A fine human being (or a very savvy robot) emailed me to ask a really important — and head-bonkingly difficult — question.
This human-slash-robot said:
I’m good at idea part. I have lots of notes for several novels on characters, who they are, how they know each other, what they want, their backstories. On settings, where and when everything takes place. I’m also good at the “sit down and shit out words” part. I can knock out 10k words in a week if I’m really in a groove.
But what I’m bad at is the STORY part. I’m horrible at getting from “I know the basic setup” to “I have an outline for where this is going”. Lately, most of my abandoned projects are abandoned because I just don’t have an idea what these people do or what happens to them once I’ve created a situation. I write 4k or 10k words and realize, “I don’t have a real story here.” Any pointers you have along those lines are greatly appreciated. It’s the one thing I haven’t found so far in your book or on your blog: how do you create enough story-stuff to build a novel around? And if I can’t seem to do it, should I just give up on novels?
So, to clarify —
The ideas are easy. (And they are. Ideas are baubles — cheap, chintzy, shiny, and freely available.) The writing is easy in the sense that, okay, you can sit down and dig the word ditches in Unicorn Land till your fingers go black and rot at the knuckles.
But story.
Story.
That’s the hard part, this humanbot is right. Story is an unruly beast.
Plot? Plot is easy. Plot is simple. Plot is just: the order of operations and events within the story as revealed to the audience. It’s a sequence of happenings — ideally, those happenings are driven by characters rather than by a COLD AND UNFEELING UNIVERSE, and in a perfect world the plot is a road built by the wherewithal of those characters, but either way, the plot is just the program. They do this, they do that, this happens, this happens, then that happens, he does a thing, she does a thing, the end, go home.
But plot is not story.
Plot is the arrow, and story is the apple that it punctures. Story is all the stuff. All the fibrous material and intangible air surrounding the fiddly bits. The story is the whole beast. It’s the whole animal. And you have to use the whole animal.
But here, I’m saying a lot of words, and I’m not helping you understand story very much at all. And that’s because story is a hard thing to understand. Writers put words to paper, but storytellers take those words — or images, in the case of film and TV and comics — and spin that dross into candy floss. Writers make horses. Storytellers fucking make unicorns, man.
So, what is story?
At the simplest level, story is a mechanism of desire and denial, of conflict and escalation and complication before resolution. I, the character, have a problem. I seek to solve my problem, but between me and the solution wait an obstacle course of other problems and other people and those people have competing desires. And I, the character, navigate that Scylla and Charybdis to either answer my desire or fail to manifest my desire. I solve my problem or I jolly well fucking don’t. That’s the story. There will be some shape to it — a rise to a mountainous peak, a slithering heavenward curve, a jagged line of fanged peaks, a rollercoaster going left and right. (See an earlier post of mine about story shapes and narrative architecture.)
I said once (“In Which I Critique Your Story That I Haven’t Read“) that story can look like:
1. HEY LOOK A PROBLEM
2. HEY LOOK A SOLUTION
3. THE END YAY
But, really, it probably ends up looking like:
1. HEY LOOK A PROBLEM
2. I’M GONNA JUST GO AHEAD AND FIX THAT PROBLEM AND –
3. OH GOD I MADE IT WORSE
4. OH FUCK SOMEBODY ELSE IS MAKING IT WORSE TOO
5. WAIT I THINK I GOT THIS –
6A. SHIT SHIT SHIT
6B. FUCK FUCK FUCK
7. IT’S NOT JUST WORSE NOW BUT DIFFERENT
8. EVERYTHING IS COMPLICATED
9. ALL IS LOST
10. WAIT, IS THAT A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?
11. IT IS BUT IT’S A VELOCIRAPTOR WITH A FLASHLIGHT IN ITS MOUTH
12. WAIT AN IDEA
13. I HAVE BEATEN THE VELOCIRAPTOR AND NOW I HAVE A FLASHLIGHT AND MY PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED IN PART BUT NOT TOO NEATLY BECAUSE TIDY, PAT ENDINGS MAKE STORY JESUS ANGRY, SO ANGRY THAT STORY JESUS GIVES EVERYONE MOUTH HERPES
Still, that’s a program. It’s not quite plot, but it’s plotty — because it suggests a series of events. Or, at the very least, it suggests a mechanism. And a mechanism is a cold, implacable motherfucker. Story, on the other hand, isn’t cold. Story is a warm whiskey burn.
