Thanks, David. Every time I come across her story through your work, I feel rejuvenated and inspired all over again. "Doing what's needed at the time" is such a wonderful guiding philosophy, and it's so encouraging to see someone do so much good with so little personal ego or ambition. If I could ask a quick question, with these anecdote…
Thanks, David. Every time I come across her story through your work, I feel rejuvenated and inspired all over again. "Doing what's needed at the time" is such a wonderful guiding philosophy, and it's so encouraging to see someone do so much good with so little personal ego or ambition. If I could ask a quick question, with these anecdotes I can't help but admire your storytelling skill. I realize this sounds a little corny, but one of my goals/resolutions for the year is to become a better storyteller (both in writing and verbally). I know you've talked in the past about actively studying plot development and storytelling through reading fiction and other ways, so I was wondering: do you have any advice on what resources (books, videos, whatever) I could use to to try improve?
On a more personal note, your end of year remembrances have been such a meaningful and unique set of posts. Kudos to you for so deftly honoring these people you know and admire.
Matt, when I was writing this, I was like: for the Matts out there I need to put an "if you've heard this already" disclaimer at the top;) Since I tend to tell this story whenever the opportunity presents. But I don't get sick of it, and glad you haven't either.
As far as your goal, I don't think that sounds corny at all. I mean, that's basically my implicit goal every year;) It also reminds me that I saw a very famous tech investor guy on Twitter recently denigrating editors, and when people challenged him, he shared a paragraph he'd written and challenged them to make it better. The idea that a single tight paragraph would obviate editors is silly to start with, and, as I think I've told you, I see structure as the bigger issue. Plus, the paragraph was like some boilerplate description of how Einstein was an unusual thinker. I found it strange that someone would see such a thing as evidence of how they don't need an editor. The idea that someone would set a goal of improving their storytelling doesn't strike me as odd at all. I kind of think almost everyone should have that goal. Even if they aren't writing, most people would benefit from communicating their ideas more powerfully, no matter the medium, I think. I digress....
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've given you my spiel about film editing, right? I'm honestly not sure what specific resources to recommend. I know a lot of people love Stephen King's "On Writing," but I haven't read it. Oh, probably the most beloved writing book among writers is Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird." But again, I haven't read it. I know some writers I really admire who love it, though, so I bet it's great. I'm right now reading Verlyn Klinkenborg's "Several Short Sentences on Writing," because I think my sentences have gotten a bit long with em dashes and such, and finding it entertaining. To potentially recommend more stuff I haven't consumed myself: I've been very interested in taking Neil Gaiman's and Gladwell's e-courses on MasterClass. I think they're both epochal storytellers. Ursula Le Guin's "Conversations on Writing" is quick and great, but not so much instructional. Oh, Maria Konnikova turned me on to the four-book Paris Review series where they compiled their interviews with writers. (Here's part 1: https://amzn.to/3voMFXj). Those are great, but as much about the writers themselves as writing. You might check out one of those and see if it's too much about, like, literature than learning storytelling. There's a famous book among screenwriters called "Story" by Robert McKee. (I think he actually plays the writing teacher in Adaptation when the Nicolas Cage character gets stuck.) That is much more explicitly instructional. It's also for screenwriting, but I think many principles of structure and storytelling transfer. ....Anything sound interesting? All that said, I think the most useful thing for me was having a story I wanted to tell and limited space. A three-pager at SI was basically going to be 1,500 words, give or take a sentence or two. That was the shortest feature story, and if I wanted to tell a compelling story in that small space, it had to be structured really deliberately. To that end, I might recommend an online class if you get serious. I took one, and it was great. I think, especially earlier in your writing journey, having someone impose space (and time) limits is really useful. I never would've thought I could've given a sensible 15-minute talk about my books until I was forced to by TED. And then you can always expand back out, but I think being forced to structure things carefully is an important thing to focus on, and you only have to do that if you have space constraints. Have I said anything useful? ...Apropos of our previous conversation about me fact-checking Lee Jenkins, I think reading some good magazine writing and being conscious of the level of detail is helpful. Comedians are great about that, and Chris Rock talks about it. When you paint a picture, don't say the person was drinking while leaning on a car, say they were sipping a Sprite while leaning on Buick, or some such thing. I read Ian McEwan say something like that, that if you don't care to know the names of the plants or something, then you're not a writer. That's extreme, and I think he may have overdone it at times with the plants, but I think the point is that specific details capture attention, where general descriptions don't. That's probably the single most frequent piece of advice I give to developing writers who ask me to read something: be more specific. I think that's also why good storytellers/speakers cite stats frequently. It's a lot more engaging than saying "a lot" or "not many."
Let me know if anything here sounded interesting. I enjoy our back and forth about writing, so please keep asking!
