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A Better Storyteller

rejuvenate

New member
One of the things I would like to develop is to become a better storyteller. What are some books, tools, tips and tricks you would recommend checking out/trying? thanks!
 

Seeker Best

New member
Hmmm...Í have learnt that storytelling is quite different from creative writing. But I'm sorry, I would love to approach the matter from the creative writing perspective. The golden rule of creative writing is that you should show instead of telling. You try and show emotion and tell actions and feelings.

As regards reading, there is no book that solitarily teaches you creative writing better than creative fictions themselves. Therefore, you should read fiction across continents just as I have done and that way, you can get a good voice and style. You can also read Francine Prose's "Reading like a Writer" it's a good guide, I think.
 

hladik

Member
The best advice is always to write. As much as you can I mean, that way you get a lot of practice. Besides, I think that the other best advice is what come in the form of a poem by Bukowski

So you want to be a writer?

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.
 
Read, read read and when you think you're done, read some more. There are 2 main ways to learn to write, one of them is, well, actually writing. The other is reading, try copying author's styles, try taking some of their descriptions, the way they do motion etc. You'll be surprised by how much of an effect it can have on your skills
 

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