On the one hand, any character-conflict-escalation-resolution narrative probably ends up being “a story.” A man catches a fish isn’t much of a story, because his problem isn’t a problem. His desire isn’t denied. (A fish catches a man — now, that’s a story.)
Story is a sum greater than the parts of the plot. It is more than the mechanism.
I’m still not helping, I know.
Story is all those things, but it connects to us. A story is interesting. A story lets us see ourselves in it — and it is in that way both a unique snowflake and a universal precept. Or, more to the point, the story is the unique delivery system by which we get to talk about universal concepts and problems. We can talk about a THING WE ALL UNDERSTAND by framing it around a narrative unique to the author — every character and setting and conflict is a potential lens through which we can look upon this universal problem. Story takes this lens and it helps us to see old problems in new ways. Stories make us feel and think. Stories have power. Stories move us, shape us, and do the same to the world. It does this in the way that a song can do it. It has rhythm, like a song — slow to fast, up and down and then up again. Pause, leap, wait, then run. Stories are not a manicured garden. They’re an unruly forest —
A tangle of thorns in which we find ourselves happily ensnared.
My father was a storyteller, and he used to tell stories about his day at work or this time he got into a knife fight or that other time he and my mother jumped a ravine on his snowmobile, and often enough, his stories had the feel of a joke or a magic trick. There was the sense of a turn in there, a pivot, a punchline. A snake twisting in the margins. A sudden turn left when you thought you were going right. And you waited for that. You weren’t just interested to see what was going to happen — because, obviously, he survived — you waited to see the complications. You wanted more than just what was tied to the end of the rope, you wanted the kinks and knots in the rope itself. You want an interesting journey, not just a desirable destination.
It’s why if you want to be more than just a writer, you need to look at good storytellers. Comedians are a good place to start: Tig Notaro, Aziz Ansari, George Carlin, Louis CK. Listen to songs that tell stories — not just pop songs, but songs with tales to tell. Watch documentaries: note that documentaries are a good example of taking the mechanism of plot (by which I mean, a sequence of events) and translating that in a bigger way, finding messages, finding a throughline that hangs it all together and allows the material to transcend just THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED. (Actually, that calls to mind a book which is not a documentary: The Things They Carried, which is as much about war as it is about story. In fact, I’d argue it’s more about story than it is about war.) Best of all, find those people in your life who are natural storytellers. That guy at work. Your cousin. Your grandmother. Get them to tell a story. Listen to how they do it. How do they frame it? How do they ease you into it? What’s the hook? Why is it interesting?
None of this answers the question, of course.
None of this really explains story.
To do that, I’d probably need a lot more room. But maybe it helps. And maybe it gets you thinking about some of this stuff, even though it fails to properly finish the job or give hard answers to the tough question of how to make story work.
As such, I figure this is a good place for an announcement:
I’ve got a book coming out next year with Writer’s Digest that will tackle exactly this. The book is called Damn Good Story and I’m not sure of a release date yet, but I suspect latter half of 2017. It tackles all this unruly stuff — and it will be less about providing concrete answers to the question of what makes a good story and will instead just attempt to crack open the geode that is your head so we can all get access to the shiny bits inside. And in the meantime, if you’d like to check out some of my other writing books, you can nab the Gonzo Writing Book Bundle (that’ll get you eight books for $20), or you can go grab The Kickass Writer, also from Writer’s Digest. So, coming soon: DAMN GOOD STORY. Until then, we’ll keep talking here at the blog, see what we can figure out together.
A quick homework assignment if you’re so inclined:
Drop into the comments and recommend what you consider a real good story (or who you consider a damn good storyteller) — bonus points for something that isn’t just a book or a movie. Songs. Documentaries. Comedy routines. Whatever.
Snorri Kristjansson says:
Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’. Because we are legally required to mention it.
June 7, 2016 — 9:19 AM
tlgreylock says:
You stole my book example, sir!
I think The Things They Carried is a prime example of a story that is greater than its plot and characters. But aside from books, Tom Waits is an excellent storyteller.
June 7, 2016 — 9:26 AM
Jared says:
Le Guin and is the first name that comes to mind when I think of good storytelling for books. She could write about, has written about, some of the most seemingly mundane things and is always great.
For the EXTRA CREDIT, the song “Crossfire” by Stephen tells an excellent story.
