The Art of Storytelling

It's been awhile, but I've gotten back into reading the fantasy book series I'd started awhile ago: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I'm on what is officially called Book Two: The Great Hunt, though the first 'book' is actually broken up into two novel-sized sections. Thus, I consider it to be book three. Anyway, this series has a very detailed writing style. Sometimes it is a little hard to get into, but other times I'm completely captivated. I can't get out of it.

Second book in The Wheel of Time series, dealing with the hunt of the Horn of Valere,

which will awaken dead heroes to fight for whoever sounds it.

This author truly has succeeded in making fantasy seem like real life. The emotional journey I described above that the reader goes through in a story is the mark of any good writer, I've noticed, no matter what their style.

Rand Al'Thor - I have seen many pictures of Rand, the main character in the books I've read of Wheel of Time Series so far, but this one amused me the most. I think he just might make a great anime character ^_^ This amazing artwork is by hevial@deviantart.com

A depiction of Matrim Cauthon by a different artist, Ri-m@deviantart.com

This depiction suits Mat perfectly, in my opinion.

As a writer, whether it's fiction or non-fiction that you write, it is your job to create a world where you can make your readers laugh or cry with you, not because they are supposed to, but because it seems like the most natural thing in the world for them to do. If you can accomplish this all without breaking the illusion you've created of your world, then you are a truly good writer.

Some advice I read once about writing likened the art of writing to a tour in a glass-bottomed boat, both for the writer and for the reader. I don't remember the author of the book I was reading at the time, but what he said stuck with me. Just imagine you are riding in a glass-bottomed boat in the ocean, and you see all these colorful fish around you. Soon, it seems as if the glass is not there at all, nor are the people in the boat with you. It is just you and these amazing fish.

Then imagine if the person beside you dropped something, let's say a pair of sunglasses, directly into your field of vision. Just for a moment, you are jerked from your illusion. Even if it was just for a moment, the illusion was still broken, and it might take you a while to get back into it. It's nothing that serious, but as a writer, you should never do that to your readers. If you've created an illusion that you let your readers get into, don't do anything that could jerk them out of it. Once you jerk them out, you might never get them back.

As Enrique Jardiel Poncela, a Spanish playwright and novelist, once said, "When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing." One way I've found that a writer can jerk readers out of the illusion he or she worked so hard to create is by explaining too much instead of telling the story. I know it's a huge temptation to suddenly spill all of that glorious, dark, horrendous back story I've worked so hard to create, or perhaps I've created an entirely different world, language, and culture. It's great that so much work went into creating it, but I've learned two rules when it comes to storytelling that allows my readers can interact with the story itself.

1.) Show, don't tell. Usually, if something is worth mentioning, it's worth showing the effects and/or specifics of it rather than telling all the rules. The readers will pick up what's important on their own if you give them the appropriate clues.
2.) There is an appropriate time and place to reveal information. Whatever you want to reveal, just make sure that the information helps to build the plot.

 

In a nutshell, if you want your readers to enjoy the hard work you've put into crafting your story and/or fantasy world, don't let on that it was hard work. Simply let it flow into the story.

For instance, in my series, DA Shadow Phantom, many of my characters have interesting backstories, including Dalan, the main character. Most of these backstories never see the light of day, but they are there. The point of having backstories that the readers never get to learn is that they help you, as the writer, write even secondary minor characters more convincingly. Everyone has motive, something that drives them to act the way they do. The readers don't always have to know what that motive is, but if it's there, they'll sense it between the lines, so to speak, and the illusion will remain in place. Even my main character's back story I divvy out in bits and pieces, and only if it helps to build the plot and the illusion I've created of reality in this story.

DA Shadow Phantom: Dalan

Sometimes, a little bit is all that is needed to create a convincing illusion

of a world beyond the 'window'.

As for what I've been up to as far as writing and art, I have primarily been working on my series, DA Shadow Phantom. I am nearly done with the first story arch. There are only about three more chapters to go. I have yet to put up the first book for sale, but I will as soon as I finish the book cover image, which I have been working fervently on. Thus, it should be ready soon.

However, I do have my first fantasy book, North Country, Book One: The Riders of Redrog done, along with the cover image. It is now up for sale on Amazon Kindle. Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DIGO504#_


Happy Reading!


For more artwork and story-related stuff, or if you just want to get in touch with me and see what I'm up to, visit me at these websites:

Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.hubbard.50

Facebook DA Shadow Phantom: https://www.facebook.com/pages/DA-Shadow-Phantom/125944890946328?notif_t=page_new_likes
Facebook North Country Series: https://www.facebook.com/NorthCountrySeries?fref=ts

Deviant Art profile: http://nykol-haebrd.deviantart.com/
Tumblr profile: http://nyko-shad.tumblr.com/