That headline (and title of my friend and mentor Larry Brooks’ new book) couldn’t be any truer.
There’s a false belief that runs rampant in the writing world and that is: if you’ve read a lot of stories/watched a lot of movies you can write a story.
EHHH! NOPE!
On the surface, a novel or movie may make it look like storytelling is easy, but deep down, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
A novel/movie is like an iceberg. On the surface of the water, you’re seeing the final product (the novel or movie), but what you’re not seeing is what’s below the surface of the water… all the ice and weight holding the whole thing up.
That’s like a novel/movie. On the surface, the story seems to flow so well and sometimes the story choices seem so obvious it makes you think… I can do that, it’s not so hard.
But when you actually do it, you’ll soon find you’ve fallen victim to the oldest belief in the writing book.
There’s way more CRAFT that goes into writing a story (the “below the surface” iceberg stuff) than you even know.
Just because you’ve watched a lot of movies or read a lot of novels does not mean you will be able to write a good story.
Stories have standards. Requirements. Principles that must be followed.
And if you’re not following them, you may be writing something, but it’s not a story.
Larry’s new book, Great Stories Don’t Write Themselves, gives you the specific criteria required to make your stories work.
Grab your copy of his book here 👉🏻https://amzn.to/37EGu4a
And if you want to hear more about why I think every single writer in the world should read Larry’s book and study what he teaches, listen to this audio I made talking all about it.
Thanks to this man and the information in this book, I get to be the storyteller I’ve always dreamed of being 🔥
Dream life or bust,
jen
