One of my terrific critting buddies,
Matt Rush, made a comment recently that got me thinking about the differences between being a good writer and knowing how to craft a good story. The more I think about it the more I believe this is a very important distinction for most new writers to learn.
Most of us who have started down this road toward publishing a book are pretty decent at writing. Some of us are really good at it. My feeling is that most of us are good writers but not necessarily good story tellers yet. I see blog after blog talking about improving our writing, but while this is truly important, I feel what most of us really need to improve more than anything is our story telling.
We can all string together words in a sensible and sometimes beautiful fashion, and when we look back at the drafts we have created, we are understandably proud of what we have accomplished. Often we think we are close to having something that could sell. Now I think that the number one thing we could do to reach that selling point is to understand that writing really well isn't enough. We need to dramatically improve on the
craft of laying out a great story.
Thoughts?
Most of us who have started down this road toward publishing a book are pretty decent at writing. Some of us are really good at it. My feeling is that most of us are good writers but not necessarily good story tellers yet. I see blog after blog talking about improving our writing, but while this is truly important, I feel what most of us really need to improve more than anything is our story telling.