With the holidays coming I’m thinking more in terms of curiosity and wonder than instruction. So I thought I’d write a bit about storytelling – it’s origins – what it all means. Uh, oh, I don’t think I’ll get philosophical, but well, you never know.
Storytelling comes in many forms. The written word (you know novels, articles, ‘fake’ news, short stories, all that) pictures (paintings, movies, photos, drawings, etc.) music, religion…they all tell stories.
Alrighty folks, time to put it on the table. Writing takes a lot of brain work, and brain work takes focus.
Consider this: There’s research to squeeze the brain, plotting to squeeze it harder, and just plain thinking about everything else related to your writing project. And that doesn’t include the acttual writing.
So, today I’m going to talk a bit about brain fatigue, stress, and just plain over-doing it.
Have you ever wondered about your talent for this writing thing? Whether scripts, books, articles, whatever. Have you ever thought, “Do I really have talent for this?”
I’ll be willing to say that’s a big yes for pretty much anyone reading this post. You have indeed asked that question of yourself and perhaps someone else – someone who’s read your work or maybe someone from whom you’ve taken a course. It’s a very real concern to writers. And, let’s face it, writers frequently need reassurance.
So, let’s think about this and ask a few questions.
When you begin crafting a story have you taken into consideration the needs and wants of your main characters?
You should. Because when you get down to it, those are the driving forces of your story.
Now many people may jump up and yell, no, it’s conflict! “If there isn’t conflict, there isn’t a story.” But where does that conflict come from?
Normally, I caution writers to keep a safe distance from the net for fear of flushing all their writing time down the dark hole of social media and/or just surfing to the point where they don’t actually write.
Today though, I’m just going to throw websites at you. Here’s my usual caution. First, they aren’t all related to screenwriting. We already know Larry Brody’s TVWriter.com is the best around for TV Writing. But, they’re writing related. Also, don’t get sucked into the web. Go, check out a site if it looks like it could be helpful to you, then get back to writing. Don’t let yourself get sucked into an all day info-search that only flushes that day away.
Okay, that said, here we go…