Last week we started a little series about honing the craft of writing in order to save ourselves money when it comes to editing. The better we write, the less our stories will need massive editing.
The first installment was about starting at the beginning with grammar. ‘Oh, lovely,’ you might groan, but the truth is that if you know how to place commas and indents and Em dashes, the less your editor will have to find them and subsequently charge you for this changes. If you missed last week installment you can find it here.
Listening to hone the craft
This week, I thought I would give you a list of podcasts I love to check in on that talk a lot about WRITING. not the career of being an indie author, which there are many of and after this series I’ll make up an email with that list, but actually the art of telling stories.
These podcasts are easy to listen to and I selected a wide range of hosts so that you can find at least one that your ears like. Many times the hosts talk with another author about storytelling and sometimes they have a giant series (ahem, Helping Writers Become Authors) that go into details about things like Archetypal Character Arcs.
I believe we can learn from each of these podcast and their hosts on storytelling, since our craft is one that we can always get better with as we refine it.
Why study the art of storytelling
I have admitted many times and will again that when I was a younger writer (’cause I’m STILL young!) I wasn’t so sure that I needed to study the art of writing and storytelling. I’ve always been interested in what authors have to say, but I never took their advice as a way to hone my craft. Now I see it completely differently.
We need to continue to study storytelling in all it’s glory from all sorts of perspectives because it will make our writing not only BETTER but more INTERESTING. I’m not saying to copy what other cultures or people do, but the more angles we know and understand of storytelling, the more we can use them in our own craft. Mixing and matching angles makes a story about ‘boy meets girl’ different from all the other ‘boy meets girl’ stories.
In the end, there are only so many genres out there. The human brain likes certain stories with certain plot lines, so it’s up to the write to find a new and exciting ways to tell those “same” stories so that your brain settles in comfortably for 6-10 hours and absorbs this story it sees as new and exciting. Learning the basics of storytelling and characters and plots etc (as well as brushing up on all those things) is crucial to continue to grow as a writer. Listening to how others do it I think not only encourages us that we can as well (when we’re down in the writer’s dumps) and presses us to see things in a little bit different light.
Next week we will dive in to some stories and books that we can read in a way to learn the art of storytelling and writing. This week I thought it would be nice to have things to listen to while on a walk or making dinner.
Do you have a podcast on writing that you love?
The Dialogue Doctor – with Jeff Elkins deals in dialogue and how to make it sound realistic and make it good!
Writers, Ink – J.D. Barker, J. Thorn and Zach Bohanan has interviews with prolific authors plus they talk their craft and answer questions about writing
The First Draft Club – with Mary Atkins really goes through story method for writers who are trying to get their first story written.
Story Grid Podcast – with Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl talks about things like the heroic journey, world building and, of course, what the story grid is.