June 7, 2016 — 9:27 AM
Ken McGovern says:
I would like to mention the band Rush and specifically the guy who did most of their writing Neil Pert. Neil is often celebrated as a very accomplished drummer, which he most certainly is, but is often overlooked for his lyrical ability. The song “Red Barchetta” is an excellent story rapped within a song. The opening lines:
My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits
show us many things – The setting (and raises a question about it “That no one knows about”) this begs the question – Why does no one know about this? And it is that question that will pull us forward, hungry for the answer. He then moves on to more about setting which further defines the setting and brings about more questions – Why did it “used to be a farm” and what part does this “motor law” play in the secrecy and turn from an agriculture lifestyle.
I don’t think the magic is necessarily that he starts with plot but with some detail that engages our brain and makes questions in out head. These questions are like magnets for our eyes and we cannot stop reading.
I am not talking about creating a “mystery” story necessarily but creating intrigue that pulls the reader forward in search of explanation.
I find Neil Pert’s ability to write lyrics akin to the great storyteller’s who were great at shaping these questions and creating these spaces for intrigue in their works.
In short what pulls me through story is these intriguing details that form questions in my mind, which in turn force me to keep reading. Note that the specific questions that appear in your head are not necessarily what the author intends, what the author intends is to introduce an interesting observation that allows the space for the reader to engage and “own” the questions and the search a great story provides. In the end, I think these “spaces” a storyteller creates and our interest in the topic/theme is what creates the marriage between story and those that love it.
June 7, 2016 — 9:28 AM
janinmi says:
Neil Peart’s storytelling abilities are amazing. His interest in science fiction comes through very well in songs such as “Red Barchetta” and “Red Alert,” which was what hooked me on Rush when I first heard them on radio lo these many moons ago. “Tom Sawyer” is innovative characterization, besides being a kickass rock song. Thanks for mentioning Rush!
June 7, 2016 — 10:40 AM
forgottenrat says:
Love Rush, and they do have some great stories (heck, the whole A-side of “2112” is one big epic story). I’ve been a fan since the Eighties.
“Red Barchetta” was actually based on another story called “A Nice Morning Drive,” written by Richard Foster and published in the November 1973 issue of Road and Track magazine.
June 7, 2016 — 10:48 AM
M. H. Lee says:
Most Kenny Rogers songs contain good stories. Coward of the County, Lucille, etc.
June 7, 2016 — 9:30 AM
Jessica says:
Ken Burns. The only dude in the universe who can make a comprehensive documentary on the Civil War interesting for me.
June 7, 2016 — 9:32 AM
loraedorrpg says:
A perfect example in non-fiction, to be sure.
June 7, 2016 — 3:01 PM
The Writer says:
Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip.
Eddie Murphy: Delirious.
Bill Cosby: Himself (Taboo, I know. But it’s a masterwork of storytelling)
They’re all amazing examples of storytelling at it’s best.
June 7, 2016 — 9:32 AM
thatcalamity says:
the documentary ‘Dear Zachary’ does a wonderful job at telling the story, and also a bit of plot? It’s… yes. It’s a rough watch though.
June 7, 2016 — 9:37 AM
Lisa Sell says:
I’m off to worship Story Jesus if he has all the answers. Heaven knows I need it…
June 7, 2016 — 9:38 AM
T.K. Eldridge says:
Gordon Lightfoot is probably one of the best storytellers in song. “Song for a Winter’s Night”, “Cotton Jenny”, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, “If you could read my mind”, “Sundown”, etc…etc…
June 7, 2016 — 9:43 AM
alie says:
I love Gordon Lightfoot! Canadian Railroad Trilogy- what a song/story 🙂
June 7, 2016 — 9:48 AM
aweichenlaub says:
I always thought Bob Dylan’s song The Hurricane was a good story. I’m always wary of stories about real life because real life doesn’t always make a good story. That one works for me, though. Lots of ups and downs. Mostly downs, actually.
June 7, 2016 — 9:43 AM
C. B. Matson says:
Cream’s “White Room” because it’s a love story. James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” because it’s a story of loss and redemption. Debussy’s “La Mer” because it gives me the skin-crinkles whenever I hear it. Oh yeah, and Steinbeck’s “Sweet Thursday” for all of the above reasons.
June 7, 2016 — 9:45 AM
alie says:
Thank you, Chuck. This line did it for me: “the story is the unique delivery system by which we get to talk about universal concepts and problems.”
