To Tell a Story...

This afternoon, I'll be meeting with the writing club at Shaw Elementary. It consists of eight to ten children in grades second to fourth. I first met them two weeks ago. We talked about my experiences as a writer/author and what advice I could offer them.Then I walked around as they worked on ideas and outlines for their stories.

Meeting with other writers, no matter their age, is always a fun experience. Often times, I can see myself, at various stages of my writing experience, through what they say. What do I see...

• the free-spirit, "I cannot be bound by things like genres and outlines. That would totally cramp my creative side",
•  the procrastinator, "I have this really great idea but I have absolutely no time to write. I'm way too busy." (But can tell you all about the latest TV series),
•  the confidant doubter, "This is an amazing plot idea." (But it will never see the light of day because I can't handle rejection.)
• the 'better than' monster, "I may not have finished this but I seem to be doing better than that other person"

There are so many others but these are probably some of the biggest that I've combated especially over this past year.

• Outlines don't quench creativity, they provide a map to keep it on track.
• "I have no time to write" is never a valid excuse. Not when I've met other authors who are single parents working 60+ hours a week and they are making time to get their work wrote out. I have time to write, I'm simply choosing to do other things. 
• Rejection is not the end of the road. It either means that the work needs to be improved or the right match hasn't been found. 
• If we look around we can always find someone else's successes that we fall short of or someone that we're doing way better than. None of that matters. The best person to compare ourselves to is ourselves. Last year, I'm not sure if I put 20,000 words on a paper. This year I've been working towards 2500+ a week. It's still not where I'd like to be but I've got to look on the bright side and allow myself room to grow.

What does it take to tell a story?

• It takes discipline. I've got to stick with it no even through the boring parts. Not every scene is always filled with action so I have to remember to keep writing, editing can come later to cut out the REALLY boring parts.
• It takes commitment. No matter how good the story is it will not write itself. I have to make time to write even if it means three round of revisions to work out all the details. 
• It takes development. Most people, kindergarten and above, can write but not everyone can tell a story. There are many intrigue details that have to be considered to build a story.
• It takes living life. Fantasy worlds are fun to read about and explore but it's typically not the world itself that draws a reader in. Typically, it is the characters that they find themselves relating to. The struggles, the pain, the love, the laughs, the tears- all these things draw a reader in closer. They relate to these emotions on some level. And, if we don't take time to live life it's difficult to paint a picture of emotions to a reader. 

Whether it's a short story, a picture book, a novel, a biography, an article, etc. The most important thing for me as a writer to remember is that if I don't believe the story is worth telling, the reader will never believe it's worth reading.