Happily Hammered by (some of) Elmore Leonard’s 10 Hardboiled Rules of Writing
This is one of my favorite books on writing. Sarah Nean Bruce talks about in relation to an age old classic story that she’s adapting.
This is a terrific post from novelist Emma Darwin.
“Recently I asked a group of writer friends, published and unpublished, whether they first came to writing as a medium for self-expression, or as a means of telling stories. The distinction is artificial, of course, because even the telling of a fairy tale will be different, depending on the self who’s telling it, and story-telling is how we form our experience, whether it’s as a book-length memoir, or a rueful anecdote told over a drink.”
Littwin: McInnis should stop milking the elk story
Of Mice and Men or politicians and their stories, or some such. Maybe he should have checked that story at the door.
“The real issue for McInnis is the narrative issue. You win campaigns with your narrative.”
Interview: Lance Weiler – 04/27/10
Michael Margolis’ interview that he conducted yesterday with Lance Weiler is now available for listening or download. It was an incredible interview. Some of the work that Lance is doing in Transmedia has to be as creative as anything out there. You will be enthralled.
Global Collaborative Storytelling Game
Some leading edge storytelling work being done in the gaming space.
Celebrate The Art Of Storytelling At Miami-Dade Public Library, Saturday, May 1
Libraries continue to lead the way.
“The Art of Storytelling was created by the library system to highlight the important role that storytelling plays in education, culture and entertainment, and to encourage the use of this art form by educators, parents and caregivers to stimulate the imagination and encourage learning.”
Narrative across Media: The Languages of Storytelling
“Narratology has been conceived from its earliest days as a project that transcends disciplines and media. The essays gathered here address the question of how narrative migrates, mutates, and creates meaning as it is expressed across various media.”
Sounds like it will be worth reading.
Seeking Clues to the Future of Storytelling
“Trying to pigeonhole evolving technological developments doesn’t do justice to the work or honor the medium it is being lumped in with, Alderman reasoned.
For Alderman, new media is exciting, not something that compromises traditional and beloved forms of storytelling.”
Apple’s iPad: Storyteller for Brands, Not Digital Reader
“Apple’s iPad is not a digital reader, it’s an interactive storyteller. Here’s why.
Publishing on Apple’s iPad won’t be about re-purposing existing print content, but rather developing new ways to communicate that take advantage of the medium.”
“Believing comes in many colours, sizes, flavours and preferences. We trust in what we see. It may be time to trust in what we believe. Take charge of your own rudder.
Point the way you wish to go and go there. Imagine the stories, the images even the tales you might hear, share and commit to memory for the next generation.”
“Q. How has the oral tradition of storytelling changed?
A. Storytelling itself has not changed – by its nature it is a dynamic and interactive art. As long as we have been able to relate to each other with words and share our hearts and minds and common or disparate experiences, imagined or real, we have told stories.
What we have lost in our technology-driven culture is the opportunity to tell those stories directly to each other. We have television, film, computers, iPods – a whole array of machines between us and another’s vivid, immediate presence. Listening to someone right in front of you is very different from passive diversion on a screen, even if you are in a room watching with others. It’s why people flock to live music. We have too few opportunities to listen to live words. Here is one!”
Local mortgage planner writes fictional tale to help homebuyerss
What a creative use of story and narrative.
‘I just didn’t want to tell people ‘Here’s what you need to know,’ but I wanted to tell a story about what someone goes through in buying a home,’ he said.
The book’s narrative not only relates the ups and downs Myles faces in the homebuying process, but it also weaves in explanations of terms that homebuyers need to know.
Institutional memory crucial in management
“With the writing of his memoirs, my dad accomplished something significant for his family. He was to pass on his memories, his experiences and his stories. He gave us something to keep and cherish.
On the business side of this, experts have called someone who has been employed by the same company for a long time as having institutional memory. Longtime employees remember the good times and, more importantly, the hard times. They help us avoid making mistakes that have cost us in the past.”
Interview: Syfy’s Howe Talks ‘Always-On’ Transmedia Experiences
“What’s fantastic about this strategy is, if we get it right, we’ll figure out ways for people to consume those characters and stories across multiple platforms whenever and however they choose to,” says Howe. “It’s an always-on world we’re living in, and that’s exciting to us. Dynamic, immersive experience is critical to future storytelling.”
Social media and the rebirth of the storyteller
“This great presentation from Jenni Lloyd at NixonMcInnes highlights the importance of storytelling and of the storyteller in social media. Showing the role that stories play in the discussions that happen in social media and why they are critical to any brand to understand and to harness if they want to make the most of what social media has to offer them.”
New York Times editor Bill Keller on narrative’s future: three “threats” to it he’s not buying
“Keller’s main qualm about narrative writing: There’s just so much bad narrative out there, stories that indulge the writer while ridiculing the subject; articles devoid of rigorous reporting, complexity, rich characters and scenes.
The human yearning for great stories, writing them and reading them, is just not so easily extinguished, Keller said.”
