My three-year-old daughter Scout is starting to catch on.

When the the family or old friends are together and people are taking turns telling funny stories—(honestly, sometimes I think the only reason to live at all is to compile stories for these sessions)—Scout will say, "Okay, I have a story."

Of course everybody solicitously says, "Okay, Scout, tell your story."

And then, after beginning well—"once upon a time" is her standard opening—Scout butchers the story and everybody has to politely pretend she didn't. "That's a great story, Scout." And of course she knows full well we're pretending.

She'll figure out how to tell stories, of course—or she'll be out on her ass—but I've been thinking about what advice I might give her, if she asked for it, for telling better stories.

Here's what I think I'd tell her: Speak louder and, before you start the story, know exactly how you're going to end it.

And I thought: That's just about everything I know about storytelling. And most of the time, it's enough.