According to Walter Benjamin, storytelling reveals lived experience. He says, "Every story contains openly or covetly, something useful . . . a moral, practical advice, a proverb or maxim. In every case the storyteller has counsel for readers."
An act of storytelling arrives from the combination of what we know or perceive and what we add to it.
It might begin with an observation then involve a query, wonderment or a concern. A transformation results from the addition of ingredients. Characters change or they remain the same.
Set a scene. Two individuals meet for dinner. One has a problem. Add a secret shared or previously unknown disclosure. Create conflict between them.
Pursue the story from a variety of angles.
Add more action. Something else happens.
A third party rushes in.
Create additional commotion.
Pause. Let the reader breathe and wonder.
Start in again.
Pause. Let the reader breathe and wonder.
Start in again.
Unnerve your characters.
Let it play out.
Alter the conclusion for variety. Begin at the ending and write forward. Let the words fly.
Does a moral or practical advice result?
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