Wordsmith = Storyteller?

[Dee Miller]

I had an interesting conversation with someone who said that it’s impossible to write about something that you have not experienced on some level. What do you think?

 

Is a wordsmith a storyteller with a vivid imagination that is able to disconnect from one’s own direct or indirect experiences? 

 

For me, I write what comes to mind and build from there - simply allowing my thoughts to flow (Random Thoughts) after which I review, rehash, develop and formulate until my hand tells me to stop.

 

i even enjoy and appreciate the misspellings, the grammatical errors the various interpretations and uncertainties that result.   

for me, like art, there is no wrong way, and Like my art, my writing style is not for everyone - choices.

What ingredients make you a Storyteller? 

[Troy]

On 6/2/2024 at 12:40 PM, Dee Miller said:

it’s impossible to write about something that you have not experienced on some level.

Hi Dee that clearly is not true, as there would be entire genres that would not exist if that were.
 

Now if you are writing about the real world (people, places, and things) it is helpful to know something about the subject otherwise your story will ring false to readers who know something the subject.

Sure, story telling is an art and it requires skill. Some people are naturally better that others at doing it.

[richardmurray]

@Dee Miller 

 

I had an interesting conversation with someone who said that it’s impossible to write about something that you have not experienced on some level. What do you think?

the ability to make a fiction appealing/entertaining is different from the qualities of the fiction. 

Someone can write about serial killers never having killed someone and make it appealing or entertaining to a large enough audience to be financially profitable. Yes I said all that because all to often the issue isn't that no stranger didn't like your work but not enough strangers to be fiscally profitable. But assessing he quality of your serial killer story is another issue. This is why something like Uncle Tom's cabin or tolstoy's war and peace  , all of which were profitable in their earlier times has changed.

Is a wordsmith a storyteller with a vivid imagination that is able to disconnect from one’s own direct or indirect experiences? 

 technically a wordsmith isn't a storyteller, a wordsmith is someone whose skill is making words, a useful tool in all literary arts. Poems demand the wordsmithing skill to allow words of a certain meaning to fit the rhyme or measures or cyclic definitions. A storyteller with a vivid imagination that is able to disconnect from their experiences makes that storyteller brilliant for live storytelling or making the basis of works. 

What ingredients make you a Storyteller? 

The ability to convey a message through any medium: dance, singing, knitting, writing, sign language. it doesn't matter what you use to convey the message. If you can do it well enough to get others to comprehend, then you are a storyteller.  

[umbrarchist]

This is an example from science fiction.

Compare Ursala K LeGuin 

and

Isaac Asimov

 

People have referred to Asimov's writing as "workman like". He writes what he has to, to tell the story. One man told me that Asimov couldn't write.

 

LeGuin's book The Dispossessed has a physicist as a main character but there is No Physics in it.

 

Asimov wrote The Gods Themselves where the physics was central to the story. As a result of a conversation with Robert Silverberg where he imagined an element that Asimov said could not exist, Asimov imagined a parallel universe where the element could exist. Asimov created a storyline with alien contact to transfer energy.

 

LeGuin had better human characters but Asimov's story was far more mind blowing.

 

What does the reader want out of the time spent reading?

 

542 vus

.

Edited September 1, 2024 by umbrarchist
View count

[Tesa]

On 9/1/2024 at 6:52 AM, umbrarchist said:

This is an example from science fiction.

Compare Ursala K LeGuin 

and

Isaac Asimov

 

People have referred to Asimov's writing as "workman like". He writes what he has to, to tell the story. One man told me that Asimov couldn't write.

 

LeGuin's book The Dispossessed has a physicist as a main character but there is No Physics in it.

 

Asimov wrote The Gods Themselves where the physics was central to the story. As a result of a conversation with Robert Silverberg where he imagined an element that Asimov said could not exist, Asimov imagined a parallel universe where the element could exist. Asimov created a storyline with alien contact to transfer energy.

 

LeGuin had better human characters but Asimov's story was far more mind blowing.

By the way, I don't appreciate spelling, grammar mistakes, etc. It really irritates me. I even used writing services at university because of this, I found https://ca.edubirdie.com/research-paper-writing-services for myself. I constantly made mistakes and I needed someone to constantly check my work. It took time, so I had only one option.

What does the reader want out of the time spent reading?

 

542 vus

.

Another example of the contrast between science fiction styles can be seen in the works of Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick. Clarke, like Asimov, focused on scientific concepts and technological discoveries, making them the basis of his stories. Clarke's characters are more functional and serve as guides to the world of ideas he explores.

[umbrarchist]

6 hours ago, Tesa said:

Another example of the contrast between science fiction styles can be seen in the works of Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick. Clarke, like Asimov, focused on scientific concepts and technological discoveries, making them the basis of his stories. Clarke's characters are more functional and serve as guides to the world of ideas he explores.

I started reading Science Fiction in 4th grade. My mother sent me to a Catholic grammar school where the nuns NeVeR taught science. So science fiction introduced me to information and ideas never mentioned in school. Plus it kept me from murdering a nun just to have something interesting to do.  So I became accustomed to selecting my own literature and making my own judgements.

 

So when I got to high school for my first English literature course and the teacher starts talking about First Person and Third Person, I'm like "the who what?".  To me the Literary People were making a Big Deal out of trivia.  I Never got an A in English literature, straight B's. 

 

Now we live in a world with smartphones everywhere and kids don't read novels in high school. Never found anything they wanted to read. I refused to read Catcher in the Rye.

763