“So, if you tell them, ‘Actually, I’ve written this, this, and this’ you sound like an arrogant. “Because when you say you’re a writer, they either think you’re some schlub on a couch, or they tell you about a friend’s daughter’s sister who’s also a writer, and she’s had some success at fill-in-the-blank,” he explains. Best-selling author Jeff Pearlman ( Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre) tells new acquaintances that he’s a plumber. In the middle of an incredible story, your reader shouldn't even see the words on the page.Other writers deal with this burden differently. The Benefit of StorytellingĪn idea that I recently adopted is to try and make my writing invisible. That is the foundational principle of this blog, to help you become a better writer by making you practice. Storytellers practice too. The second way to write a good story is to write it again and again and again.Ī quote often attributed to Nathaniel Hawthorne is, “Easy reading is damned hard writing.” So, if we want our readers to fly through our book's pages like the last Harry Potter novel, we must know that it's going to take some work. Make Writing a Part of Your StoryĪnd then of course, after all that living, you have to practice the writing. The most captivating stories have been lived. Good writing can be taught in classrooms, but good storytelling comes from experience. You've smelled the air, heard the sounds, and experienced the place rather than looking at a picture or a video and doing your best to describe it. There's a huge difference between describing to someone the beauty of the Himalayan Mountain Range after you've hiked it yourself and simply imagining what it might be like. Only then will you be able to tell the kind of story that really matters. In order for someone to experience the journey as a reader, you must first experience this journey as the storyteller.
Stories are about characters that transform through a journey. The first way, according to our friend Kevin, is that they've lived them.
#AM IA GOOD WRITER HOW TO#
They have sold millions of books because they know how to tell a really good story. Have you ever read a book you couldn't put down? Or a novel you were so engrossed in that you forgot about the world around you? That is a sign of a great storyteller. Just because we are taught how to write perfectly and place our commas in just the right spot, it means nothing if no one is going to read it. But the book I'm working on about the Syrian refugees? That is something that might interest my readers a little more. I remember the essays I used to write in High School, and trust me, no one wants to read those. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays. Lewis has to say in The Horse and His Boy.įor in Calormen, story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The Difference Between a Writer and a StorytellerĪ writer, by definition, is: “a person who uses written words in various styles and techniques to communicate ideas.” A storyteller, on the other hand, is someone who conveys events in words, images, or sounds.
It wasn't until I listened to an interview between Write Practice founder Joe Bunting, and writer Kevin Kaiser that I realized the two are very different. I've considered myself a writer for years, but a storyteller? I thought that just came with the territory.
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