And for the homework: I’ve always been enamored with songwriters and how they can say so much in such a short time. I know of a lot of fantastic songwriters, but the one who I think tells the best stories is Richard Shindell. Songs like “State of the Union,” “Transit,” and “Che Guevara T-Shirt,” among so many wonderful others, really manage to evoke universal themes on an incredibly human, compassionate level. I encourage everyone to check him out 🙂
June 7, 2016 — 9:45 AM
Ed says:
I think a good storyteller is someone who is able to find the right words to convey the ideas they have. If we all have the same rules and are asked (like in Chucks 3 sentence story challenges) to write to those, some peoples ideas just pop off the page at you. Its like alchemy, you cant say why it works it just does, but i bet you ask even the best of storytellers and they will tell you that what they do isn’t hard as they think their own work still needs improving. In a short a good storyteller is a subjective label, freely applied and quickly taken back where needed.
June 7, 2016 — 9:47 AM
Carolyn Fritz says:
The song, “Gears and Steam” by Pandora Celtica. The song inspired me to write a story about the motivations that led to the end of the song (don’t want to spoil it – you should listen!). A lot of their original songs are very much story set to music. http://www.pandoraceltica.com/listen
June 7, 2016 — 9:48 AM
Dean Chalmers says:
Story is very hard to learn, if you have to learn it. For some it comes naturally and I am seethingly jealous of them. Novelists rarely talk about the difficulty of actually developing stories/plots; I always thought that it was just a natural talent that I lacked. I wish that more novelists would talk about the story-building process in broad terms. I went to college for creative writing (BFA) and no one EVER talked about that, they just stressed poetic prose style and minutiae of characterization.
The thing that finally helped me was reading about the development of TV and film scripts, where tons of money is at stake, and realizing that even then it has always been a struggle for writers to concoct a good story.
If you are a Star Trek fan, I highly recommend the “These Are the Voyages” books by Marc Cushman. From a writer’s POV, they give tons of details of how many utterly crappy early draft scripts Star Trek: TOS had, and how hard the staff worked to turn them into decent tales before filming.
I’d love to hear about all of the ideas and process of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as I understand that script was a real struggle, but that may have to wait until the new trilogy is complete & the creators can be candid about it.
June 7, 2016 — 10:06 AM
conniejjasperson says:
My favorite storyteller is probably John Prine. There is always a great, deep story behind his music.
June 7, 2016 — 10:08 AM
Tsara Shelton says:
Thanks again, Chuck! You have a stellar gift for being clear about the challenges while putting a fire in my belly and making me want to create.
As for the homework: I love the storytelling of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show. Carry me Carrie, The Queen of The Silver Dollar, Sylvia’s Mother, Kiss it Away…. so many more. I think Shel Silverstein wrote Sylvia’s Mother? Ya, he did. Actually, he wrote several of their songs, including Carry me Carrie.
I also love the story in Seven Mary Three’s “Water’s Edge.” Oh boy. Now I’m going to have to listen to it.
Feel free to join me! https://youtu.be/an0VNmQrO0k
(I also kinda like the song I wrote, but it’s not a good example of “story” and instead is a good example of someone who doesn’t write music doing it anyway because they love their life so much they want to sing about it! https://youtu.be/ntphC7INvr4 )
June 7, 2016 — 10:11 AM
Tsara Shelton says:
Oops! My sons would disown me if they knew I forgot to mention Marianas Trench! When their album “Ever After” came out all four of my sons listened and I could SEE them shift and change and feel. When the music ended my second oldest said: “This CD tells a story! It’s a story about an entire LIFE!”
Then they released the music videos as one long story, each video leading into the next. It was pretty great.
June 7, 2016 — 12:12 PM
Jonathan D Paradise says:
Wow, I never thought I’d see a 7M3 mention on the Internet ever again. Great song, great story in it.
June 7, 2016 — 10:57 PM
JD Paradise says:
Jay O’Callahan is a brilliant live storyteller. If you ever get the chance to see him live, take it in an instant — he lives in and generally works in the Northeast.
Here’s a story he told at NASA, about NASA:
June 7, 2016 — 11:04 PM
Tsara Shelton says:
Oh, this is fabulous! I’m going to watch it again this evening with my sons.
Thank you!
~Tsara
June 8, 2016 — 11:18 AM
Riley Kyeden says:
This song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIANBamMgas
It’s one of those songs I used to just skip, because “blah heteronormativity.” I couldn’t relate. But then I made a good friend who happens to be bi, so he gets my perspective, but he also relates to the song. I’d never paid attention to how hetero couples interact until I met his girlfriend, and a lot of stuff finally made sense. This song especially, given the last few months. Which is its own story…
June 7, 2016 — 10:11 AM
captainjaq says:
Harry Chapin told some amazing stories, creating complete characters within a rhyming couplet.
