Lily
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Posts: 2,197
Joined: May 2011
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Post by Lily on May 28, 2012 14:16:54 GMT -5
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Post by joshuachrisstoff on Jun 28, 2012 15:59:40 GMT -5
Come and sit down pull up a chair Speak the truth when you tell me you care Don't be afraid to talk to your brother Get a hold of yourself and dry up those tears
We'll start at the start and end at the end . . .
Story telling to me is an art. It doesn't need to written in prose, a poem or a song but I have seen it in all three mediums and some of them are very special. The first item on the list is to have something worthwhile to say. The subject list can be from global warming to a two tone green frog. The real key is to have researched your subject matter, not the comedy the routine relies on. If you don't know your subject you can bet that some half drunk guy in the audience does know and will run rings around you all night.
You delivery in any medium must be smooth and interesting cos once you lose the audience, it is nearly impossible to get them back.
My number 1 complaint when I read for the crit is hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, and then, WHERE IS THE HOOK. I write action/Adventure. I once thort I ha invented the genre or classification as a subset of thriller. I found out the hard way. In action there must be hooks everywhere and there must be adventure, some action going on. It can be as simple as a cup of coffee, a coffee spilled, a coffee so hot it burns the mouth. It don't always have to be a bang and a dead body. Ideally you will have one or two great hooks and storylines that run from go to whoa. But you always have to have something going on mid screen or you risk losing them. Not all hooks need to be closed out. You even have one that is ongoing over several books, perhaps a divorce sub plot that simply won't go way. That is often used and is as valid today as it was the first time it was used well. Note the WELL!!!
The beautiful thing about fiction is that, by definition, the reader must lodge his reality at the door and agree with everything you propose is real in your world.
Star Trek is one i refer to a lot. It has been around for years and it is still popular in all it's formats. I believe I fist saw it in black and white. No matter. We were introduced to a Starship. No explanation required, it flies from here to their, past stars and their planets, some of which have an atmosphere compatible with human beans. One interesting thing that still amazes me is that they don't suggest the Starship is the size of planet Earth but when you walk down the corridor, you 'stick' to the floor, as tho it does. They are not so gauche as to suggest they have a gravity button that duplicates earth's gravity, they just do what they do and we accept it. Leave the reality at the door. Even the collisions and crashes see them running back and forth across the bridge, catching themselves on assorted hardware. Not particularly innovative there but once you know the rules, you know all of what everything means. No need to challenge it. I think the tuffest bit in sci fi is defining the world and any idiosyncrasies they have which re different to earth. Again, it is very simple, tell the reader once and you don't need to fight with them later on about reality and stuff.
So, storytelling. First get your story and facts right. There is no point in bending the truth, in fiction, until you know what all the rules are for a start. then the world is your oyster. In 1995 I became seriously ill. There is no going back. But it wasn't until Nov, 08 that I started to write down my thorts and passion. Some may disagree with this next statement but let's get it out there to be argued over. I can go anywhere in the world, wear any clothes I want to, carry or possess any items, real or imaginary and 'do stuff' til my heart is content.
In friction no one can really challenge your reality or how the world behaves and interacts with all your characters and any weird little garage you produce or procure. A word of warning, the weirder your work is, the more you have to know and follow the rules. Logic and consistency MUST be your watchwords. If yo tell the reader that this stick does this when you do that to it, best you stick with that thru all your books and series. there is no jumping canoes midstream. Like I said, the more far out the concept the more knowledgeable weirdos you will get and they will crucify if something you rely on in ook 4 was defined totally the other way around in book 1. You may have forgotten, but most of them will not.
Again, it may be YOUR book and YOUR characters and YOUR storyline, but without YOUR loyal readers, all you have is ink on a page, and no one will enjoy that!
I love all storytelling and a poet i was introduced to in 1966 is of Australian extraction. One AB "Banjo" Patersen. Andrew Barton Patersen wrote much of his poetry either side of 1900. What really attracts me to him is that most of his poems tell a story or people and places as they were, that day in history. I find them very entertaining and strongly advise of their merit, if you like that style of poetry writing.
in conclusion, if you don't have a worthy story to tell, you can never be a story teller. Story telling enhances the subject matter, it doesn't substitute for it.
Hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook! See, it is all that simple! <GRIN>
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skyelar
Member
Posts: 51
Joined: December 2011
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Post by skyelar on Jun 30, 2012 3:35:30 GMT -5
How right you are Josh.
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