Storytellers
"When people told their past with stories, explained their present with stories, foretold the future with stories—the best place by the fire was kept for the Storyteller." - Jim Henson's The Storyteller
I have had the privilege of reading many chapters from a yet-to-be published novel written by Ruth Lampi and Jess Van Oort, who most of you don't know but will have the opportunity to meet if you're coming to my wedding and, God-willing, you'll see on a bookstore shelf someday (errr...their names, not them). Where my my inspiration and literary roots stem from writers like George MacDonald, my actual writing is more often driven by the faster-paced style of Wizards of the Coast novels. Ruth's and Jess's writing feels like a combination of older, classier styles like Ursula Le Guin and Patricia McKillip.
I've always been fascinated and jealous by those writing duos, like Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. How do two people write together? I can't be sure, but I do know one thing. It's much easier to keep away writer's bloc and maintain inspiration when you have someone else to bounce ideas off of. Just talking about a shared story keeps the interest there, so I understand that and I hope to have more projects myself with other people. Already got a few lined up, in fact.
Last night, when I was reading chapter 11 from the aforementioned yet-to-be novel on my subway ride home, I was really struck just how much I adore the art of storytelling. I realized how much the world had faded away, how absorbed in the story I had become, and how disappointed I was when I realized I only had one more page left to read that night. Whenever you find that happening, you know the writing has succeeded. Good job, guys. Keep it coming. And prepare for me to make a nuisance of myself until you get this stuff published!
Word of the Day
I wonder: Was Gandalf secretly stricken by triskaidekaphobia? If so, it would explain his persistence in plodding that poor Hobbit out of his door oh so long ago.
I have had the privilege of reading many chapters from a yet-to-be published novel written by Ruth Lampi and Jess Van Oort, who most of you don't know but will have the opportunity to meet if you're coming to my wedding and, God-willing, you'll see on a bookstore shelf someday (errr...their names, not them). Where my my inspiration and literary roots stem from writers like George MacDonald, my actual writing is more often driven by the faster-paced style of Wizards of the Coast novels. Ruth's and Jess's writing feels like a combination of older, classier styles like Ursula Le Guin and Patricia McKillip.
I've always been fascinated and jealous by those writing duos, like Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. How do two people write together? I can't be sure, but I do know one thing. It's much easier to keep away writer's bloc and maintain inspiration when you have someone else to bounce ideas off of. Just talking about a shared story keeps the interest there, so I understand that and I hope to have more projects myself with other people. Already got a few lined up, in fact.
Last night, when I was reading chapter 11 from the aforementioned yet-to-be novel on my subway ride home, I was really struck just how much I adore the art of storytelling. I realized how much the world had faded away, how absorbed in the story I had become, and how disappointed I was when I realized I only had one more page left to read that night. Whenever you find that happening, you know the writing has succeeded. Good job, guys. Keep it coming. And prepare for me to make a nuisance of myself until you get this stuff published!
Word of the Day
I wonder: Was Gandalf secretly stricken by triskaidekaphobia? If so, it would explain his persistence in plodding that poor Hobbit out of his door oh so long ago.
posted by Jeff LaSala at 9:53 AM
2 Comments:
The Storyteller is excellent! (The Greek Myths series was released on DVD this week, by the way.) Every now and again, I miss Jim Henson.
Working on the critique deal with Ed is the closest I've come to working at writing collaboratively. Truly, it's a critique deal, not what I think of as collaborative writing: I read what he's written and make comments about what works and what doesn't work as well, then he works with my advice or doesn't. His work, his choice to use the feedback or not. And I exercise the same option when he's critiquing my stuff. Our system works pretty well. It makes me write, and I do believe that his feedback has helped me recognize what I do well and what I need to improve.
I enjoy the collaborative aspect of this critique deal. And it makes me even more curious about what a collaborative writing deal would be like. *hee*
Either a testament to my choice in books, or to my ability to "get into" books, but I am consistently depressed every time I finish a read. It feels like when you leave a town without collecting the information of anyone you cared about. You never see them again. Bye-Bye Forever.
Of course, there are serials... but I only like serials that have a true ending- which almost makes it worse than a one-shot.
Top of my "Depressed to Finish" list is C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, but the Hyperion/Endymion collection was hard too. Same with Alfred Bester... oh, and William Gibson; I freaking LOVE his characters, and don't want to see them go...
I think the only books that don't leave me feeling shallow are Chuck Palahniuk books... I still hate for them to end, but I don't miss any of his characters, really... they are pretty unlikeable humans as a whole. But good books.
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