“My father was a farmer, he’d go tilling in the ground
My mother was a neighbor, she’d go visiting around”
and that actually sets up everything else in the song “The Mayor of Candor Lied.”
June 7, 2016 — 10:20 AM
Susan K. Swords says:
I was going to mention Harry Chapin. He was a superb story-teller and an extraordinary human being. One of my favorite songs of all time is “A Better Place to Be.” Few songs capture the essence of loneliness and human connection better than that.
June 7, 2016 — 10:57 AM
Tsara Shelton says:
I was going to say Harry Chapin, too! I bought my son one of his records just the other day. Lord, I love the feeling of falling back into those stories. Especially on vinyl!
June 7, 2016 — 11:59 AM
Mistie says:
Outlaw country in general has some great storytellers. I also love Flogging Molly for that.
Erin Morgenstern’s “The Night Circus” is a great story. Her writing has some weaknesses, but the story itself moves me. Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, and James Baldwin also all come to mind. Oh, and Shirley Jackson.
June 7, 2016 — 10:24 AM
peterjam says:
The first great story that I remember, what really got me into reading, was “Point of Impact” by Stephen Hunter. I don’t agree with the author’s political views, but man can he tell a story. I highly recommend the first books of the Bob Lee Swagger and also de Earl Swagger series.
June 7, 2016 — 10:24 AM
Dean Chalmers says:
If you are a plotter/outliner, there is one book I can’t recommend enough; when I discovered it, it was a revelation to me. It taught me that sometimes it’s a hell of a lot of work to build stories, and usually the early versions suck.
The book is called “Writing the Blockbuster Novel” by Albert Zuckerman who was (is?) a high-powered literary agent. It was originally published in the 80’s and the advice on what is popular & what genres sell is therefore very dated. BUT—and this is why this book is incredible—it includes numerous developmental plot outlines for “The Man From St. Petersburg” by Ken Follett. Follett and Zuckerman collaborated on building the story, with the agent giving detailed feedback. The curtain is pulled back, and you get to see, in outline form, a story as it develops from something frankly pretty crappy into a dynamic and engaging tale that became a huge bestseller.
update–Wooot–I just found out there is a new edition of the book coming out June 14 and I pre-ordered the Kindle version (on sale now but don’t know for how long)… But believe me I’m not a shill for the publisher, I didn’t even now that the author was still alive until I saw the new edition coming out. Still, highly recommended. Will be interesting to see what is updated in the new edition.
I also bought Chuck’s first monkey book going to check that out:)
June 7, 2016 — 10:26 AM
janinmi says:
Since others beat me to it, I second the reccs on John Prine and Gordon Lightfoot. Prine’s “Dear Abby” is comedic genius. Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is hypnotic in its repetitions of song form and melodic line, and I could sing it for hours, on some days. I’d like to add Lyle Lovett to the storytellers list, for he does a fine job of spinning tales in lyrics.
June 7, 2016 — 10:34 AM
Kim says:
Ha ha I got this one and you’d never think of this guy, but he’s my favorite. Did I mention I go way back, maybe I should enter this century. 🙂 Ready?
Red Skelton, comedian, storyteller, humor, sadness, cuteness all in one!
I lived at my grandparents house when I was a child.
June 7, 2016 — 10:35 AM
AA Payson says:
A few of my go-to’s are Tom Robbins, Spaulding Gray and Elliot Smith.
June 7, 2016 — 10:37 AM
Leonard Balsera says:
I feel like no thread about good storytelling is complete without mentioning Paul Simon. Nearly every song that man writes is an example of at least decent storytelling, and the peaks of those efforts are absolute treasures.
June 7, 2016 — 10:41 AM
forgottenrat says:
C. W. McCall (of “Convoy” fame) told some pretty good stories. In addition to “Convoy” (which everybody knows) there’s “Wolf Creek Pass,” “Classified,” “Comin’ Back for More,” and several others in the same vein.
Loreena McKennitt’s “The Highwayman” (putting Alfred Noyes’ poem to song) and “Skellig” are also good ones.
June 7, 2016 — 10:45 AM
Jennifer Bushroe says:
I just listened to “Wolf Creek Pass”–how silly, but I agree that there’s a lot of good storytelling in there. And fun language/imagery to boot!
