Creating a Vivid and Continuous Dream
Storytelling wisdom from author and university professor John Gardner
John Gardner was an accomplished author, literary critic and a university professor. That’s a rather rare combination. He was one of the best teachers of fiction writing, and his books on the topic, The Art of Fiction and On Becoming a Novelist, helped thousands of novelists learn / refine / polish their literary craft.
If you read my previous newsletter on The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but?, you know that my approach to personal storytelling is to stick to what’s true and not delve into the world of fiction. That said, we can still learn much from the methods used to create fiction, which is why I am sharing a few quotes from John Gardner’s book, On Becoming a Novelist, that apply equally to the literary craft of nonfiction.
…the best stories set off a vivid and continuous dream…
We’ve all been there. Reading a book that you can’t set down or watching a movie that has you leaning forward, barely breathing. When you get lost in a compelling story the real world has a way of disappearing, replaced by the narrative in hand. It’s a common experience with great fiction, but is also happens when we see a speaker live on stage that has everyone sitting in the theatre spellbound. While there are many factors that apply in such situations, word choice and an eye for detail, are key elements.
…one sign of a writer’s potential is his especially sharp ear – and eye – for language.
The better the writer’s feel for language and its limits, the better his odds become.
As with most talents, this comes naturally to some, but most of us have to work hard when developing this illusive skill. The good news is we can learn it with practice.
Noticing cliche words and phrases, or those lacking imagination or specificity is key. Our story’s first pass often contains a lot of safe language. Words that easily come to mind and work okay at telling the story, but in most cases, we can do much better.
We must first know what it is we’re trying to convey, so that when we say it out loud we can hear what sounds off, what may be missing from the narrative, then edit the manuscript accordingly. The process continues, iteratively, until the wording works.
Writing and revising is tedious, as every letter, word and sentence count, but it’s the only way to shift from creating stories that are just okay to being excellent, from the general meaning to a specific understanding.
Challenge each word to see if it conveys the meaning that you intended? For example, Is it 'beautiful', or 'superb', or 'elegant'? And how will your audience react to the use of particular words or phrases? One technique I recommend is to record your talk, then play it back as though it’s a podcast. Your ears will recognize issues with word choice (as well as tone, volume and cadence) that our eyes frequently miss.
The good writer sees things sharply, vividly, accurately, and selectively (that is, he chooses what’s important), not necessarily because his power of observation is by nature more acute than that of other people (though by practice it becomes so), but because he cares about seeing things clearly and getting them down effectively.
Choosing the most appropriate words is, to a large degree, dependent upon the vision the writer is trying to convey, and this is where John Gardner introduces the concepts of sharp, vivid, and accurate. How you describe a person, place, thing, or event affects the listener's ability to create the same image in their mind. Words becoming visual.
It can help to think like a movie director who creates a visual story that surrounds the script’s words. In memorable cinema everything in a scene is intentional and conveys an intended meaning. Done well, a story brings us into a vivid and continuous dream.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If so, please share your wisdom and insights below. And don’t forget to subscribe. You can also find me on LinkedIn and Twitter, or even drop me a line with any thoughts or questions you may have about storytelling.