[Peterborough Storytellers asked writing
coach and author Ken Murray to tell us about his experience in encouraging
writers to create the first draft of their story. We believe that Ken’s
experience closely parallels the process that any oral storyteller goes through
when creating and preparing a story idea for telling to others. We welcome your
comments to share with our readers. Use the ‘Comments’ section at the end of
the posting.]
REALLY KNOWING YOUR STORY
By Ken Murray
Helping somebody write a story might, from the outside looking in,
appear magical or even a little like hucksterism — Somebody is going to teach
me to write? Yeah right! — but there is a solid grounding from which to work,
and it comes down to questions.
Does the writer know the story yet, or is the writer still in the
process of discovering the story?
If the writer knows the story, really knows it, then the work is
technical. What details should be brought to the reader? When? What order? How?
And if the writer needs to develop technical skills on the page, teach
these. It’s a teacher’s job.
But what most often happens is that the writer does not really know the
story yet. And in this case they must spend time writing freely, letting
grammar, style, and word economy take the back seat. These details can be dealt
with later, because right now the writer needs to let the story live and
breathe and grow. The writer needs the story to come alive. They need to write
it fully.
Once a full, creaky, large draft is in place, it’s the writer’s job to
listen to that draft, really listen, and listen not for the story they thought
they were writing, not for the story they want to hear, but for the story that
is there.
When the writer starts listening to the story that is there, they are
getting close to knowing the story, and then we are back to working on the
technical aspects I’ve noted above.
If there is an eye-opening moment that happens consistently in my
classes, it’s when students grasp that all stories reveal characters. A story
comes alive when a character on the page becomes real in the reader’s mind and
perceptions. The character becomes someone the reader reacts to emotionally. The
reader wants to know more about the character, frets about the character, has
hopes for the character, or perhaps becomes angry or frustrated with the
character.
If a story draft presents a character and an opportunity to reveal that
character, the writer must look more closely at that character, write them, and
see what the story is behind them, inside them.
Ken’s latest book, ‘Eulogy,
A Novel’ is in bookstores now.
Ken’s website, www.kenmurray.ca, has information about his popular
writing classes, a blog of his observations about the art of writing, life
situations occurring around him and much more helpful information.
Ken lives in Prince
Edward County, Ontario
Photo: Ken Murray
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