June 7, 2016 — 1:19 PM
boundbeautifunk says:
I was actually thinking of Phil Ochs’s cover of The Highwayman when I was reading this…
June 8, 2016 — 4:52 PM
sylviashults says:
When I was in high school, I realized that The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon” was actually a nifty piece of storytelling, not just a catchy tune. When my tastes developed a bit more, I found Rush. (Ken, you’re right — “Red Barchetta” is still one of my favorites.)
As far as authors go, I am completely enamored of Jeanne Marie Laskas and Rick Bragg. I write nonfiction, so any NF author who can tell a good story is one I follow assiduously. Bragg wrote a book about Jerry Lee Lewis that I just HAD to read. I don’t give two craps about Jerry Lee Lewis — I read it for the author, not the subject. Bragg had one line in there that dropped me to my knees in wonder and jealousy: he said that “remembering, for Jerry Lee, is like playing catch with broken glass”.
June 7, 2016 — 10:45 AM
Stella Wood says:
The comedian Christopher Titus has great storytelling skills. In fact, that’s his entire routine.
June 7, 2016 — 10:46 AM
Rob says:
In keeping with the theme of Canadian musicians that seem to be cropping up, I would submit that Gord Downie, of the band The Tragically Hip is an excellent storyteller. His lyrics are often poetry, for more than simple rhyme schemes. He touches on a lot of subject matter that might not resonate in quite the same way for those who don’t live in Canada, though I would think that is mostly due to a lack of proximity. (Just as I’m not up on many things going on abroad.)
Some of the topics he broaches: reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous people, the wrongful incarceration of a man for murder, a hockey hero who went missing, a number of songs about shipwrecks, and for good measure, Gus, the polar bear who lived out his life at the Central Park Zoo in NY.
Many of their songs have become Canadian rock anthems, but if you scratch below the surface there is often much more going on than just a catchy musical hook. He plays with wording, often twisting and reusing the same words in different ways. (“I thought you beat the death of inevitability to death just a little bit. I though you beat the inevitability of death to death just a little bit.”)
And when they play live story often becomes more pronounced. There is always some ad-libbing, usually incorporating current affairs into the lyrics and those bits will weave their way throughout an entire performance, popping up here and there, seemingly randomly, but in the end, delivering a kind of purposeful story in and of themselves.
June 7, 2016 — 10:51 AM
Tsara Shelton says:
Yes!!!! (Oh, boy. My day is going to be spent remembering familiar songs and introducing myself to new ones. Totally worth rearranging my schedule for!!)
June 7, 2016 — 12:01 PM
RSAGARCIA says:
Paul Keens-Douglas is probably the most popular storyteller of all time in the Caribbean, and if not, he’s definitely the greatest living storyteller. He is an authentic, hilarious slice of Caribbean life–particularly as it was when I was growing up–and if you mention his name anywhere in the Atlantic, people will start smiling. He has performed all around the world, but you can start with ‘Jumbies, Dupies and Spirits’ here (as it combines stories and their place in Caribbean life): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWDcSlh_KOg
And when you’re done with that, you can try the immortal ‘The Christening’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79L_nZkHcYU&list=PL5DA90B1ED14F2EF1&index=3
And after that…well, it’s up to you to fall down that rabbit hole further, if you so desire 🙂
June 7, 2016 — 10:57 AM
Alex Washoe says:
A lot of people don’t take her seriously, but Taylor Swift is actually a good writer. In her song “Mine” she has a throwaway line “You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter”. That’s an entire story collapsed into a few words. I think that’s really impressive writing.
June 7, 2016 — 11:10 AM
RSAGARCIA says:
I couldn’t agree more about Taylor. Country music, to me, has some of the greatest storytellers ever, and her roots show, even in her pop music.
June 7, 2016 — 11:15 AM
Susan K. Swords says:
Thank you for a great explanation of the nearly-unexplainable. This got me thinking about how there is often a quality to a book that keeps readers reading even if the book isn’t especially well-written. (Maybe “characteristic” is a better word than “quality.”)
I hate to bring up a book series that’s been beaten up more than is fair, but “Twilight” comes to mind. It’s not a particularly original story, nor is it especially well written. But it cultivated an enormous fan base that continues to this day. I’ve always thought that “Twilight” is essentially the story of two misfit, lonely and smart kids who find each other and overcome a number of obstacles to be together – a timeless trope if there ever was, and one that appeals to many readers. “Twilight” didn’t exactly break new ground, but damned if it didn’t have me eating up every book like each was a gourmet meal. And I’m a grown woman. My daughter, a teenager at the time, couldn’t put them down.
