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TINA KONSTANT (Fabulist)
(advice is forgotten; the story stays)
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The worst story advice floating around out there: "If you want to deliver a message, use DHL."
Blah...
Most of the time we only really get the message because it comes at us sideways. That's what stories do. That's what they're there for. They help us approach the hard things through the backdoor.
Whether we're trying to connect with our kids, our team, a friend, or a complete stranger who just won't listen, a fable gets through where logic simply won't. Bonus... It does it without a fight.
I'll show you how to create them, write them, and tell them.
There's something glorious about fables...
We all get them. Instantly. Whether it's a human fable (no squirrels in sight) or mice moving cheese around, we get it. Even if we can't really describe why we get it, we just do.
The Story Stays is here to help you find the story, shape the story, share the story, and get the message across in a way that allows the listener to reach their aha on their own... without a lecture or squaring off on a proverbial battlefield.
ABOUT The AUTHOR
Hello — I'm Tina Konstant. Storyteller, author, fable-maker, and frequent road-tripper.
I've been doing this since I was eleven years old.
Back when my first story started, I needed something that could help me make sense of things I was too young to understand. I needed a way to put the real world into pictures and forms that I could shape and change, so I could find solutions and test possible outcomes before they happened. The whole story that formed back then was one almighty fable. I didn't realise what it was until much, much later in life. All I knew at the time was that it helped me feel safe and work things out at my own pace.
That was the beginning. After a long, long time of keeping the practice between me and my journals, I wondered if I could help others do the same. That's one of the reasons I started The Story Stays Podcast (previously Waffle-Free Storytelling) in 2020.
Welcome to my world
I grew up in Southern Africa and now live in Scotland, where most days include a walk, a book, a swim in the sea, and a road trip in Calypso (little house on wheels!)
I help people create, write and share stories that solve problems. Helping them make sense of the hard things and find a way to say (and understand) what matters most.
You don't need to be a writer or a storyteller to do this. You just need a lesson or a message you want to share, a problem you want to dig into and solve, and a willingness to find the story that fits.
"A fable doesn't force a lesson. It lets you find your way to the truth on your own."
SHOW, DON'T PREACH
There's something magical about stories that change how we think. They're everywhere. A crazy rom-com, a family tale, a fable, a fairytale... When we're looking for answers, we find them in stories. They have a way of slipping past all resistance and overthinking, to touch the heart of things. That's what this site and my work are all about. Finding, writing, and sharing stories that touch the heart of things...or just giving ourselves a moment to put our feet up and breathe.
An ancient tool, a real craft
In this space, fables are treated like the serious, time-tested instruments they are. For millennia, they've been used to deliver solutions, answers, and comfort.... So here, at The Story Stays, fable-making is taught as a craft for grown-up purposes. Never dismissed as just for kids.
A STORY STAYS
One of my most confusing moments growing up was when an uncle (a huge storyteller in our family) told my sisters and me that we were "too old for stories." I was bewildered! It didn't make sense. It's why I changed the name of the podcast to The Story Stays. We're never too old for stories.
Human Stories, Human Hands
I protect the irreplaceably human work of storytelling by crafting every fable by hand, zero AI. Always. No exception.
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"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."
— Philip Pullman
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