Tag: fiction

How Storytelling Applies to Other Types of Writing

Quan

If you have been reading my blog regularly, you know that my main focus has been on improving as a storyteller. But also if you’ve read my author interviews, you would see that many of the authors I have interviewed wrote nonfiction books. There is much more to writing than just writing fiction. There are nonfiction writers, marketing writers, journalists, technical writers, essayists, and a plethora of other forms of writing that people engage in.

But I maintain that storytelling can be, and often is, a crucial aspect in all forms of writing, above and beyond just fiction.

Storytelling makes any writing more engaging

Anyone that has read a textbook for class or research knows that a lot of writing can be dry and uninteresting. It is a reason why a lot of people dread reading. A good story takes the reader on a journey where they follow how everything progresses over time. The way you write your piece can take your readers on that journey. The reader in now invested in the narrative you are presenting, and wondering how, or even if, the subject you are presenting can solve the problem you have created. Now your reader wants to know more about the subject you are writing about. They want to know the details because each detail you present could be part of the solution to the problem, or even present more problems that need to be resolved. It’s human nature: if you witness something begin that catches your attention, you will naturally want to see it through to its completion. You can use that to your advantage.

Benefits of adding a storytelling element to your writing

Making your writing piece into a story helps make your point more digestible. Your writing is no longer just a stream of facts statistics and ideas. There is a definitive, driving point to what you have written, and all of your supporting information now has a clear direction it is pointing in. If you are marketing, or writing to sell something, telling a story help the reader envision themselves in the situation where your product or service would be beneficial. That way they can better visualize the benefit your service or product will bring to them.

Creating a narrative.

The classic 3-act structure can be used in any setting. Simply, put, act one presents a problem, act two is the process of trying to solve the problem, and act there is the resolution of the problem. So now the question becomes how to compile your writings to fit this structure. Here is a simple, three-step way to do hat.

1. Find The Problem

Whatever you are writing about, whether it be advice you are giving, a product or service you are trying to promote, a theory you are trying to explain, or an explanation of how something works, it is in response to something that created a need for what you are writing about. Start by pinpointing where exactly that need was generated. This is the beginning of your story.

2. Find The Solution

Whatever conclusion you were going o write about, whether it actually solves your problem or not, is your solution in this context. It is the end of your story and the resolution for what you are setting up.

3. Find The Process

Now you have to figure out how to get from the genesis of your problem to its resolution. This is where all of your data, or historical references, or your selling points come into play. You actually have some creative liberty here with how you present the details, you can show how each of your points responds to different aspects of the problem. You could show how your solution initially responds to the problem, how the problem reacts (or present counter-arguments to your solutions), and how the solution responds to those responses, or a number of other ways of presenting the information. The most important thing is to show a progression where the problem you have pinpointed is resolved over time. This is the journey that you are taking you reader on.

If you can mold your non-creative writing project into a story narrative, you will make your writing more engaging and appealing to the reader, and they will be much more comfortable with reading what you wrote completely from beginning to end. Give it a try and see what you come up with.

Writing Believable Dialogue

Quan

One of the key elements of a good story is the dialogue between characters. Any story that has people interacting will show their conversations, and that is an important aspect in conveying an engaging, believable story. People can reveal a lot about themselves and their world through their dialogue. With good dialogue you can establish everything from character traits to plot elements to setting. You can tell the reader the what, why, how and where using just dialogue, and you can also use it to point out key details in the plot that you want readers to know. It is a versatile tool you have at your disposal that can convey a lot about your story when used well.

Writing good dialogue can be tricky. You want the conversation to flow naturally and sound authentic. You don’t want “talking heads” where it’s just two disembodied voices talking back and forth with nothing else happening (or do you? I’ve read some compelling stories that were nothing but two talking heads. I think this is the exception and not the rule, though). You want your people to sound like actual people with real personalities and quirks. So how can you do this?