Was it the right book in the right place at the right time? What’s the indescribable quality (oops, characteristic) that kept readers turning the pages and coming back for more? Honestly, if I had that answer, I’d share it with all of you.
So this is all a long way of saying that while I think my own book may hit a lot of the “technical” notes – good plot, good conflict, probably good characters – I’m not at all sure it’s got that ineffable “thing” that will attract and keep readers. Is that something we never know until we put it out into the world and see if it sinks or swims?
(PS: I’d add Bruce Springsteen to the list of great musical storytellers.)
June 7, 2016 — 11:19 AM
Rob says:
Q. “What’s the indescribable quality (oops, characteristic) that kept readers turning the pages and coming back for more?”
A. Sparkle Vamps.
Don’t worry. I’m a grown man and I read the entire series in about two weeks because my niece was raving about it. Those books were exactly what we’re talking about – good stories – which, come in all shapes and sizes. Of course defining a “good story” is an exercise in itself. For me they were light, breezy, fun and quick to read. Nothing I needed to spend a bunch of time deconstructing in a reading group, but “good” for me, in that moment, nonetheless. It was an opportunity to relate with the interests of my niece on her terms. And they weren’t complete fluff either – they were YA books that addressed divorced parents, being the new kid, teen love/sex, relationship tensions, running really fast, etc. If I was asked to recommend a series with a strong female protagonist, I wouldn’t necessarily turn to Twilight. I’d offer up Chuck’s Miriam Black series in heartbeat though. With a “mind the F-bombs, murder/death/kill” warning. But do I think it was a waste of my time having read them? Absolutely not. “Good” is different for everyone (and even different for each of us at different times) so it makes sense that it’s hard to pin down.
But, uh, still, the Sparkle Vamps.
June 7, 2016 — 4:22 PM
Susan K. Swords says:
Ah ha! My next trilogy, then, will be about kind, gentle hipster demons who live in Brooklyn. I shall call it “Demons in Denim.” Got that sorted.
Seriously, though, you make a number of good points. The gourmet meal I mentioned in my original post can be a fluffy dessert or a solidly nutritious main course. What fascinates me is that Twilight is one of those books that defied demographics and genres. People of all genders and ages read them and loved them. The same goes for Harry Potter, which, in my opinion, is much better written.
I just love that you read Twilight with an open mind and wound up enjoying it simply for what it is. I mean, it’s always good to keep up with what the kids are into nowadays, but it would have been easy to dismiss it as a soppy teenage paranormal romance.
I think Bella is often underrated as a heroine. People complain about her wimpiness, but she sacrificed a lot for the people she loved. That’s another post, though. I absolutely love Marion Black – she’s a flawed heroine for the ages, and one who’s written in perfect sync with the dilemma of her “gift.” I should be so lucky to craft a characters as well as Chuck did with her. I also love Atlanta Burns for the same reason.
June 8, 2016 — 10:14 AM
Drew says:
I’d go with William Goldman and his books, ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE and WHAT LIE DID I TELL? as prime examples of not just screenwriting but creating stories. Goldman has the plot thing down cold and knows how to wrap story meat on plot bones.
June 7, 2016 — 11:28 AM
Lucie Witt says:
This used to happen to me a lot – I’d get 10-30k into a story and realize there wasn’t enough to sustain a full novel.
Now I simply write the query before I start a new project. A (well done) query has all the essential elements for a story – you gotta know the main characters, the central conflict, and be able to articulate some sort of stakes/motivation. If I can turn the idea into a query, it usually means there’s enough there for a whole story.
A lot of rap artists are excellent storytellers – Slick Rick and Biggie are the first to come to mind.
June 7, 2016 — 11:55 AM
Eric DiCarlo says:
Kendrick Lamar’s song “Wesley’s Theory.” Such a powerful song of reflection upon an implied story AND it can get you all hot and bothered and grumpy over systematic racial oppression!
June 7, 2016 — 11:55 AM
Christina says:
Your mention of a magician really got me, it’s the diversion of expectation and then UNEXPECTED VOILA solution. We want to learn to think differently, future strategies to see the saber tooth tiger coming? Deep inner satisfaction comes from being delightfully fooled. Clever catharsis. David Blaine.
