I have a ‘real’ job. Well, it is not much of real job. I work for a Television Network. I have worked as a photographer, editor, producer and when I was too young to know better, actually appeared on air. Through the years I have actually been paid to attend such things as The World Series, The Super Bowl, NASCAR races and shoot, they even paid for the food. But if it’s not a tax form, if anybody ask me my occupation, I simply tell them…I AM A STORYTELLER.
In that world, facts kept getting in the way, so when I began to tell stories in my ChickenBone Mystery Series, I applied the same simple principals… “IT’S THE STORY, STUPID.” So, with that in mind…some storytelling tips learned the hard way.
· FIND YOUR OWN VOICE. When I first wrote fiction,
I wrote like some of the people I admired, copied everything from the
bestsellers….and it STUNK. Took a while, but I soon dumbed things down to my
level and found my own voice…and didn’t care if it wasn’t like the Big Shots.
· Soak in the sense of PLACE. Paint a picture they
can see. Make them feel the heat of the day, the smell of the old strip joint,
the taste of whiskey, the sound of a passing train or feel the fear of a big
snake that just crawled up under your feet.
· Keep it moving. Let the dialogue and action push
the story along with the pace and rhythm of a good song. You wouldn’t listen to
a song with only two beats. Mix it up, add accents, bring in the horn section,
punch it up.
· Use words, simple words to paint a picture. “His
voice sounded like tires on gravel.”
· Make the things your character carries match the
person. A fellow in overalls named Plowhead would never drink a lite
beer. More likely, Pabst Blue Ribbon in a tallboy can. An ex-con called BoDilly
would not carry a snub-nosed .38. He would have a long-barreled Colt stuck
tight in his dirty jeans.
· Don’t get yourself or your characters in a big
hurry to get to the point. I’m not talking about spending three pages
describing the sunrise…unless it is one ‘hellava’ sunrise…I’m saying
write in scenes that build the story with good dialogue. It doesn’t have to be
Shakespeare…just put some pepper in the gumbo. But if you are going to take
your time getting to the point…make sure your readers enjoy the ride.
· Keep it simple. A ballplayer would never say “I sensed that I made secure contact with the heart of the bat and understood that it would go the distance.” He would just simply say, “I got good wood on it and took him deep.”
Enjoy words. Play them like a fiddle, but you DO NOT have to
write the perfect sentence. Nobody ever tells a friend, “Page 324 has the best
sentence I have ever read.” They just tell them… “I just read a great
story.” So, sit yourself down…put your butt in the chair…AND TELL A
DAMN GOOD STORY.
He began his career in the mountains of Western North Carolina where he worked with two college buddies, both who went on to become Sports Broadcasting Legends. Yeargin did not, but he did shoot the only video of the first 3-Point goal in the history of NCAA College Basketball. This is NOT fiction…you can look it up!
His travels as a broadcaster have taken him to dozens of Major League ballparks, World Series, Super Bowls, Final Fours, NASCAR, National Championships and he managed to convince his bosses for many, many years that staying at a Baseball Spring Training camp for two months involved hard work and sacrifice.
He has written stories in more places than you can count. In dugouts with rats under his feet, smelly locker rooms, planes, trains, hotel bars, buses at 4AM outside Detroit. All while submitting a staggering number of falsified expense reports.
He grew up on a rural cattle farm in Georgia, which taught him many valuable life lessons, such as never poke a big bull in the rear with a big stick.
A proud Bulldog graduate of the University of Georgia, he has now returned to his native state and lives in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood.
There is no Atlanta neighborhood known as ChickenBone…but there should be.
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1 comment:
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