{"id":14512,"date":"2022-06-14T08:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T22:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/?p=14512"},"modified":"2022-06-14T16:24:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T06:24:52","slug":"so-why-is-that-there-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/so-why-is-that-there-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018So… Why Is That There?\u2019 #Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Of all the questions I ask my creative writing clients and students when mentoring<\/a> and editing<\/a>, this is the question I ask them the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It generally has two manifestations, which I thought I\u2019d share as insight into the storytelling process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Studying Other Writers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When reading and studying other writers, I\u2019ll often point out a writing technique being used and ask my client\/student why the writer put it there. My aim is to give them an opportunity to devise the resulting affect, appreciate the thought that went into creating it, then see how they might apply that to their own stories. However, it\u2019s rarely that easy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo why do you think they put that there?\u201d I\u2019ll ask them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026\u201d They often pause to think. \u201cTo be interesting?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHm, not quite. Can you guess again?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUm, to make the writing<\/em> more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At which point I\u2019ll identity a more specific effect or two, along with the knock-on effect on the rest of the story, and my client\/student will quickly develop their appreciation. Sometimes, however, I\u2019ll also go on to explain the real-life creative writing process to them, and I\u2019m always surprised when they don\u2019t realise the effort involved, or the length of the journey to publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The creative writing process often looks a little like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer<\/td>Write first draft<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Rethink<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write second draft<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Rethink<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write third draft<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Put draft aside for a while<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write fourth draft<\/td><\/tr>
Initial Readers<\/td>Send out to first reader(s)<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write fifth draft<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Send out to beta reader(s)<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write sixth draft<\/td><\/tr>
Editor + Proofreader<\/td>Structural edit<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write seventh draft<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Copy edit<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write eighth draft<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Proofread<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Write ninth draft<\/td><\/tr>
Layout<\/td>Send to layout<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Check layout<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Sent to print<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, writers rarely do anything just to be \u2018interesting\u2019. Every sentence has to be considered and rethought, every paragraph, every scene, and certainly every technique. This is why studying others\u2019 creative writing and being aware of the creative process can be useful \u2013 it\u2019s not just a writer communicating ‘something interesting’ to you, it\u2019s an entire team of people telling you a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Assessing Own Work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When reading and assessing my client\u2019s or student\u2019s own creative work, I\u2019ll often point to sentence, paragraph or scene, and ask them<\/em> why they put it there. My hope is that they\u2019ll be able to justify their creative decision, and perhaps reflect on the consequences for the story. However, it\u2019s rarely that easy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo why did you put that there?\u201d I\u2019ll ask them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause\u2026\u201d They often pause to think. \u201cThat\u2019s what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHm, but does it move the \u2018story\u2019 itself along, show your character or their world developing, or offer the reader a fitting moment of introspection?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUm, maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At which point I\u2019ll give them some advice a literary agent once told me: \u2018use it or lose it\u2019 (thanks Cameron McClure!). Every word in a story has to work for its place on the page. If it\u2019s not doing a job, it\u2019s probably unnecessary and should be cut.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It can be hard to do this as a writer, as we tend to like words! There\u2019s nothing like weaving a wondrous whorl of words to whirl your reader with delicious enchantment. I call this our \u2018secret poet\u2019. But there is something more important to a writer than words \u2013 and that\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writers can become attached to words, we can even be proud of them; but as Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch wrote in his 1916 book \u2018On the Art of Writing\u2019, later reiterated by Stephen King in his book \u2018On Writing\u2019, we must sometimes \u2018murder our darlings\u2019 for the sake of our story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Story must come first, because that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to communicate to the reader. We\u2019re trying to create an emotional connection, offer readers a deeper understanding of human experiences, show them how to make sense of others and ourselves. Stories can inspire us or warn us about what to do and who to be. Stories can create empathy, fear, hope or laughter. Stories are the best invention ever created!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if I have to cut a sentence, paragraph, scene or chapter to make my story better \u2013 I\u2019m in. I create a document called \u2018Rejects\u2019 and I copy and paste my deletions into it, because the creator in me hopes I might re-use them one day, either in a future draft of the same work, or in a new work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can imagine, I have many \u2018Reject\u2019 documents on my computer, all with fabulous words waiting to be re-used \u2013 although, to date, I don\u2019t think I ever have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all the questions I ask my creative writing clients and students when mentoring and editing, this is the question I ask them the most. It generally has two manifestations, which I thought I\u2019d share as insight into the storytelling process. 1. Studying Other Writers When reading and studying other\u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Why writers do what they do, and sometimes why they shouldn't!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[731,1923,2425],"class_list":["post-14512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writer-advice","tag-creative-writing","tag-mentor","tag-writing-technique"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/we-are-all-stories-in-the-end-Zena-Shapter.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14512"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14543,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14512\/revisions\/14543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}