CommunalStory
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New Beginnings
1 min read
The Prisoner - Chapter 1 is finally completed. Now we will move on from sci-fi for a time and start a new story. For that story, you will be able to vote again on our website. You can decide the story's theme, the main character's gender and caste. Don't miss this chance to have a say on the story. Here's the link;
communalstory.wordpress.com/20…
communalstory.wordpress.com/20…
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Secrets of story-telling
4 min read
Hello there, I am Linean. You can call me Lin. I am the spokes-person for Communal Story and everything posted in our social media is always posted by me (unless it stated otherwise). I even post most of the stories on the blog. And today, I just wanted say a couple things about how I, personally, look at the story-telling aspect of our stories.
First of all, story-telling is not writing a story. Well, of course the story itself is part of the story-telling but it's not all. Let me explain how I see it. For me, story-telling is not telling 'what happened to you', it is explaining 'how did you feel'. That is the main difference. So if you completely focus on finding the right connections, following the best pattern and such, then what you are trying to say wouldn't be as impactful as you thought. Because you are just trying to find the best accident without defining 'the best'. Like I said, story itself is important and its importance comes from it being the medium to put all the feelings. It is like the color in a drawing, or the instrument in a musical piece. But before you go on with the story, you gotta ask; what feeling do I want to share?
When I start writing a new thing, my inspiration generally comes from a character. I see something, I hear something and suddenly I am someone, this core of a person. Then I ask to myself, how do I feel? Or how do I want to feel? Either of those worked very well for me in the past. Obviously, that is just my process. Yours could be completely different. However the bottom line remains, it is completely about the feelings. And it is not just writing. Any art form carries it within. Honestly, I think musicians are the ones to get this better than the others. I guess it's because it is more obvious for them. I mean, if something you hear doesn't stir up some feelings inside you, then it is just noise.
Alright, back to the topic. Everyone knows that art is about feelings, I feel bad even by stating that
So what is the connection to the story-telling. Story-telling is not choosing the right words or writing poetic. Story-telling is not writing the best story. It is not choosing the perfect song or painting the most life-like scene. Story-telling is delivering the feeling you want to deliver and doing it exactly when you want to do it. There is no right feeling or wrong feeling, it is just about what you want to share, what you want to feel or what you want your character to feel. There is no perfect time for that impact either. Again, it is about when you want to feel that or when you want to share that with the audience. If you want to share how you felt when you lost something or someone so precious to you as everything was perfect in your life, and maybe you realized it wasn't that perfect because you were delaying the things you love and that loss made you realize it, then you make your character, in the middle of the battle right when the horns of glory echo through the battlefield, watch his son killed by a retreating soldier's blind spear-throw. So the readers, who made a connection with the character through his feelings toward his son as they were shared in the previous pages, feel like they swallowed a rock. Maybe they can never feel like you did but it is close enough to make a connection. Isn't that why we write/draw/compose? To share, to communicate, to connect. That is why we feel so good when we meet someone who went through the same thing in life. We know we are not alone. And for me, that is why we do art. Either to not feel alone or to make someone else not feel alone.
Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple thoughts as I try to define story-telling for my own curiosity. I hope this entry can give someone something, anything. And if not, then thank you for allowing me to share my feelings
My love and respect,
Lin
First of all, story-telling is not writing a story. Well, of course the story itself is part of the story-telling but it's not all. Let me explain how I see it. For me, story-telling is not telling 'what happened to you', it is explaining 'how did you feel'. That is the main difference. So if you completely focus on finding the right connections, following the best pattern and such, then what you are trying to say wouldn't be as impactful as you thought. Because you are just trying to find the best accident without defining 'the best'. Like I said, story itself is important and its importance comes from it being the medium to put all the feelings. It is like the color in a drawing, or the instrument in a musical piece. But before you go on with the story, you gotta ask; what feeling do I want to share?
When I start writing a new thing, my inspiration generally comes from a character. I see something, I hear something and suddenly I am someone, this core of a person. Then I ask to myself, how do I feel? Or how do I want to feel? Either of those worked very well for me in the past. Obviously, that is just my process. Yours could be completely different. However the bottom line remains, it is completely about the feelings. And it is not just writing. Any art form carries it within. Honestly, I think musicians are the ones to get this better than the others. I guess it's because it is more obvious for them. I mean, if something you hear doesn't stir up some feelings inside you, then it is just noise.
Alright, back to the topic. Everyone knows that art is about feelings, I feel bad even by stating that
So what is the connection to the story-telling. Story-telling is not choosing the right words or writing poetic. Story-telling is not writing the best story. It is not choosing the perfect song or painting the most life-like scene. Story-telling is delivering the feeling you want to deliver and doing it exactly when you want to do it. There is no right feeling or wrong feeling, it is just about what you want to share, what you want to feel or what you want your character to feel. There is no perfect time for that impact either. Again, it is about when you want to feel that or when you want to share that with the audience. If you want to share how you felt when you lost something or someone so precious to you as everything was perfect in your life, and maybe you realized it wasn't that perfect because you were delaying the things you love and that loss made you realize it, then you make your character, in the middle of the battle right when the horns of glory echo through the battlefield, watch his son killed by a retreating soldier's blind spear-throw. So the readers, who made a connection with the character through his feelings toward his son as they were shared in the previous pages, feel like they swallowed a rock. Maybe they can never feel like you did but it is close enough to make a connection. Isn't that why we write/draw/compose? To share, to communicate, to connect. That is why we feel so good when we meet someone who went through the same thing in life. We know we are not alone. And for me, that is why we do art. Either to not feel alone or to make someone else not feel alone.Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple thoughts as I try to define story-telling for my own curiosity. I hope this entry can give someone something, anything. And if not, then thank you for allowing me to share my feelings
My love and respect,
Lin
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