Why Write or Read Stories?

"The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in your head."— Tim O'Brien
by Christopher Meeks

Why look at the stars? Why make banana bread?
Last month I gave an overview on structure, speaking about essays, mythic structure, and narrative. One question that started to emerge is why write or read stories? Why learn story structure in the first place? Using the Web to buy and sell objects is one thing—and interesting, well-written text can certainly help commerce—but what's the big deal about stories? How does that help you get ahead?

These questions led me, in part, to teaching English at a local college. I hated English classes in high school and most of college. It was only after one brilliant teacher encouraged my writing that I stumbled onto a passion and a career, and now I feel I'm returning the favor. My goal isn't to create a legion of fiction writers or playwrights but simply to show people that, hey, reading can be incredible—and writing is something you can do.

What writing can do for those who read it
I don't try to cover any historical period of English literature. I only want people to discover that reading fiction can be an experience. What kind of experience? That was my single question on the final test, after we spent the semester reading The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason, and "Soldier's Home" by Ernest Hemingway, among other pieces. The Vietnam War was our main subject. What follows are some of the thoughts by the students.

"Many history books talk about history as if it were some kind of game with written rules; this is way wrong. History involves people, and you can't talk in just facts and numbers. History isn't an exact science," wrote Gil. "With Vietnam, not a lot of us knew what it was like to be there, to wake up everyday into this terror, to walk around the woods with the feeling your next step may be your last. Stories bring us the cultures we never had a chance to be a part of, and they give us an opportunity to live the lives we never had. Stories are the least we can make for the next generations; stories are the most we can give the world."

I like that. Gil is suggesting stories are both an obligation and a gift. He makes a good point, as does Jose: "After reading The Things They Carried, I asked myself, 'How would I handle being sent to a war I did not believe in or did not want to fight in?' How would I handle facing the prospect of my death? Am I ready? We are all going to die—me, you, the whole class—but if we begin to discuss it openly, many would probably feel uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it. These were young men full of romantic notions, carrying guns, fear, anger…and the possibility of death. In life, everything is temporary, even life."

Wow! Jose is right. We are just temporary. Are we meant to buy so many fruit baskets from Harry and David on-line, then call it a life? "I shop, therefore I am?" Who knows—maybe. Good fiction has us consider these things. You must realize, there is no one answer. Jose walked into class the first day worried he was not "a writer," and just trying to figure out how he was going to make it through the semester, and he left with such thoughts. I'm impressed.

Eye-opening
"When you are able to write believably, your reader will fall gracefully into your story, awaiting the next twist," wrote Lori. "If you don't believe in your own story, don't expect anyone else to. This confidence can only come from experience." Further in the paper, she added, "I can't express the shock I felt as O'Brien shared his inner struggle in 'The Vietnam in Me.' He expressed his suicidal thoughts so vividly, that I found his instability alarming, much as people must have felt when Hemingway took his own life. Men with such talent and so much torment: truly eye-opening. "

Lori ended her paper with a poetic image of her own: "The journey through literature is a solo flight."
Tim O'Brien in The Things They Carried speaks of story, too. He writes, "Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future."

Later in the book he writes, "The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in your head."

I encourage you all to read, if not write, stories. Make spirits in the head.

15 Tips for Becoming A Better Writer

By Michael Angier

Whether you're writing a memo, a letter, an article or a full-length book, there are a few basic rules to keep in mind that will help your message first to be read and then to be better understood and accepted.

1. Never Be Boring Your reader will forgive almost anything except you being boring. Your reader doesn't have to agree with you, but he or she should at least be intrigued. Make the reader care. Don't be afraid to be "edgy." Look at every sentence and ask yourself, "Why will the reader care about this?"

2. Write in Short Sentences The reader shouldn't have to work hard to understand what you're saying. If he or she has to go back over a sentence because of poor structure it's not his or her fault, it's yours. Read what you've written aloud or have someone else read it aloud to look for sentences that are too long or convoluted.

3. Write to the Reader Use "you" often. Look for ways to eliminate or reduce "I" and "me."
Present tense, second person is always best. It feels more to readers like you're talking to them.

4. Go Active Use active verbs as much as possible. They're more engaging. They move the reader along and take fewer words to get your message across. "John loves Mary" is much more powerful than "Mary is loved by John."

5. Keep it Simple The front page of The Wall Street Journal and all of USA Today is written for the eighth grade reading level. Why should we be any different? People aren't interested in things they don't understand. Make your points quickly and succinctly. Make your words work and use as few of them as possible. Use the right word, not just to show off your vocabulary (or your new thesaurus), but to convey your message clearly.

6. Tell Stories Facts tell and stories sell. The best writers and speakers of the world have always been good storytellers. Your own stories are the best. What you are sharing is wisdom from your point of view and stories can illustrate this better than anything else.

7. Know Your Subject Write on things on which you've earned the right to write. The more you know, the more confidence and credibility you'll have.

8. WIFM This is the radio station that everyone listens to. The call letters stand for "What's in It For Me". People want to know what they'll get out of what you're writing, so appeal to what they want.

9. Write Like You Talk Often I see people who are good verbal communicators trying to put on a different air in their writing. It doesn't work. It's much better to be conversational.

