In the first chapter of The Truth About Stories, King establishes the strategies for telling a “good” story. To begin, he utilizes the story of the turtle as an example of the depth of stories and that we often only understand or receive stories at “face value” without understanding how one’s story was built. In this chapter, King offers us three separate stories, and he tells each one differently, using different strategies.

Identify the three stories King offers and summarize the strategy he uses to tell each one. Determine and explain why he may have chosen each story strategy and how each one affects the depth of the story. Do you think his strategy is effective? Explain.
Choose one of King’s stories in this chapter. Summarize the story and explain how King may have utilized his symbolic “turtles” to make the story resonate with his audience. How might this story have been told to audiences of varying age, demographics, ethnicities?
What other symbols, themes, or storytelling strategies have you noticed so far? Provide examples.