CPatterson

I was once a writer. I spent years churning out pretentious crap that no one wanted to read. I told myself that I was an artist and people simply didn't understand me. I was smarter than everyone else. Someday people would recognise my genius and I would become rich and famous. I would hold court in a dingy coffee shop, smoking and belittling those outside the intelligensia.

Life has a habit of humbling us. If we live long enough we begin to acquire a bit of wisdom. We may even get lucky and discover the secret to good writing.

The most common advice given in writers workshops is to keep writing. This, my friends, is total bullshit. Have you ever been around someone who never shuts up but says absolutely nothing? Do you suggest to them that they keep talking in hopes that they finally say something profound, or do you tune them out or simply walk away? I simply walk away. Just as most readers will walk away from an author who churns out words that say nothing.

Learning the mechanics of writing is important. Even more important is having a story to tell.

I am now a story teller.

Curt

Foxee

It might be a good discussion to get into some details and finer points of good storytelling.

I've found that good storytelling is much more elusive to grasp than the basics of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. (Though I'm sure there are plenty of examples to show I haven't fully mastered those, either)

So, what do you (this is for Curt or anyone else) see as the basic building blocks of storytelling?

What has helped you to improve? Or was it simply a change of focus?

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Mike C

Indeed. Your post just sounds like a pretentious git holding forth in a coffee shop...

Share your secrets. Tell the story. Everything else is hot air.

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Lote-Tree

Writing is about Story Telling. Rest is just details

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I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell:
And by and by my Soul return'd to me,
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell :"

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The Backward OX

I think Loulou answered this same question in another thread, and as I happened to agree with her, I'll jump in here - life is the basic building block of good storytelling.

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Mike C

To counter that I'll suggest that good writing isn't necessarily about telling a story. In shorts, particularly, it can be about capturing a brief moment in time, or an emotion. It doesn't necessarily have to have a beginning, middle and end. It just has tomake the reader feel something.

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Foxee

And there are types of writing meant to inform or persuade, too. Sure. Lots of uses for writing. It's the encompassing umbrella that storytelling sits under.

Nice one, Ox. RL observations pulled into fiction make it more real. Can't tell you how many times watching something happen or someone talking and thinking that would make a good story...

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By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean. ~Mark Twain

CPatterson

The things that work for one writer may not work for another because we all define success differently. If your goal is to please the critics, get your name bandied about in literary circles or win awards, I have no advice for you.

If you want average people to read your work, then you need to target those readers. Never over-estimate the sophistication of the average reader. Don't talk down to them, but don't attempt to be to clever.

Know what you are writing about. If your story has some one shooting a .50 caliber Desert Eagle, then you need to be familiar with that firearm.The average reader will forgive a mistake in grammar, but claim the hero fired 15 shots before reloading and your credibility is shot, pun intended.

Once you determine your target audience, use the readers experience to move the story along. Most people are not in love with words, they fall for the story. Use cliches. They do work with minimal effort on the part of the reader.If blue sky is important to the story, then say it is blue.

Keep it simple. It works for me. Your results may vary.

Lote-Tree

All these too your capturing a moment in the story...

__________________
I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell:
And by and by my Soul return'd to me,
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell :"

Lote's Tales and Poetry

HarryG

I agree with the OP and MikeC, does that make sense?

Shavixmir

I actually agree with the initial poster.
It's better to read a crap story written by someone who can tell a story, than to read a brilliant story written by somebody who couldn't write a haiku in a 17 syllable universe.

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In Vino Veritas

Malone

I don't care how enthralling the story is, if the writing is crap it sucks to read. I don't know how many books I've tried to force my way through because someone tells me how wonderful the story or plot is. It took a lot of drugs to get through The Davinci Code and Angels and Demons.

Pete_C

You can write all the words you want, but show me a monkey firing an M60, and the words become nothing but noise.

Baron

I feel certain that there should be a dwarf in this post somewhere...

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Pete_C

Obviously, the monkey would be firing at a dwarf in my mind.

Jesus; you write one poem about dwarf love.