 30th podcast and announced we were coming close to the end, but not to be too sad as Fables is coming to graphic novel form (by TOR) in the fall (another excellent form of storytelling.)

Fables even has epic theme music. Can I have some theme music for Tell Great Stories? No? I’m not cool enough? Ok, that makes sense.

Via the website: “Ashe, a young woman from the streets of the flying city of Amperstam learns what it takes to be a member of the Aerial Guard, and finds herself at war with an invading empire and the rulers of the city she has sworn to protect!

Fables of the Flying City is written by Jared Axelrod, with illustrations by Steve Walker and Natalie Kelly.”

The first podcast, The Business of Scars, has a little bit of background about creating the story and provides some thought-provoking discussion on themes.

Not all stories make good voice productions and certainly not everyone can tell great stories this way. It helps that Jared has one of those amazing stage voices you could listen to for hours and hours. Oral storytelling requires great cadence, which isn’t exactly the same thing as pacing, though they have some similarities in style. It is the very reason why reading Shakespeare can’t even compare to hearing it performed. What looks like gibberish on the page sings in performance. Neil Gaiman is a writer with cadence in his writing that sounds so delicious when spoken. Another difference you’ll be surprised by is that where printed fiction sinks under the weight of unnecessary adverbs, oral storytelling is quite differently lifted by poetic prose and lilting “lys.”

What do you think about oral storytelling? Do you like your audio books or do you have a hard time paying attention? I personally have a hard time paying attention, usually, but not to Fables. I’m transfixed. I’m in love. I’m taken in by Fables’ sublime and beautiful tale. Are there any podcasts or audio stories you’ve been romanced by?