10. Paint Pictures We think in pictures and should write in ways that create these pictures in the mind of the reader. Be descriptive. Use examples. Describe the unfamiliar by using some of the familiar. For example: "Jennifer's first day at her new job reminded her of the freshness and unfamiliarity she experienced on her first day of school."

11. Sleep On it It's a rare individual who can sit down and write something well at the first attempt. Any writing of import should be written and then reviewed later, preferably at least a day later. Some things should be edited several times over an extended period of time in order to properly convey a clear understandable message.

12. Write and Read Extensively This advice is from Stephen King, a prolific writer. If you want to be a good writer you have to do two things … read a lot and write a lot. Enough said.

13. Break it Down Where appropriate use bullet points. Use them for summaries or outlines. Think about someone who may only start out by scanning your text. Let your bullet points draw the reader in.

14. Keep Paragraphs to no more than Six LinesShort paragraphs provide white space to the text. They break up the page and make it appear less formidable to the reader. Like in music, the space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

15. Avoid using Capital Letters to make a Point Capital letters are harder to read than upper and lower case. They also can be perceived as SHOUTING! A little uppercase usage is OK but regular use of words with every letter shown as a capital doesn't work and it looks amateurish.
Writing can be a happy and rewarding experience. If you follow these tips, you will find it easier to convey your written communications to others.

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Creating A Vivid Setting

One of the first problems a writer must contend with is setting. Where there is a story, there must also be somewhere for it to take place. Setting is a much-overlooked part of the storytelling process--my feeling is that you should regard setting not as an external element to your story, but as another character. In many ways, it is!

The setting is integral to the story. You can't separate the two and still have a complete work. Your setting adds dimension to your story, giving it realism. It can also tell the readers things about your characters without "telling" them--imagine the difference in our impressions if we had met Lando Calrissian in the bubbling swamps of Dagobah and Yoda in Cloud City!

Especially in the genres of fantasy and science fiction, when we praise a novel as being "vivid" or "detailed" or even "realistic", what we are usually praising is the depiction of setting. When you write in this sort of genre, you have to build your setting from the ground up. In fact, setting is one of the major reasons why these novels tend to be so lengthy--the fantasy author can't make the assumptions about setting that the mainstream fiction author can. The fantasy author must construct a whole new world for their setting; from the ground up.

So setting is important. We want the most vivid depiction of setting possible without boring our readers. What are some of the ways we can make a setting more vivid?

Your setting should be planned during the story planning--not tacked on at the end. If you plan the setting as part of the story from the beginning, it will show. From your very first glimmer of an idea, you have some conception of where it must occur. Develop that along with the rest of the work, and you're one step ahead.

What requirements does your story place on its environment? Does your story require a setting near water? In the city? Way out in the country? Is this a cold climate? Tropical? What time of year is it? What sort of people and animals might your characters encounter? What kind of social change is going on? What sort of issues are important to your characters?
You'll need a whole extra set of questions to develop a fantasy setting. What sort of magic is standard here? What sort of governing body is there? What kind of currency do they use? How do they dress? What patterns of speech might they use? How technologically advanced are they?

Don't neglect the passage of time in your storytelling. Everything your characters do will take time, and it is up to you to provide a realistic sense of the time passing while they do it. Don't forget that even the hardiest heroes need to sleep! A common beginners' mistake is a story that reads like one long day, or heroes who never stop to sleep. This kind of pace will exhaust your readers too! Let your characters progress through time naturally, and keep a timeline so you can see what happened when, and make sure your days are broken up realistically.

What about weather? The weather in your character's world will change. Depending on the season, you may have rain, or snow, or blistering heat. If you don't provide a sense of the weather--and the greater context of season--the reader is left with a sense of unreality about this place. It wouldn't hurt to note the weather on your timeline, so that you can make sure your seasons progress as they should.

Draw a map.
Especially in fantasy story-telling, a map will often show you things about your world or give you plot ideas that you would not have found otherwise. It also makes sure you have a clear idea of the layout of your setting, and keeps your directions and sense of space constant.

Tips for Romance Writers

If you're serious about writing romance, consider joining Romance Writers of America. (I believe their monthly magazine, Romance Writers' Report, is worth the price of membership all by itself.) The RWA website is helpful and informative, but as a member you'll have access to many more pages of articles and tips.
Many of the RWA chapters have excellent websites stuffed with good writing tips. One of my favorites is The Heart of Denver Romance Writers, which at my last visit had 149 very well organized "how-to write" articles. (You need not be a member to view these.)
Harlequin Enterprises, which owns Steeple Hill Books, has a mega-website packed with information for both romance fans and aspiring writers. Take a look at eHarlequin.com.
If you're interested in "inspirational" romance, visit SteepleHill.com. There you'll find information on all the Steeple Hill books and authors, plus a very active message board where a couple of dozen Steeple Hill authors (like me!) participate regularly. Even the editors pop in from time to time to answer questions about writing for Steeple Hill.
Here's another good resource site for writers: Romance Central has a Writers Workshop with lots of helpful articles.
If money's tight and you're feeling sorry for yourself because you can't afford any "how to write romance" books, here is my very best tip: Head over to Charlotte Dillon's Resources for Romance Writers. You'll find more helpful articles at this site than you'll be able to read in several sittings. Bookmark the site and keep going back until you've sucked it dry. Trust me--that will take a while!