A simple storyteller
There have been a rash of books recently with multiple viewpoints jumping all over the place in time. This has me thinking about the form in which we tell our stories.
Despite being a qualified English Solicitor and having two Master's degrees, I read like a child does. This mature woman brings a child-like innocence to her reading. What that means is I want to be told a story like a child does.
I don't want to be left guessing which character is speaking because there a multiple first-person viewpoints, none of which identify the character speaking. I also don't want to keep jumping randomly through different time periods.
There's a reason why fairytales start with "once upon a time" and proceed straight through to"and they all lived happily ever after". It's the structure that gives the listener the best chance of absorbing and remembering the story. And we all know that, while fairytales may appear to be simple on the surface, most of them carry strong messages.
I want simple storytelling, the sort that our ancestors were used to sitting around the camp fire. That doesn't mean being confined to one viewpoint. In Panthera : Death Spiral I use four viewpoints, and in Panthera : Death Song five. But the narrative proceeds in a chronological fashion through these different voices. It's like a braid woven from different strands plaited together into one logical whole. But if I'd tried to add lengthy flashbacks to the narrative I'm sure my readers would soon get lost.
The simplest story structure is beginning, middle and end. Or as the movies say, three-act structure. And if it's good enough for Hollywood blockbusters, it's good enough for me.
Despite being a qualified English Solicitor and having two Master's degrees, I read like a child does. This mature woman brings a child-like innocence to her reading. What that means is I want to be told a story like a child does.
I don't want to be left guessing which character is speaking because there a multiple first-person viewpoints, none of which identify the character speaking. I also don't want to keep jumping randomly through different time periods.
There's a reason why fairytales start with "once upon a time" and proceed straight through to"and they all lived happily ever after". It's the structure that gives the listener the best chance of absorbing and remembering the story. And we all know that, while fairytales may appear to be simple on the surface, most of them carry strong messages.
I want simple storytelling, the sort that our ancestors were used to sitting around the camp fire. That doesn't mean being confined to one viewpoint. In Panthera : Death Spiral I use four viewpoints, and in Panthera : Death Song five. But the narrative proceeds in a chronological fashion through these different voices. It's like a braid woven from different strands plaited together into one logical whole. But if I'd tried to add lengthy flashbacks to the narrative I'm sure my readers would soon get lost.
The simplest story structure is beginning, middle and end. Or as the movies say, three-act structure. And if it's good enough for Hollywood blockbusters, it's good enough for me.
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