Kevin A. Kuhn
Achieving balance is the most difficult part of my writing process. I have many stories to tell, but writing them in a readable, entertaining, and meaningful fashion is the trick. I believe we all have stories in us, but it takes patience, persistence, and a great deal of energy to transform that story in our head into a novel.
I love books where the story turns into a movie in my head and that’s what I attempt to do with my writing. To make this happen, you must trick the readers brain into temporarily suspending belief and avoid anything that reminds them it’s only a story and that the characters are puppets. Anytime the narrator tells the reader what a character is feeling, you’re reminding the reader that it’s just a story. So character’s intentions, motives, and feelings should be shown through their actions and dialog. However, showing too much slows the story and action down. As a reader you don’t want the details of everyday life described minutely, you want the detailed action and dialog around the important parts of character development and plot. Finding that equilibrium that moves the story along, but make the character and plot come alive is more art than science and takes practice and experience.
As a reader, I want settings to be vivid and interesting. I want characters to be distinct with clear, consistent traits and motives. But I don’t want to wade through massive narration that over describes locations and explains vast amounts of character backstory. Finding the right level of description that anchors a reader, but also leaves room for their imagination to fill in the gaps is challenging.
Balance is also required to make a story meaningful. I tend to be a little too obvious with themes. This can come across as preachy or ‘on the nose’ as some people call it. I believe readers want a strong, important theme, but they want the story and characters to reveal those insights. They want the characters to reveal themes by overcoming challenges and showing personal growth. However, if the author is too delicate or subtle the themes can be missed or lost. In the end, I’m ok with being a little theme heavy because I want my stories to be meaningful and thought-provoking.
So great question, finding balance in storytelling is tricky and difficult, but it’s also what makes writing fun for me. As writers, we may not always achieve the right balance in our storytelling, but if we want our tales to connect with readers, we must keep seeking that elusive literary harmony!
I love books where the story turns into a movie in my head and that’s what I attempt to do with my writing. To make this happen, you must trick the readers brain into temporarily suspending belief and avoid anything that reminds them it’s only a story and that the characters are puppets. Anytime the narrator tells the reader what a character is feeling, you’re reminding the reader that it’s just a story. So character’s intentions, motives, and feelings should be shown through their actions and dialog. However, showing too much slows the story and action down. As a reader you don’t want the details of everyday life described minutely, you want the detailed action and dialog around the important parts of character development and plot. Finding that equilibrium that moves the story along, but make the character and plot come alive is more art than science and takes practice and experience.
As a reader, I want settings to be vivid and interesting. I want characters to be distinct with clear, consistent traits and motives. But I don’t want to wade through massive narration that over describes locations and explains vast amounts of character backstory. Finding the right level of description that anchors a reader, but also leaves room for their imagination to fill in the gaps is challenging.
Balance is also required to make a story meaningful. I tend to be a little too obvious with themes. This can come across as preachy or ‘on the nose’ as some people call it. I believe readers want a strong, important theme, but they want the story and characters to reveal those insights. They want the characters to reveal themes by overcoming challenges and showing personal growth. However, if the author is too delicate or subtle the themes can be missed or lost. In the end, I’m ok with being a little theme heavy because I want my stories to be meaningful and thought-provoking.
So great question, finding balance in storytelling is tricky and difficult, but it’s also what makes writing fun for me. As writers, we may not always achieve the right balance in our storytelling, but if we want our tales to connect with readers, we must keep seeking that elusive literary harmony!
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