Hmm. The distinction between writers and storytellers is a personal one, based on my experience as a reader, a writer, an an oral storyteller.
A writer is, obviously, a person who writes. A person who strings words together on paper (or on a computer screen). There are some people, it seems to me, who are mostly interested in words and the patterns they make. In the sound of words, in the elegance of language. They're stylists, for lack of a better term. For them, the story is not as important as the way they tell it.
A storyteller is a person who tells stories. I happen to tell mine in writing, which means that I am also a writer, and therefore interested in words and so on. But the story is the primary thing. Oh, the way I tell it is also important, and can give the story wings or weight it down with chains, but the story is what I care about most.
(I do oral storytelling too, and when I read stories out loud I tend to fiddle with the words and phrasing, because what works on the page doesn't always work in performance and I am always trying to make the story come alive.)
Yes, 9 chapters of "Secrets," at a little less than 90,000 words total. I have 5 more chapters and an epilogue to write, which should bring the story to about 145,000 words by the time I'm done. Scary!
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Date: 2005-09-16 10:07 pm (UTC)A writer is, obviously, a person who writes. A person who strings words together on paper (or on a computer screen). There are some people, it seems to me, who are mostly interested in words and the patterns they make. In the sound of words, in the elegance of language. They're stylists, for lack of a better term. For them, the story is not as important as the way they tell it.
A storyteller is a person who tells stories. I happen to tell mine in writing, which means that I am also a writer, and therefore interested in words and so on. But the story is the primary thing. Oh, the way I tell it is also important, and can give the story wings or weight it down with chains, but the story is what I care about most.
(I do oral storytelling too, and when I read stories out loud I tend to fiddle with the words and phrasing, because what works on the page doesn't always work in performance and I am always trying to make the story come alive.)
Yes, 9 chapters of "Secrets," at a little less than 90,000 words total. I have 5 more chapters and an epilogue to write, which should bring the story to about 145,000 words by the time I'm done. Scary!