Is Narrative improv hard?

There seems to a myth that floats around in the improv community that Narrative improvisation is hard. That it should only be attempted by improvisers with years of experience and after you have spent a lot of money completing many levels at improv schools.

I don't believe that Narrative Improvisation is hard or that you need loads of experience to learn it.

I believe that we are all natural born story tellers, you are a natural born story teller. As humans we spend our entire lives immersed in stories, when we talk about our day we tell it as a story, we watch tv and films, read books, play video games and in our sleep our brain creates it's own stories. We are story telling creatures.

You know and understand story because since you were born you have been surrounded by stories. You've probably even heard the story about the day you were born.

I've always found it a bit confusing how many improvisers spend so much time learning formats such as the Harold. If I'm completely honest I've tried the Harold and lots of other formats and I just don't get them, they don't fulfil me. I find the structures overly complicated, I end up spending so much time in my own head that it just isn't fun.

But Narrative Improvisation makes my heart sing. I adore story. I am story.

Of course it takes time to be good at Narrative improv because just like everything else out there practice makes perfect. But with a little knowledge of story structure, a simple format and some awesome improvisers you will be able to create Narrative Longform to be proud of.

If you want to give it a try and learn what all the fuss is about you can check out my upcoming course here.

Happy improvising

Katy x