Hahaha yeah my teacher friend playfully gives me a hard time about being a try hard in my responses, so your joke about the disclaimer fits exactly what she's talking about. Even if I'm lucky enough to live to 107, I don't think I'll ever get tired of Frances, honestly.
Thank you for the validation! I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the fresh start effect once the calendar turns to 2023. Those resources are amazing. Your advice on writing with a deadline and word count is great. It reminds me of something that I heard Ryan Holiday say on a podcast once. He credited his writing improvement to all the reps that he got through writing every day and sending daily newsletter emails for years. Daily deadlines and word counts... food for thought.
These resources are phenomenal. Gladwell stands out to me too. For me reading him at his best is like watching a good movie: I am so engrossed that I forget myself and my surroundings. So much of what you said sounds interesting. I think I'll start with the Paris Review Series and "Story". If Maria Konnikova recommends it who am I to say no? I also think it's so telling that the people you've mentioned range from writers of all kinds to comedians to screen writers. Storytelling is such a fundamental skill that applies in so many domains. This also sounds like a good excuse to watch some comedy specials!
This already has me so excited about how I can try to build the skill. I usually take day trips on Sundays in the UK, and I send my parents postcards about the coolest stories/things I learn. I've been toying about maybe trying to type them up. I have a friend living in Thailand for the year who sends periodic life updates to anyone who is interested, so maybe I could email a weekly story/stories from a place or something. That would be a way to write with a deadline and maybe a self imposed word limit, all while trying to be more specific... sorry I'm thinking out loud, but I'm getting really excited.
Your thinking out loud is welcome here any time! And feel free to share any travel stories. As you think about this more explicitly, I'm sure you'll realize how, for instance, the consumers of the story and the medium impact where you decide to start. ...I was just thinking a bit about the books I mentioned above, and what might be best to start with, but honestly I think this is very much a "carry a big basket to bring something home" situation. Now that you've decided to do this, I think you'll see lessons all over the place, and will take something from whatever you read or listen to about writing or storytelling. I wandered into an anime convention (meaning: I saw some costumed people, got curious, and followed them) a few years ago that was taking place at a hotel a few blocks from me. I ended up sitting in on an attendee-led session about narrative. It was very basic, and I still found myself taking notes! ...For me, writing is both frustrating and extremely compelling, alternating between feeling like I finally nailed something with one paragraph, and then feeling like I forgot everything I ever knew in the next. Keeps it interesting;)
Thanks, David. Every time I come across her story through your work, I feel rejuvenated and inspired all over again. "Doing what's needed at the time" is such a wonderful guiding philosophy, and it's so encouraging to see someone do so much good with so little personal ego or ambition. If I could ask a quick question, with these anecdotes I can't help but admire your storytelling skill. I realize this sounds a little corny, but one of my goals/resolutions for the year is to become a better storyteller (both in writing and verbally). I know you've talked in the past about actively studying plot development and storytelling through reading fiction and other ways, so I was wondering: do you have any advice on what resources (books, videos, whatever) I could use to to try improve?
On a more personal note, your end of year remembrances have been such a meaningful and unique set of posts. Kudos to you for so deftly honoring these people you know and admire.
Matt, when I was writing this, I was like: for the Matts out there I need to put an "if you've heard this already" disclaimer at the top;) Since I tend to tell this story whenever the opportunity presents. But I don't get sick of it, and glad you haven't either.
As far as your goal, I don't think that sounds corny at all. I mean, that's basically my implicit goal every year;) It also reminds me that I saw a very famous tech investor guy on Twitter recently denigrating editors, and when people challenged him, he shared a paragraph he'd written and challenged them to make it better. The idea that a single tight paragraph would obviate editors is silly to start with, and, as I think I've told you, I see structure as the bigger issue. Plus, the paragraph was like some boilerplate description of how Einstein was an unusual thinker. I found it strange that someone would see such a thing as evidence of how they don't need an editor. The idea that someone would set a goal of improving their storytelling doesn't strike me as odd at all. I kind of think almost everyone should have that goal. Even if they aren't writing, most people would benefit from communicating their ideas more powerfully, no matter the medium, I think. I digress....