I’ve been told that writing dialogue is one of my strengths. These are some of the techniques I use to handle it.

REAL LIFE INFLUENCE

Always listen to how people talk and converse. You will be surprised at how much you learn about how people talk just by listening to how people talk. Follow the ebb and flow of their conversation. Every dialogue has a rhythm and a poetry to it, regardless of who is talking or how they talk. Pay attention to that. You might also hear some cool antec dotes you can use in future stories. Some of the coolest dialogue from supporting characters in my book The Hand You’re Dealt came directly from people I was standing near while waiting to sell my blood plasma (Yes, that aspect of the story is quite autobiographical.)

BODY LANGUAGE

Body language and facial expression is also an important part of writing believable dialogue. People are twitchy, and nobody is just sitting perfectly still while talking. Take time to mention what their bodies and faces are doing while they are talking. You can convey a lot about what a character is thinking or feeling as they talk this way. Oftentimes, I will describe a character’s small action before they say something instead of using “he said.” Because it does a dual job of indicating who is talking while also giving some of that movement to the character. This also applies to giving a brief description of what is going through the POV character’s mind as they speak.

GRAMMAR

People don’t use proper grammar when they talk, not even English teachers. People talk in fragments, have unfinished thoughts, stumble over words, use incorrect phraseology, use filler words like um and uh, cut each other off and try to finish each other’s sentences. When writing dialogue, you want to utilize those quirks to make the conversation, and the characters, more believable. Save the soliloquies for Shakespeare.

SLANG

Pay attention to slang and local colloquialisms. If you’re writing a character from New York, that person is going to sound and talk quite differently than a person from Atlanta. Slang words and different pronunciations can be a great teller of where they are from and what their culture is, and in that instance you can be forgiven for intentional misspellings. I got into quite a few arguments with my Beta readers and editors over a New Yorker I put in The Hand You’re Dealt. They thought I misspelled one of his colloquialisms, and I had to repeatedly explain that he comes from a culture where People call each other “sun” (as in shining like the sun) instead of “son.” I got so tired of the fight I just switched to a different slang word.

Incorporating other languages can also be a key element in establishing a character. If a character comes from a unique culture, including a word or two from their native language will drive that point home. Just don’t overdo it: sprinkling in too many foreign words will make it blatant to the reader that you’re trying to make the character seem more ethnic.

THE WORD ‘SAID’

When writing dialogue, you tread a fine line when using the word “said.” You don’t want to overuse it, but at the same time, it can become quite obvious to readers when you are trying too hard to not use it. If you find yourself trying to come up with a new verb for talking every time you have somebody speak, then you are doing it too much, and you need to use “said” to give the reader a break. “Said” is usually an invisible word: the reader will read that and know what it means intrinsically without it interrupting the flow of the story. The key is to not use it ALL of the time lest you appear unimaginative. You also want to keep a lid on the flowery adjectives (which usually come right after you use the word “said”). Whatever you’re using that adjective to describe in what that character said should be self evident in whatever that character said and the actions and details around it. If you do that well, then the adjective becomes redundant.

TESTING IT OUT

Once you’ve written your dialogue, the next thing is to test it out. Don’t be afraid to read your dialogue out loud to see if everything sounds smooth and believable. Sometimes words and phrases that look good on paper (or your screen) won’t sound right when actually spoken, and that can be problematic if you want you dialogue to sound authentic.

These are some of the techniques I use when writing conversations. Give them a try and hopefully it will make your dialogue more memorable.

D’ya know who else excels at writing dialogue? Chuck Palahniuk! Check out this book from the creator of Fight Club and see for yourself.

Magic: The Gathering and the Art of World Building

Quan

If you’ve never played the popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering, then this blog entry might sound like gibberish to you. Magic: The Gathering is a quasi-role playing card game where you and your opponent play as dueling wizards, with the cards representing the spells you fling at one another. But that’s just the broad explanation of the game.

