Storytelling - Day 28 of 31 Days of Blogging

I am not a good oral storyteller. I am a much better written storyteller. Relating a story to someone orally is a lot more difficult than writing it down for me. Bryon is a much better oral storyteller. He can take the slightest event and turn it into a twenty minute detailed narrative. He's especially good at relaying hunting stories.

He would have been an extremely valuable member of society back in the days before writing when oral tradition was the only way histories, laws, folk tales and literature were relayed. Think The Illiad or The Odyssey but much shorter . He's such a Homer.

He can spin a yarn or tell a story in a way that's both engrossing and interesting. Of course, sometimes he uses his power for evil and not good and tricks me with elaborate fairy tales and when I finally ask, "Really??? You're kidding!"

He says, "Yeah, I'm kidding."Aaaarrrrrgggg!

He used to get me all the time that way.

I'm still not immune to his ruses but I do still like to hear his stories. He fishes me in every time. And trust me, in the past 25 years, he's had a LOT of stories.

 I'm a much better written storyteller. I have to see the words appear before me and then rearrange them like puzzle pieces until they are just right. When I TELL a story, I don't have that luxury and under pressure, the story loses it's cohesion and impact. Sometimes I hear myself talking when I'm trying to tell a story and think, what the hell am I even saying? This story makes no sense.

It makes perfect sense in my brain. Somehow it between my brain and my mouth it loses it's potency.

The great thing about writing is that until the very last minute you can edit it, rearrange it and dress it up in different clothes until it's just right. Then, if you still aren't happy with it, there's always the rewrite.

I haven't worked on my novel much this past few weeks because I know that is what the next step is: the rewrite. I have ideas for at least two more books so I can make it a trilogy. Trilogies are very hot right now. But I can't do that in the first person, which is the point of view I've used for the first 50,000 words.

The good news is that when I do finally sit down to rewrite, it should blow up as I am able to expand the vision of the characters and flesh them out more making it pretty easy to reach my 75,000 word target. The bad news is that it's going to take some extensive time and uninterrupted concentration to do it.

I had really considered trying to participate in NaNoWriMo in November where you write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days but I think I will be better served to concentrate on working on the one I already have in progress than starting another one. So I'm punting NaNoWriMo and hope to work on the rewrite instead.

Maybe if I can spend the next 30 days working on the rewrite, I'll have a brand spanking baby New Year book by 2012.

Write on.