Tell Me a Story

I was talking with one of my critique partners the other day about story. Specifically, what makes one scene a keeper and another little more than a place holder, something to put down until the writer figures out what is actually supposed to happen at that moment.That discussion led me to think about story and how we, all of us not just writers, are surrounded by story our whole lives. From those first fairytales read to us by our parents as bedtime stories, to the books we read throughout grade school and high school, to the hours of TV and movies we watch during the course of our daily lives, it’s all story. And it’s those thousands of scenes with their reversals and turningpoints, the hundreds of inciting incidents and black moments, that color our expectation when we pick up a book or rent a film. Or when we sit down to write a story of our own.

But did you ever think about yourself as a storyteller? It’s true, even those of you who aren’t writers, you too are storytellers. Think about the last time you told a friend about that great vacation you and your family took last summer. How you selected what details to share, the words you used to tell her how the sun looked as it set over the mountains, and how funny it was when your husband lost his favorite hat when a low flying seagull decided to leave him a present.

Now you might say you didn’t consciously think about how to tell that story beforehand, it just sort of came out in the conversation. But that’s what writing is like, especially writing the first draft. You throw in everything, not stopping to think about how the words look on the screen or how they flow together, you just get them down knowing that later you can go back and refine and polish each detail until it says exactly what you mean. And that’s what you do. You go back and change words, adding details here and there, tweaking a character’s reactions until the feel of the scene is just right. Then you move on to the next scene or chapter or story just like you move from one conversation to the next throughout your day.

So see, we’re all storytellers whether or not we ever put pen to paper or fingers to keys with that intention.

Why not try it. Go ahead. Open up a blank document and start typing. You’ve got all this story experience, why not give it a shot? Tell me a story. C’mon, you know you want to.

Written by Kimberly Gardner

As early as the seventh grade, Kimberly remembers slashing her favorite rockstars and reading romance. So it’s not surprising that her two passions, romance and putting pretty boys with other pretty boys, should come together in her writing. Moliere said, “Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, then for money.” Kimberly is delighted to finally be doing it for money.
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