Hammer and Chisel by Linda S. Glaz

  Yes, it had to start somewhere.

   Hammer and chisel, reed pens and papyrus, quills on parchment, pens on paper, typewriters, word processors, desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and I-phones.

   We have come a long way.

   And the message is the same. An individual has a story to tell. And so he must.

   Still and all, what prompted the first man or woman to make up a story and tell it?

   Storytelling has certainly evolved. Early man passed along family and societal information via stories. Some spoken, some written. But at one point, an imaginative person took a simple idea and wove a tale. That might have been the first release of voices in the head.

   The next natural step was jotting down ideas and sharing them.

I laugh when I think of the first story I wrote for a class on an old typewriter. Then, one needed carbon paper if they wanted to keep a copy. And sending off to an editor meant copy after copy after messy purple copy.

   We’ve come a very long way and all for one reason: to tell our stories.

   Whether we chiseled them out of rock or made copies on our printers, we have stories to share. Ideas in notebooks in the middle of the night. Quick summaries on a computer. A scribbled note at a stop light.

   The stories must be told. Whether or not a writer uses a keyboard or a pen and legal pad, or whether or not the story is ever published, if a person is called, they must write.

   So chisel, or type, or share with a friend, but do tell your story.

One Word Difference by Diana Flegal

The book by Austin Kleon, Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and How to Get Noticed is both profound and simplistic. 

Though Austin's first book, Steal Like an Artist came out in 2012, followed by, Show Your Work in 2014, and, Keep Going in 2019, I find myself still recommending them to my coaching clients. His advice is timeless.


In Show Your Work, Austin said: If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller. You need to know what a good story is and how to tell one. 


He then shares this quote by John le Carre':


"'The cat sat on a mat' is not a story, 'The cat sat on the dog's mat' is a story."


I agree, do you?

Styles Change by Andy Scheer

But the essentials of storytelling are timeless.

The past few weeks I’ve been watching on DVD the final season of the original TV series Hawaii Five-O. While the series began airing in 1968, the shows I’ve been watching date from 1979-80.

They look like it. The cars, the clothing, the hairstyles, the technology all make what was once a contemporary program now seem historical. Even the length of the scenes, the amount of establishing material at the beginning of a shot, and the transition between scenes belies a more relaxed style of storytelling.

Despite that, the programs still work. They display a consistent, unified style. Most important, they make good use of the timeless elements of storytelling.

No matter that the people wore polyester, the cars were huge, and so was the women’s hair, the essentials of characters in conflict remain the same. The important characters still need to be three-dimensional, but with the unexpected aspects of their personality being revealed a little at a time, through their actions. The conflict still has to make sense, not feel forced or like something inserted to advance an agenda.

Dialogue remains an essential element, best delivered a few words at a time, without lapsing into speeches or needlessly inserting the name of the person being spoken to—and especially not dropping in chunks of information the other character would already know.

Bad guys remain the most interesting when they’re not merely there to be bad and to serve as a foil for the good guys.

Peripheral characters are still the most effective when they also provide a hint of personality.

If there’s a mystery, readers continue to try to solve the puzzle. They still need enough clues and distractions to keep them guessing. And the answer still needs to be plausible.

The setting still has the opportunity to play a key element in the story, especially when it’s a place with exotic flavor or the author can include enough details to make an outsider feel like a native.

And there’s still an appreciation when a familiar character gets to say a line the audience has come to anticipate, even if in season twelve, it’s become “Book ’em, Kimo, murder one.”