June 7, 2016 — 11:59 AM
churnage says:
Neil Young’s “El Dorado” & “Crime in the City” from his album Freedom.
June 7, 2016 — 12:13 PM
Alexander says:
“It is but it’s a velociraptor with a flashlight in its mouth”
Stop. I have coffee coming out of my nose.
June 7, 2016 — 12:14 PM
kjgarnet says:
Robert McKee’s STORY is great for unwrapping the craft and technical bits and bobs. It’s about screenwriting, but the skeletal frames can be used for novels, too.
Johnny Cash–master storyteller.
Stephen King–superb character voices
Richard Matheson–just ridiculously under appreciated
Richard Scary–children’s picture books, but the stories he created out of simple images, vocabulary, and scenes is a foundational element that feeds imagination (the building molecules of story)
June 7, 2016 — 12:14 PM
RSAGARCIA says:
So much yes on Richard Matheson!!
June 7, 2016 — 12:42 PM
Jenn Burroughs says:
I second that Matheson needs more love.
June 7, 2016 — 3:59 PM
Elan Auman says:
Amanda Palmer. I always feel her songs are never just ‘songs’, they’re stories of her life, her friends, a sentence someone said to her at a show. Sometimes there’s a real message in them. Sometimes they’re just silly. But so many times there’s a story behind her songs.
As for writing books/authors, Ray Bradbury is one of my favorites. I love his ‘Zen in the Art of Writing’. My copy is very well loved, I’ve had it for about 25 years and have read it more times than I can remember. LOVE it.
June 7, 2016 — 12:44 PM
Molly Dugger Brennan says:
I will never get over the way The Lottery by Shirley Jackson shocked me. That’s my hands-down nominee for a damn good story. The other is George Carlin’s monologue about stuff (possessions.) Brilliant.
June 7, 2016 — 1:07 PM
Jennifer Bushroe says:
I *loved* The Things They Carried. I still remember the line about how sometimes story truths are truer than actual truths. It’s a good thing for us writers to keep in mind. 🙂
As for my homework assignment: I highly recommend the documentary Girl Rising. It “tells the stories of nine extraordinary girls from nine countries, written by nine celebrated writers and narrated by nine renowned actors.” I had chills, got teary-eyed, felt angry, became uplifted… So many emotions during the viewing experience.
June 7, 2016 — 1:10 PM
Jean M. Cogdell says:
Great post! Thanks Chuck for explaining the explainable. I’m reblogging this for my peeps.
Most of the authors mentioned are well established. I’d like to toss out an Indie author who has a way with stories. Ninie Hammon and her book The Memory Closet.
June 7, 2016 — 1:18 PM
Anna says:
For short stories, Neil Gaiman, for novels, it depends on what you’re looking for. I love Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series and Le Guin’s Earthsea books. Oh, and the album “Evelyn Evelyn” from Amanda Palmer is fun.
K. M. Weiland from Helping Writers Become Authors has helped me so much with understanding story structure and character arcs and how the two go together. It’s not exactly the same thing as story, but understanding structure made it easier to see which scenes are absolutely necessary so the whole thing doesn’t fall apart and where those twists should go. You can read the posts for free on her site, but she’s also doing an online course on the subject. (And her books are great, too.)
June 7, 2016 — 1:23 PM
Kimberly H says:
Kathryn Tucker Windham was one of Alabama’s finest storytellers. She is best-known for her ghost stories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EebG_tf1U7I&list=PLXL1C2W5fLIichs-17enwC2fdQTHOpCHa&index=1
Guy Clark was a musician & knew how to spin a tale. This one is a story about stories, even. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaJCJ3GQVy0
Dylan Moran is *fantastically* funny & tells hilarious stories. (NSFW) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESPRTHo9oTk
June 7, 2016 — 1:26 PM
Erica says:
For me a good story is one that makes me forget I’m reading. I’m no longer an observer but a living character in the pages. And it varies from book to book by the same authors. Not every story creates that connection, but when it does, it is a thing of beauty.
June 7, 2016 — 1:59 PM
Gordon Petry says:
I agree with Paul Simon and Harry Chapin, but we can’t forget Jim Croce.
June 7, 2016 — 2:27 PM
Branson Roskelley (@MrRoskelley) says:
Though someone already mentioned it, THE HIGHWAYMAN by Alfred Noyes is a great example in poetry.
As far as comedians go, Michael McIntyre and Dara O’Briain are great at storytelling.
June 7, 2016 — 2:40 PM