The story behind it is that each player is a powerful mage with the ability to travel to different worlds, each with its own culture and identity, and the spells are things the player has learned or picked up from observing life on that world. There have been alien worlds made entirely of metal, Scandanavian/Norse themed worlds encased in ice and snow, Japanese-themed worlds full of Spirits, samurai and ninjas, Greek mythology-themed worlds, classic horror-themed worlds, and even a Mongolian-styled world where everyone is at war all of the time. Fascinating stuff.

Of course, now the question is “what the heck does all of this have to do with writing a story?”

The answer? “Everything.”

The thing that sets MTG apart from every other board/card game is the extensive amount of worldbuilding that goes into every set of cards. Through the cards, as well as the tie in e-books, website articles and videogames, you get immersed in a given world that has its own ecosystem, its own bestiary, its own heroes and legends, and its own struggle. And if you’re a story buff, it’s easy to get drawn in and really feel like you are a part of this world.

That is the feeling every writer of fiction should strive for in his or her stories. You want your settings to be living, breathing extensions of your story because it adds more weight and believability to your characters. In fact, some of the greatest stories in fantasy and science fiction were just about the central character exploring his or her world, with hijinks ensuing. (Pratchett’s The Color of Magic and Asimov’s Prelude To Foundation come to mind).  This is where the whole “City is a character” motif comes from, and BTW my buddy Anne Mallory does an excellent job of it in her steamy historical romances.

I thought I’d take a novel approach to said worldbuilding utilizing my passion for MTG. As an excersize for a competition to get a design internship at Wizards of the Coast (makers of Dungeons and Dragons, Duel Masters, and you guessed it, Magic The Gathering), I was given the task of creating an entire set of Magic The Gathering cards, along with the world those cards were set in. there were specific problems I had to solve to flesh out my world, which really stretched my creative muscles. So for this exercise, I decided to use a world I had been planning on telling a high fantasy epic on: a world so ravaged by constant wars, cataclysms and tragedy that it had collectively given up its will to live. (This is actually the world my book “Return of the Tyrant” Is based in). The themes were failure, despair and extinction, with a ragtag band of heroes and former villains fighting to give their world a reason to live, against a mammoth monstrosity poised to destroy them all…and the people actually welcoming the annihilation.

Through this exercise I was able to really flesh out my world and give it its identity, to add layers of myth and lore and create backstories I could explore endlessly if I so chose. I created unique creatures and events specific to my world, and new mysteries, like why the Goblins, Elves, and Merfolk that are fantasy staples are only found via ancient ruins in my world.

I didn’t win the contest (made it to the second round though). But I enjoyed the exercise so much I continued developing my set of Magic cards long after the contest ended, adding new wrinkles and twists. I used as a guide some of the articles written by MTG head of R&D Mark Rosewater which cover the process of designing a set of cards (fascinating stuff. You can read the articles here). As a result, I have a nice toybox to play in for follow-up books and spinoffs to “Return of the Tyrant”.

I also plan on using this technique for an old story idea I was working on in college with a few buddies of mine. We were looking at doing an epic high fantasy adventure set in a world similar to feudal China, and loosely based on the legends of Shaolin and Wu-Tang (and yes, inspired by the rap group). But if I’m going to effectively tell this story, I need to create a believable world.

See where I’m going with this?

Whether I actually start writing the story or not, I think it would be an interesting exercise to see if I can build this world the same way I build the other one. I wouldn’t involve any big creatures, but it would be nice to know if there are any in this world. Also, I’d have to do some more research into feudal China and Shaolin mythology to make sure stuff was reasonably accurate – it doesn’t have to be an exact match to the stuff you see in kung-fu movies, but it has to be close enough for you to recognize the source material. Also there’s the little issue of writing believable kung-fu action when kung-fu works best as a visual. I think that’s the biggest hurdle. But hey, I was able to effectively write video game action, so I think it’s a challenge worth undertaking.

