Your story, your art, your life

A quote from Dianna Wynne Jones, author of many, many well-loved books, such as the Howl’s Moving Castle trilogy:

…somewhere, somewhen, someone is going to read your book at a time when such things stick for life. And you have to make it the kind of book that is worth remembering that vividly for that long. You have to make it an experience in its own right.

Reflections On the Magic of Writing by Dianna Wynne Jones

Do it. You know you want to, because you know somewhere, somewhen in your life, someone wrote a story – or told you a story – that stuck with you. That changed you, changed what you wanted to do, changed who and how you wanted to be in your life.

Do it.

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Advice to storytellers from me

Tell the story that needs to be told, in the way it needs to be told, to the length it needs to be told.

Don’t poison a story by insisting it must be an apple when it’s really an orange.

Don’t stunt a story by forcing it beyond its natural growth nor by forcing it to grow in a box too small.

“Genres” and “standard story lenghs” are publisher’s artefacts, not part of storytelling.

Breakthroughs don’t come through abiding by conventions and working in boxes.

AND

  And the rail looms

a Frankenstein lurking

over everything yanking

feet from under us wanking

   its way along dumping

     wasted lumps into an

        apocalyptic

            revelation

                    sea.

The beast arises.

And the rail ends.

© 2017 David W. Jones

P.S. And happy birthday to Dancing Treefrog blog!