Tag: storytelling

Posted on by — Leave a comment

let me tell you a story

There is something to be said about the ways a round of interviews during job hunting can help narrow your focus on what it is you do and why.

Sure, I get tired of talking about myself all the time (I’m not really all that interesting to be honest), but as you answer the same or similar questions, it really does help you hone an understanding of what you love about what you do.

The last few rounds of job-hunting helped bring a few things into focus.

  1. I love helping people to help themselves. That really is a lot of what technical writing is all about. My job is to make the instructions so clear that a user can do their job without needing to access customer support.
  2. I am a storyteller at heart. You may not think that’s something that pertains to technical writing, but you’d be wrong. The story I’m telling is about the user’s journey in using the product, or it’s about the product itself and how users can make the most of it.
  3. I am at my best as a writer, both technical and other, when I can get out of my own way and just let the words flow. It can be a challenge for me to turn off my internal editor, but my writing is always stronger when I do. Editing can come after the words are down.

This being my first week in this new job I’m on the other side of the story, the part where I am learning the story of the company and the product and what my place will be. It is a necessary step toward being able to then help write that story.

And that step needs more coffee! I’m off to start my day, Readers! I hope yours is awesome and filled with kindness.

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

Posted on by — Leave a comment

inspire me

So, where do the stories come from? What makes a good story? Or…what makes a story good?

As with all art, it is up to the Reader to decide whether a story is good or not, and for many they can’t tell you why they feel that way.

Some of us like to read dark, dystopian stories that let us see that the hell of our reality could be so much worse. Some prefer lighter and brighter stories that let us see a better world/future. Some are in it for a driving plot. Others prefer character driven stories. Some want action. Some want comfort.

When I’m reading I like a lot of different kinds of stories. I am drawn to science fiction and fantasy, especially when the characters are vibrant and relatable, even if they are aliens or elves.

However, when I write, tend to stick a little closer to home. All of my published work, and the current series I’m working on, take place in our world (at least to start). My characters are where my story comes from, what my stories rely on. Without them, there is no story.

So, what makes a good character?

Look at the people in your own life. See them for who they are, all their faults and foibles, all of their joys and triumphs. Each of your characters should be that real. Take your time with them, yes, even the background characters should have their own life.

When I am just getting started with a character, I build what I call a character sheet. It includes name, age, height, build, eye and hair color, etc. Then I will add a short backstory. I have a section for character traits (lazy, loves cocoa, overly casual, etc), and how those traits play out in behavior.

It makes a good reference point while writing, but it also gives me what I need when I read through the story for that character. And yes, I read through each story for each character before it goes to my editor…yes, that can be a lot of read throughs!

Probably 80% or more of what goes onto the character sheet never makes it into the story, other than being in the character. For background characters that can be as high as 90%, but I could pick up that character and write the story from their point of view at any time because I know them that well.

My characters are people. Sometimes I hang out in the bar in my head with them while they tell me who they are.

What about you, Reader? What do you look for when you’re reading?

Posted on by — Leave a comment

from a certain point of view

As a reader, one of the things that can kick me out of a story or make me put a book down is what I call “point of view slips”. You know, you’re reading along in one point of view and there’s that random sentence/paragraph that is written in a completely different point of view.

Of course, as a writer, one of the easiest ways to avoid this kind of slip is to write in first person. If my narrative voice is I/me, I’m not going to accidentally tell you what another character is thinking/feeling without that character expressing it in some way.

As an editor and writing coach, this is one of the areas that I dig into. I tell my clients to ask a few questions to help them sort it out.

  1. Who is telling the story?
    • Even in third person narratives, the story is told/experienced through a character. Who is it? What do they know/see/hear/observe?
  2. How does that character know the information in that different point of view?
    • Is your character a mind reader?
  3. Is it necessary for your reader to know what that second character is thinking/feeling? Is it more important than what your primary character is thinking/feeling?

As an example, let’s take a look at how this might present in a fictional setting.

"Harold set his mug down on the table and surveyed the room as the chime on the door announced a new arrival. His impatience was building. He never did like waiting.  Nancy was always late, but he could see her now, shaking the rain off her umbrella in the doorway.  
A thousand apologies ran through her mind as she saw him waiting there, but she settled for lifting a hand in greeting while she finger combed her damp hair.
Harold nodded to the coffee he'd ordered for her, standing to receive her air kiss and shivering when her cold hand touched his arm."

That middle paragraph there takes the reader out of Harold’s point of view, and drops them into Nancy’s with no real pay off. There is nothing in that paragraph that is essential to the reader, or if that is the part that is important, then perhaps the author has chosen the wrong point of view character.

The question then is: Who is telling this story? Whose character has most to contribute to the reader’s understanding of the action? If it is truly Harold, the middle paragraph needs to change to reflect what Harold sees/hears/understands of Nancy’s arrival. If instead, the point of view with the most to offer is Nancy’s, then the rest of the piece needs to be reworked to show her understanding of her arrival and Harold’s impatience.

That isn’t to say that point of view changes are bad. We’ve all read books where the author chooses to change the POV character for various reasons. The trick is knowing when, where and how to do it.

What say you, Readers? Is this a sticking point for you too?

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash

Posted on by — Leave a comment

the writing part of writing

Being an author is an odd sort of thing, I suppose, especially to those who are not *people who write* and especially not for those who also do not read. I was a voracious reader as a child. I absorbed words like a sponge. Stories were vehicles that transported me out of my bedroom and into worlds larger than any one mind can conceive.

Maybe it was inevitable that I would pick up a pen and start writing. I wanted in on that magic! I loved creating new worlds, new characters. I wrote science fiction, fantasy, and poetry. I tried my hand at mystery and romance. I studied and tried to emulate my favorite authors. I wanted my prose to be lush and invigorating. I wanted the worlds in my stories to come to life.

For that to happen, I learned, the author needs to spend a good amount of time prior to words hitting the paper. There is world building to do. There are characters to build out so that they are realistic and not just cardboard cut outs. There is plot to invent, stretch, turn, twist and resolve. Inevitably, that plot has holes that need to be filled.

And all of that comes either before or during the actual writing part of the writing process. Okay, sometimes after the first draft is done.

I can spend months (or longer) doing all the stuff that happens in my head before I start writing. My muse loves world building more than anything, so the worlds I see in my head are amazing landscapes of complex societies that I can only hope I capture as I begin to write.

This last weekend saw over ten thousand new words in the second Blood Witch book, signaling an end of the mental block 2020 clamped on my muse and ushering in the period where the words begin to spill from my fingers. It’s the part of the writing process that wants to just devour my life. The story spins out in my head faster than my fingers can translate it to the page, and I am best able in this phase to tune out my inner editor and just get it down.

I maybe feel the most like myself when I’m doing the writing part of writing. Unfortunately for me, today is Monday…and that means a return to the day job, so more word craft will need to wait, though I am hoping to get through this scene before I open the work computer.

I hope you are safe and sane, Readers, and that your week is filled with magic and kindness.

Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash