The Story Tellers' Talent

[pwalker8]

The Story Tellers' Talent

or what makes a great author. Since we are in the winter doldrums between the pre Christmas releases and the spring releases starting in March, I’ve been looking new reading material. While I’ve scored on some backlist books by various authors that I like, I’ve also been trying new authors, both regular published and self published. Most of them lack that certain something that keeps me engaged. I can already hear some of the pro indie types shutting down their minds saying “Oh this is just another anti-indie rant”, but that’s not the point or intent of the post.

The authors on my favorite author list have that certain talent for engaging me on an emotional level. They make me care about the characters and what is happening. The characters are believable, not card board cutouts who are there to move the action along. Most authors, both regular published and indie published, lack this talent.

To use an example from a different area of entertainment, I point to the last Star Wars movie, Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith. In that movie, Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. For me, it was completely unbelievable. Skywalker goes from Jedi to killing other Jedi and little kids in a blink of the eye, just because he’s going through some sort of teenage angst. Yea, right. In comparison, I look at a Josh Whedon creation, Dr Horrible’s sing along blog. (If you haven’t seen it, give it a shot, It’s worth watching). In what is essentially a throw away 40 minute show, you totally get how a somewhat dorky want to be bad guy really does becomes evil. That’s talent.

One of the books that I bought was the first of the Monster Squad books by Heath Stallcup. It seemed to be popular (they have even made it into an audio book) and got good reviews. I actually first noticed it on audible.com. At first glance, it’s a Monster Hunter (Larry Correia’s best selling series) knock off. Larry Correia started as an indie and still publishes some books as an indie and is one of my favorite authors.

Return of the Phoenix is not a bad book, but it never engaged me. It lacks the spark that pulls me in. He tries to engage on an emotional level, for example, one character is introduced trying to deliver a present to his kid’s birthday party and being stopped by his ex. That ought to be emotionally engaging, but it just seemed pro forma, at least to me. I compare that to the first chapter of Monster Hunters, which immediately draws the reader in.

Another book that I picked up was Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. Stroud writes for a younger audience (this one is listed for middle school), but he knows how to draw the reader in. I had read his Bartimaeus series and really enjoyed it. He has that spark.

Of course, one of the reasons that my favorite author’s list is so short (as least the ones who are still actively writing) is that the story teller’s talent isn’t very common and most of the better authors tend to write anywhere from a couple books a year to a book every couple of years. That makes for some lean months when none of them have anything coming out.

I would be interested to hear what others think about favored authors and if they see a similar difference between authors. Of course, I'm sure that some have a totally different view about such things, which is fine. It would be a terrible thing if we all agreed.

[theducks]

A good story telling drags me in :
Ilona Andrews
Sharon Lee
are recent captures

A lot of beginning indie book authors seem to take on the role of play-by-play Announcer, with the reader as a spectator.

IMHO First person story telling does not automatically equal Announcer mode

[DuckieTigger]

To me it is immaterial if a story is strictly 3rd person (announcer?) or real 1st person or mixed. As long as I am staying with the same one person throughout the book. It takes a lot more skill to stay consistent with one style, IMO. And I suppose it might be easier to go movie style - cut, new chapter, new person and location - but I am no fan of that. I like down to earth characters much more than over confident never wrong super heros.

[kennyc]

After almost a quarter century of studying and attempting writing of various forms - fiction, nonfiction, poetry as well as a lifetime of reading fiction and non-fiction, I've come to the place where I've concluded that the most important aspect of fiction writing and telling a story is the narration. It's not characters or character development or 'fully-fleshed out' characters, it's not plot or description or any of the dozens of things that gets discussed in writing classes and writing instruction books. Yes those things matter, they are very useful but the real bottom line is HOW the author tells the story, now engaging it is, the manner and style in which it is presented ... in other words the narration, the author/narrators voice. Any of the other elements can be all but left out or minimized if the writer can tell a story (I'm agreeing with the O.P.) here and saying that the ability to tell a story is narration.

That's what I believe and I'm sticking to it!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by theducks

A good story telling drags me in :
Ilona Andrews
Sharon Lee
are recent captures

A lot of beginning indie book authors seem to take on the role of play-by-play Announcer, with the reader as a spectator.

IMHO First person story telling does not automatically equal Announcer mode

I like Ilona Andrews (actually a husband and wife team, or perhaps I should say wife and husband, given they mostly write romance based fantasy from the woman's pov).

Corriea is a good example of an author who uses first person while pulling in the reader.

I think a lot of authors get too focused on rushing into the "meaty" part of the story. Sometimes I read a book where I get the impression that the author had created a book outline, wrote the major scenes and then added a few pages in between the major scenes to try to link the scenes together. While those scenes are well written, the book as a whole just doesn't hold my interest.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by kennyc

After almost a quarter century of studying and attempting writing of various forms - fiction, nonfiction, poetry as well as a lifetime of reading fiction and non-fiction, I've come to the place where I've concluded that the most important aspect of fiction writing and telling a story is the narration. It's not characters or character development or 'fully-fleshed out' characters, it's not plot or description or any of the dozens of things that gets discussed in writing classes and writing instruction books. Yes those things matter, they are very useful but the real bottom line is HOW the author tells the story, now engaging it is, the manner and style in which it is presented ... in other words the narration, the author/narrators voice. Any of the other elements can be all but left out or minimized if the writer can tell a story (I'm agreeing with the O.P.) here and saying that the ability to tell a story is narration.

That's what I believe and I'm sticking to it!

I very much agree. While all the things that are talked about in writing class are part of the craft of writing, it's not a substitute for the story itself.

[rkomar]

For me, the dialog may not make a book great, but it can certainly ruin it. One of the first things I do when I sample a new author is to read some dialog, and see if it seems natural enough (in whatever context the story is set in). If the dialog is second-rate, I don't usually go any further, no matter how good the story is supposed to be.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rkomar

For me, the dialog may not make a book great, but it can certainly ruin it. One of the first things I do when I sample a new author is to read some dialog, and see if it seems natural enough (in whatever context the story is set in). If the dialog is second-rate, I don't usually go any further, no matter how good the story is supposed to be.

This.