This week we have surpassed 15,000 hits on RVJart.com! I say we because it is all on you. I sincerely appreciate your support.

This milestone leads me to this weeks subject, storytelling.  You may think that this is an odd subject for me to be presenting but bear with me.

A few weeks ago my niece Cindy and her husband Steve and their family came for a visit to Vermont. As we sat around a campfire one night telling scary stories with the children,  Steve mentioned that he had given a Ted Talk about the subject of storytelling. If you arent’ aware of Ted Talks (Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.) you must check it out. Little did I know that his presentation would speak my mind so succinctly.

Here is Steve Coulson’s  Ted Talk .

Steve starts by explaining how storytelling historically was an immersive experience including audience participation. That was, until the rise of modern media like radio, television and films. They were a passive media with storytellers on one side and audience on the other.  But now with the rise of social forums there has been a technological and social revolution. We now have the reemergence of the voice of the audience in collaboration with the storyteller. This is what Steve calls transmedia storytelling. The participation of the audience with the storyteller in forming the narrative.

I thought about this deeply when constructing my online persona. The idea that this was a public construction of a personality was present in my mind. And transmedia storytelling (although I didn’t have a name for it at the time) with the creation of this blog and a Facebook page was part of the project. So this is where you come in, with 15,000 views!, comments, ideas, related stories and  purchases. Our life stories intertwine on many levels and we are both storyteller and audience simultaneously.