Marilyn Kinsella has been telling tales for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until about 30 years ago that she made the leap into a real job as a storyteller. She was a teacher in Belleville.

Today, Kinsella, 43, has built a cottage industry out of telling stories. She's a featured artist at the St. Louis Storytelling Festival next month. We sat down with Kinsella recently to talk about her experiences, her joys and the best venue to tell a yarn.

Question: How did you become a storyteller?

Answer: I think I had always been a storyteller, but I didn't know there was a such a thing as a professional storyteller until 1981. I tell everybody that it was like that proverbial light from heaven that came down and said, "This is it, pay attention." I always wanted to have that something special that teachers have. Now I had storytelling. I began to figure out ways to enhance the lessons by introducing them with a story. I had a built-in audience every day.

Q: How do you create a storytelling character?

A: You try to develop a persona, but nothing that would get in the way of telling the stories. When I come out on stage I usually sit and tell my stories. I'm very animated, but within the confines of sitting there.

Q: Do you ever make up things as you're telling a story?

A: Constantly. As storytellers we try not to memorize the words. I memorize the path of the story. After I've told it hundreds of times, it pretty much comes out the same, but it does change too. Sometimes my mind just goes off in a different direction, and if I had just memorized the words I'd be standing there like a deer in the headlights.

Q: What are the best and worst places to tell a story?

A: I love places where it is a comfortable space and it's not too large. Then I feel like I'm connecting to everybody in that room. The worst is the mall. It is tough to get people who are focused on shopping to come over and really get involved in a story.

Q: Have you ever been interrupted?

A: Everything from a kid taking the Velcro on his shoes and opening and closing it, to a Harrier jet. At the VP Fair, right in the middle of my story a Harrier jet came over and hovered right above. There's nothing else to do but stop.

Q: Where do most people make mistakes in telling stories?

A: It's good to know all the mechanics, but if you don't have that way of giving yourself over to a story, it comes out flat. There are people who may not have the best mechanics of telling a story, but their heart is in it. Now the reason why some storytellers can't get to that place, I think they have some block, something that's keeping them from giving themselves over to the story. I could never tell them what it is, I just know there is something missing.

Contact reporter Scott Cousins at 618-344-0264, ext. 113