You Don’t Know Jack!

For this workshop we’ll be using some small segments from what are called “Jack Tales.” You know one of these tales: “Jack and the Beanstalk,” but there are LOTS of stories about Jack! He’s quite a guy! More on him later ...

Part of effective storytelling involves emphasizing suspense. This means making your exciting moments really exciting and suspenseful! Make us very concerned about your characters and the dangers or disasters that await them if the don’t succeed! Here are some ways to amplify the suspense and sense of concern in a story.

• Identify what is at stake—amplify the stakes early in the story: foreshadowing—and then make the task seem impossible, but make the reward worth it.

EXAMPLE: “Jack suddenly realized that to count all of hairs on the rabbit would be impossible—but he knew that if he did not succeed, the giant would eat him for supper.”

• Make it a close call by adding limits

• Time limits:

• When the hourglass runs out, Dorothy will die!
• When the fire has the men completely surrounded, they will die!
• When the clock strikes midnight, Cinderella’s magic will end!
• When the crocodile reaches the trapped man, he will be eaten!

• Hero’s limits

• He doesn’t have the strength to reach the top.
• As smart as he is, he can’t figure out the riddle.

• Emphasize the contrast between normal concern and ultimate concern: “His sore toe was one thing, but having a monster eat you is another!”

From the scenarios below, randomly choose one, and build ONLY this part of the story about Jack. Don’t tell the beginning, just tell this suspenseful scene to a partner or two and then tell the end of the scene when Jack either succeeds or fails.

Let’s do one together: “If Jack can stay awake just one more night, the wizard’s spell will be broken!” In this sentence, we have to try to make it as impossible as possible to stay awake. What makes people want to sleep?

Okay, good. Let’s include those—or some of those—in our telling:

So it’s very late, and he hasn’t slept in days. He props open his eyes with toothpicks, but just then, he hears a motherly voice singing a lullaby! He puts cotton in his ears, but just then it becomes very warm in the room. He keeps almost nodding off, and while he does, the wizard watches him from his crystal pool and chuckles. But Jack is hanging on. He slaps himself to stay away. He pulls a Mountain Dew from his backpack and drinks it so the caffeine will keep him awake. But the wizard suddenly sends magic sleeping powder in the room. Poor Jack! His eyelids are getting heavier, heavier, heavier! Jack looks around, but all is going dark, fading, fading, fading. But he slaps himself again, and pokes himself on the toe with a needle. That works for a few minutes, but then the wizard sends ghostly figures of sheep with numbers painted on their sides, and these figures gently leap over a fence for Jack to count: one, two, three, four. . .

I think you see where I’m going, don’t you? Try it on a few of the sentences below. Put as many complications in as possible, just for fun! When you are finished, ask yourself what made the effective ones effective!

1. a. “If Jack give the Princess the wrong flower, she will die!” (so think about the flower here: there must be LOTS of them? Are they all the same? All different? Is Jack suddenly blinded and can't see them? etc., etc., etc.)
   
   b. “If Jack takes even one sip from the magic goblet, he will turn into a salamander!”
   
   c. “If Jack fails to drink the entire barrel of ale, the ogre will realize that he has been fooled!”
   
   d. “If Jack sneezes, the noise will wake the ogre and he will be eaten alive!”
   
   e. “If Jack slaps at even one mosquito as they buzz around him, the troll will know he is there!”
   
   f. “If Jack chooses the wrong key, he will be locked into the goblin’s castle forever!”
   
   g. “If Jack blinks even once, the princess will be eaten alive by the huge dragon!”
   
   h. “If Jack can make the princess laugh, both she and the kingdom will be his!”
   
   i. “If Jack can beat the devil in a race through the swamp, he will be able to save the princess!”
   
   j. “If Jack can catch the biggest fish, he will beat the giant once and for all.”
   
   k. “If Jack says the wrong thing, the princess will hate him forever!”
   
   l. “If Jack can reach the top of the mountain, all of the gold will be his!”
   
   m. “If Jack can identify the correct painting, he will win the princess’s hand in marriage!”
   
   n. “If Jack can keep his shadow from appearning, the gargoyle will be powerless against him!”
   
   o. “If Jack holds the sword wrong, it will kill him instead of the goblin!”
   
   p. “If Jack can decipher the message in the leopard’s spots, he will be free!”