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've given you my spiel about film editing, right? I'm honestly not sure what specific resources to recommend. I know a lot of people love Stephen King's "On Writing," but I haven't read it. Oh, probably the most beloved writing book among writers is Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird." But again, I haven't read it. I know some writers I really admire who love it, though, so I bet it's great. I'm right now reading Verlyn Klinkenborg's "Several Short Sentences on Writing," because I think my sentences have gotten a bit long with em dashes and such, and finding it entertaining. To potentially recommend more stuff I haven't consumed myself: I've been very interested in taking Neil Gaiman's and Gladwell's e-courses on MasterClass. I think they're both epochal storytellers. Ursula Le Guin's "Conversations on Writing" is quick and great, but not so much instructional. Oh, Maria Konnikova turned me on to the four-book Paris Review series where they compiled their interviews with writers. (Here's part 1: https://amzn.to/3voMFXj). Those are great, but as much about the writers themselves as writing. You might check out one of those and see if it's too much about, like, literature than learning storytelling. There's a famous book among screenwriters called "Story" by Robert McKee. (I think he actually plays the writing teacher in Adaptation when the Nicolas Cage character gets stuck.) That is much more explicitly instructional. It's also for screenwriting, but I think many principles of structure and storytelling transfer. ....Anything sound interesting? All that said, I think the most useful thing for me was having a story I wanted to tell and limited space. A three-pager at SI was basically going to be 1,500 words, give or take a sentence or two. That was the shortest feature story, and if I wanted to tell a compelling story in that small space, it had to be structured really deliberately. To that end, I might recommend an online class if you get serious. I took one, and it was great. I think, especially earlier in your writing journey, having someone impose space (and time) limits is really useful. I never would've thought I could've given a sensible 15-minute talk about my books until I was forced to by TED. And then you can always expand back out, but I think being forced to structure things carefully is an important thing to focus on, and you only have to do that if you have space constraints. Have I said anything useful? ...Apropos of our previous conversation about me fact-checking Lee Jenkins, I think reading some good magazine writing and being conscious of the level of detail is helpful. Comedians are great about that, and Chris Rock talks about it. When you paint a picture, don't say the person was drinking while leaning on a car, say they were sipping a Sprite while leaning on Buick, or some such thing. I read Ian McEwan say something like that, that if you don't care to know the names of the plants or something, then you're not a writer. That's extreme, and I think he may have overdone it at times with the plants, but I think the point is that specific details capture attention, where general descriptions don't. That's probably the single most frequent piece of advice I give to developing writers who ask me to read something: be more specific. I think that's also why good storytellers/speakers cite stats frequently. It's a lot more engaging than saying "a lot" or "not many."
Let me know if anything here sounded interesting. I enjoy our back and forth about writing, so please keep asking!
Hahaha yeah my teacher friend playfully gives me a hard time about being a try hard in my responses, so your joke about the disclaimer fits exactly what she's talking about. Even if I'm lucky enough to live to 107, I don't think I'll ever get tired of Frances, honestly.
Thank you for the validation! I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the fresh start effect once the calendar turns to 2023. Those resources are amazing. Your advice on writing with a deadline and word count is great. It reminds me of something that I heard Ryan Holiday say on a podcast once. He credited his writing improvement to all the reps that he got through writing every day and sending daily newsletter emails for years. Daily deadlines and word counts... food for thought.
These resources are phenomenal. Gladwell stands out to me too. For me reading him at his best is like watching a good movie: I am so engrossed that I forget myself and my surroundings. So much of what you said sounds interesting. I think I'll start with the Paris Review Series and "Story". If Maria Konnikova recommends it who am I to say no? I also think it's so telling that the people you've mentioned range from writers of all kinds to comedians to screen writers. Storytelling is such a fundamental skill that applies in so many domains. This also sounds like a good excuse to watch some comedy specials!
This already has me so excited about how I can try to build the skill. I usually take day trips on Sundays in the UK, and I send my parents postcards about the coolest stories/things I learn. I've been toying about maybe trying to type them up. I have a friend living in Thailand for the year who sends periodic life updates to anyone who is interested, so maybe I could email a weekly story/stories from a place or something. That would be a way to write with a deadline and maybe a self imposed word limit, all while trying to be more specific... sorry I'm thinking out loud, but I'm getting really excited.
Your thinking out loud is welcome here any time! And feel free to share any travel stories. As you think about this more explicitly, I'm sure you'll realize how, for instance, the consumers of the story and the medium impact where you decide to start. ...I was just thinking a bit about the books I mentioned above, and what might be best to start with, but honestly I think this is very much a "carry a big basket to bring something home" situation. Now that you've decided to do this, I think you'll see lessons all over the place, and will take something from whatever you read or listen to about writing or storytelling. I wandered into an anime convention (meaning: I saw some costumed people, got curious, and followed them) a few years ago that was taking place at a hotel a few blocks from me. I ended up sitting in on an attendee-led session about narrative. It was very basic, and I still found myself taking notes! ...For me, writing is both frustrating and extremely compelling, alternating between feeling like I finally nailed something with one paragraph, and then feeling like I forgot everything I ever knew in the next. Keeps it interesting;)
Haha I love that. I guess that's one thing I have to look forward to: I'll always have more to learn! I'll keep you posted.