How to Tell a Story

Now, literal-minded men might think it's a mistake to exaggerate while telling a story. They think, Oh, I'll lose my credibility. This is incorrect. A good storyteller knows that exaggeration is key, that it's worthless unless it's extreme, and that it doesn't work unless you, as the storyteller, begin to actually and truthfully (99.9 percent) believe in it.

from "How to Tell a Story" by Jeanne Maria Laskas, Esquire November 2000