The five stories should be your fallback when the conversation stutters. Don't go into them right away.Try to make them something that could actually lead to a conversation with her. Please post some good stories you like to tell.

This is a great thread idea, I've been trying to think of some good routines to use. I'm generally a pretty good story teller and usually rely on improv, but I think it doesn't hurt to have a few good stories on hand to bring up when you blank because this happens to me VERY often. It's a good back up or a "plan b" should the conversation die.

I usually bring up (or make up, they're not all true) a story about something random I saw on the street, and segue that into an opinion question. For example, I often tell a story about how I saw a six-foot-tall woman walking hand-in-hand with this tiny short dude. Now this didn't really happen, but it transitions well into the "would you date a shorter guy" thing.

I think this will be interesting and I'd like to see a discussion on this.