25 things you should know about storytelling
In wandering around the web, I’m sure you, like me, bump into a lot of lists about writing. Some are better than others. And a choice few are pure gold. This list — “25 things you should know about storytelling” — is pure 24 karat. Some background on its author Chuck Wendig:
Chuck Wendig is equal parts novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with wife, dog, and newborn progeny. His “vampire in zombieland” novel, Double Dead, releases in November, 2011, and his e-book of writing advice, Confessions of a Freelance Penmonkey, is now on sale. He is represented by Stacia Decker of DMLA. You can find him dispensing dubious writing advice at his blog, terribleminds.com.
Here is the list:
1. Stories have power
2. Effect above entertainment
3. A good story is a good story regardless of its genre or form
4. That’s not to say form doesn’t matter
5. Stories have shape, even when they don’t mean to
6. The story is a map; plot is the route you choose
7. On the subject of originality
8. The bridge between author and audience
9. But also, fuck the audience in the ear
10. No tale survives a vacuum of conflict
11. The battle between tension and release
12. Peaks, valleys, slashes and whorls
13. In a story, tell only the story
14. Big ideas do well in small spaces
15. Backstory is a frozen lake whose ice is wafer thin
16. Characters are the vehicles that carry us into (and through) the tale
17. Villains have mothers
18. Heroes have broken toys
19. Strip skin off the bones to see how it works
20. Beginnings are for assholes
21. If you jump too fast into waters too deep and the audience drowns
22. Treat place like a character
23. Always ask, why do I want to tell this?
24. It’s okay to bury the lede
25. Writing is a craft, but storytelling is an art
Wendig expands on each point. Here are a few examples:
2. Effect above entertainment
We love to be entertained. Bread and circuses! Clowns and monkeys! Decapitations and ice cream! A good story entertains but a great story knows that it has in its arsenal the ability to do so much more. The best stories make us feel something. They fuck with our emotions. They make us give a flying fuck about characters and places and concepts that don’t exist and won’t ever exist. The way a story stabs us with sadness, harangues us with happiness, runs us through the gauntlet of rage and jealousy and denial and underoo-shellacking lust and fear (together, lust and fear may stir a “scaredy-boner”) is parallel to none. Anybody can entertain. A juggler entertains. A storyteller makes us feel something. Makes us give a shit when we have no good reason to do so. Fun is not the last stop on the story train. The storyteller is master manipulator. The storyteller is cackling puppetmaster.
16. Characters are the vehicles that carry us into (and through) the tale
The best stories are the stories of people, and that means it’s people — characters — that get us through the story. They are the dune buggies and Wave Runners on which the audience rides. Like Yoda on Luke’s back. Above all else, a story must have interesting characters, characters who the audience can see themselves in, even if only in a small way. Failing that, what’s the point?
23. Always ask, why do I want to tell this?
Storytellers tell specific stories for a reason. You want to scare the kids around a campfire. You want to impress your friends with your exploits. You want to get in somebody’s pants. You hope to make someone cry, or make them cheer, or convey to them a message. Know why you’re telling it. Know what its about — to you above all else, because then you can show everybody else what it’s about. Find that invisible tether that ties you to the story. That tether matters.
See what I mean? This is one of the best lists about writing and storytelling I’ve ever found. To read the whole thing — which you absolutely should — go here.
I’ve added Chuck’s site Terrible Minds to my blogroll. You should, too.
Which of the 25 points speak the most to you?