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Started by Patricia Rice
Thu, 06 May 1999 00:00
Re: storytellers and writers
Author: Patricia Rice
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 00:00
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 00:00
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I'm killing time waiting for my new computer to arrive and not getting any work done in the process, so I figured I'd fall for this one. Bernadette writes: <<So, folks: What is a storyteller? What is a writer? Is there a difference? If so, what is the difference? How is it manifested? etc and so forth.>> Writers tend to throw these terms around a lot, although I've never tried to define the difference. I think of myself as a storyteller simply because it's the telling of stories that I enjoy, not particularly the play of words against words. I try to use the right word to get my point across, because words can be tricky and say things we don't see right away, but I don't spend much time painting beautiful pictures and images with those words. I say what it takes and go on. I think of Kinsale as a "writer." Yes, she tells a story, but she does it with graphic images she creates out of sounds and letters and symbols and too many things for us to grasp in one reading. Perhaps it's the difference between snapshot photography and an oil artist? Both pictures may tell a story, but one is an actual scene while the other is interpretive? Patricia Rice
Re: storytellers and writers
Author: Leïla
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 00:00
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 00:00
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Patricia Rice says: > Writers tend to throw these terms around a lot, although I've > never tried to > define the difference. I think of myself as a storyteller simply because > it's the telling of stories that I enjoy, not particularly the > play of words > against words. I try to use the right word to get my point > across, because > words can be tricky and say things we don't see right away, but I > don't spend > much time painting beautiful pictures and images with those words. I'm not sure which is which. However, a storyteller who uses words well can paint for me mental pictures that make the story memorable. It's not a science. It's an art. It's painting with words. The right turn of phrase can evoke scents, moods, sounds, tastes and pictures amazingly. I don't think calling this artist a writer is sufficient. A writer can be someone who writes copy for a newspaper. The words may be precise. The headlines concise. But the overall product is rarely worth remembering. A storyteller, on the other hand, does not just tell stories. A storyteller makes that story alive for me. And whatever the medium, the storyteller is the artist. This art form is not just wit, or grammar, or punctuation, or even a great vocabulary. And the storyteller is not just someone with a clever plot. Otherwise, I'd read comic books. That clever plot must be accompanied by the mastery of language necessary to paint these pictures for me. Cuevas (Ivory) and Kinsale were mentioned (as always ;-) . Loretta Chase is another one that can make a poignant scene leap off the page. By magic. And I remember a discussion long ago, where Bernadette tried to analyze the magic... I couldn't begin to start.... Happy reading, L.
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