In any case, if you are having any struggles with worldbuilding, I strongly recommend giving this a try. And while you’re at it, give the game itself a try. MTG has been my hobby for over 20 years, and I think you’ll like it too.

So You’re Thinking About Writing A Book…

Quan

Oftentimes when I tell people I’m a novelist, I hear them say “I’d like to write a book someday.”  I’ve even had friends explain at length their wonderful story ideas for a book they’d like to write…someday. Or friends and family would tell me of something about their lives they would like to make into a book. Someday.

My response to them is always, “why not now?”

Getting beyond all the hemming and hawing and shoulda-coulda-woulda, the bottom line is that either you’re going to write a book or you’re not. You either have it in you or you don’t. So if you believe you have it in you, then why wait to bring it out? Tomorrow is not promised, and God forbid something bad were to happen with you, you don’t want all of those wonderful ideas dying with you, do you?

You can make all of the excuses you want to NOT start writing. You have too many chores to do. You have to tend to your spouse or raise your kids. Your work takes up too much time. The Game is on. The bottom line is that you will make time for the things you really want to do. At the height of my writing, I was getting up an hour early to write my latest novel before I got ready for work, then I’d write during my lunch break, and if I had to, I’d go to bed a half hour later to finish that final thought before heading to sleep. If I had downtime at work, I’d pull out a piece of scrap paper and jot down ideas, then type them in when I got home. I’ve vocally recorded story ideas with my phone. I’ve written while waiting in long lines for appointments instead of reading a magazine or surfing the social networks. If you really want to do it, you would find a way.

And it’s easier than ever before to publish now, so being worried about getting your book out is no longer an excuse. If you don’t want to deal with the haggle of finding an agent or an established publisher, self-publishing is a very viable option. Sites like KDP.com offer easy, convenient and FREE ways to get your book formatted and made available for purchase and download. And some even offer free book cover creation. All you really have to provide is the manuscript, especially if you don’t want an editor. There are tons of networking opportunities on social media for writers and bookmakers, so it’s easier than ever to find a proofreader, a beta reader, a reviewer, and even an editor. Heck, I even typeset books and design book covers as a freelance designer; you could hire me to do that for you.

Here are a couple of simple exercises to get you started.

  1. if you are writing nonfiction, first ask yourself what you want to write about. Then, once you come up with an overall subject matter, then make a list of ten different aspects of that subject that your potential reader would want to know about. Now, for each of those topics, make a list of three things: what you know about it, what you need to research, and how will this benefit your reader. You can even apply this formula in writing a biography. Your ten subjects are ten most significant events in your subject’s life, and the three questions pertain to details of the event. Once you finish this, then you have an instant book outline to build from. And from there it’s just filling in the details.
  2. If you are writing fiction, start with that kernel of an idea that you have in the back of your head. Write it down. Now ask yourself why your idea would be such a big deal in your world. Write that down. Then ask yourself what would have to happen for that idea to happen in real time. Write that down. Now ask yourself how that idea would affect the normal, everyday people of your world. Write that down. Keep going. Ask yourself as many details around your idea as possible. Ask the WHO, the WHAT, the WHERE, the WHEN and the WHY of your idea. Ask how people would respond if your idea really happened. Ask why anyone would try to stop that idea from coming forth, and how they would do it. Ask yourself these questions and whatever others come to mind, and once you have answers, then Write. Them. All. Down. Before you know it, you’ll have a simple story bible to build your tale from, and you’ll be immersed enough in this world that the people in that world will start speaking to you. Write down what they tell you. And you do not have to start at the beginning. That is something that intimidates a lot of would-be writers. Don’t let it intimidate you. Start writing with whatever is in your head RIGHT NOW. If you write enough, the beginning will come to you eventually.

There. I just eliminated all of your excuses for you. Now, if you’re serious about SOMEDAY getting that book idea of yours out, you’re in luck.

Someday just arrived.

So get started.