Reading and/or writing both long and short fiction can often be a pain in the brain and the butt. Have you ever read one of those stories that just seems to push you away rather than engage you?
Pain in the brain
A narrative that meanders all over the place, one that seems to need a warning sign: "Abandon all hope those who..."
Pain in the butt
Have you ever tried to write something that conveyed your vision into the imagination of your reader only to fall flat?
Engaging the reader
Some of the best stories I have ever read were those that completely engaged me as a reader. Stories that drew me in, authors who can weave their narrative in such a way that I am completely entangled before I even realize it. There is nothing like being totally engaged and invested in the story.
Don't throw out the expected just to be unexpected
While I loathe most attempts by authors who want to "play" with the plot or the traditional story-telling narrative by doing something unique or different. The philosophical experiment simply hurts my brain. But that's just me. I like to read a traditional story that whisks me away into the depths of imagination. Plain. Simple. Don't fix what's not broken.
But...
What do Dr. Who and the Beast Below have in common with Ursula K LeGuin, William James, and Dostoyevski have in common?
You will have needed to watch the Dr. Who episode to get an idea, but there is an amazing thread of SciFi story-telling that does not really tell a story. It takes an amazing talent to be able to construct a narrative - sans plot, dialogue, and even named characters - and then get the reader to build a story of possibility within their own mind's eye.
I'm not a big fan of the more esoteric style of story-telling, but sometimes something just hits you leaving you wondering what just happened. There is a story in my head (and/or heart) but the words on the page don't match. The author lit the match, but the fire that burns is because of the fuel I, the reader, provided.
>SPOILERS<
In the Dr. Who story, London and its inhabitants are living their lives at the expense of another's suffering. Watch it here:http://youtu.be/9bsi9wio3gw
This mirrors LeGuin's story about a Utopia surviving on the suffering of one and the rest is academic. Read the wiki on LeGuin's story here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Omelas
Read the "short story" here http://www.kareyperkins.com/classes/445/omelas.pdf
Dolstoyevski's novel is on Project Gutenburg https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/28054
or read about it on Wiki here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov
But even LeGuin says this will make your brain hurt reading it. (I didn't make it through.) But she credits William James for her most important inspiration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moral_Philosopher_and_the_Moral_Life
and his story The Moral Philosopher... based on the idea that "As James sees it, the psychological question is whether human ideas of good and evil arise from "the association of [certain ideals] with act of simple bodily pleasures and reliefs from pain."" Read the text here: http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/American/mp&ml.htm
I include the links so that you can read for yourself. Its a lot, I know. And most of it hurt my brain...but the gist of this post is that sometimes, it is a good idea to look outside the norms of traditional story-telling to see how some of the greats have created a narrative that actively includes the reader in the process. Plus it was fun to try to find a link between Dolstoyevski and Dr. Who.
Do it Write...I mean Right. Right? Including your reader in the process, truly engaging them in the story, is what good narrative story-telling is all about. Find your own way of accomplishing this and you will have fans for life. Walk too far out on the branch and it could snap...and you fall on your butt. For me, this was a good example of what to do and what not to do - in the same story. I can't even call what LeGuin wrote a short story (although she does) without scratching my head. It really makes me think...and, well, that hurts my brain. Enjoying a story shouldn't be that hard. It should be fun, exciting, and maybe even better than sex...maybe.
But it should be something that I enjoy. As a reader, I want to be engaged. I want to feel excited as I look forward to climbing in between the covers. (OK - maybe the sex analogy was a bit much) As an author, it's my job to find a recipe that combines these ingredients into a wonderful meal that will satisfy the voracious reader. (is a food analogy any better?)
Hope this helps someone...and didn't hurt your brains too much.
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