Storyteller/creator vs writer
Since I've begun to attempt this thing called writing, proper writing not coming up with tales and bits to amuse little kids, I've had this doubt.
What are the differences, if any real ones, between a storyteller someone who creates and tells stories that only exist in their mind, and a writer who puts those stories in coherent and cohesive form down "on paper"?
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For one, a literal story teller can use all the body language, vocal tones and facial expressions they want to convey what their characters mean, which you must find another way to do in print. One way is to include some illustrations, which is very common in children's books, but that is not "writing". (It is authorship, but not writing.)
Secondly, a verbal story tends to be a very short story, without much plot. Most children's books are a few pages of text, at most. Some for the very young are barely a half a written page, a poem.
It takes about 200 pages to make a novel, and many published "short stories" are still dozens of pages.
Those are just more difficult to craft and to pace.
Thirdly, verbal stories tend to "teach a lesson" or describe an adventure for characters that do not really change at all. Winnie the Pooh is not really transformed by any of his stories, does not become an adult, or wiser, or broken. It is just "adventures". But by the end of "Huckleberry Finn", Huck IS a different person, and has overcome the racism he was taught to believe in by his childhood culture, through his exposure to Jim.
In the novel form, things change, and readers expect characters to move from state A to state B through conflicts.
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Several years ago we invited a storyteller/author to visit the school to talk about writing and tell some stories. To prepare for his visit, I read a large section of one of his novels to the class of teenagers in the preceding days. On the day, one of the stories he told was the 'same' one as the novel. However, they were distinctly different. He placed emphasis in different places, he used a different vocabulary, he used much more repetition when speaking, he used gestures and movements, etc.
As well, good storytellers react to the audience. Listen to the same person tell the same story to several different groups and, if they are any good, they will tell a slightly different story every time because the audience reacts differently.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31227. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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