THEY ARE PEOPLE STORIES

They are people stories that include action, not action stories that include people

 (Originally posted 12/2014)

    There had been a new review of one of my stories, part of an Amazon Writer’s Contest……and with it  came another round of “reviewer angst.” I was hoping that if a so-called expert’s blunt opinion of my story didn’t bring me down, it was bound to make me stronger. Isn’t that what they say? I

Actually, in the end I am not sure I was stronger for the experience, but with Suzie’s not-so-subtle prodding I was finally able to settle on an answer that worked for me.

    I must admit, however, it took a few days to process her judgement, and create my own response …..which I posted in the following blog, stating my reply to her professional judgement. 

      

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By now, having turned seventy-eight, after telling my stories for nearly ten years, you might think that I’ve learned quite a bit about storytelling. Perhaps so. But there is also so much I have yet to learn. I still have a long way to go. A few weeks ago I was reminded once again of that sad truth.

Actually, though it had me squirming a bit at the time, I was glad, in an uneasy sort of way, to have the lady’s input. They say she knows her stuff. After all, she makes her living rendering her ‘expert’ opinions….working for an agency that represents writers, trying to sell their stories to publishers. She (I’ll call her Suzie) understood what her publishing clients want. And what they want….whether the story is a whodunit, a dark and sinister vampire saga, or a steamy romance….is fast-moving action, the kind that grabs the reader on page one and never lets up.

Pretty hard to argue with that, eh? And I didn’t try, at least not until Suzie, who had been assigned to critique my Second Chances story for the Amazon.com contest, rendered her verdict…. explaining in so many words that the first chapter was a “painfully slow” start to the book. About then I could tell she was not the sort to mince words.

Should I have let her judgment upset me, even a little bit? Probably not. Did it? Yeah, it did, at least “a little bit”….maybe more. Actually, the first time I read her appraisal it felt as though our conversation was over before it had begun. It was later that day, when I reread Suzie’s blunt critique, that I began to sense why she and I were not seeing eye to eye about something I take very personally. 

I began by asking myself where I had gone so wrong. How had I missed the mark by so much? By then I realized that, regardless of Suzie’s opinion, I was telling the story I wanted to tell the way I want to tell it. Granted, a better writer could do that better. But this was my story. It said what I wanted to say, the way I wanted to say it. More than that, by then I was sensing the truth of it......why Suzie and I were not on the same page. 

You see, in the books that Suzie represents (I’ll call them “action” stories) the characters are there to keep things moving at the desired pace….acting and reacting in ways that move the storyline along. It seems to me that is their role in the scheme of things….to provide the action, piece together the clues, stand up to the bad guys, and take chances…. all in the name of advancing the plot. At every turn the players are there to serve the story.

Small wonder that Suzie struggled with my unorthodox tale. The folks I write about are October seekers….seniors looking to overcome the challenges of late-life. But just because they are rarely expected to save the world from nuclear disaster, don’t be misled. Their stories do include an abundance of age-appropriate action. They too will take chances, stand up to bad guys, and have their adventures.

But instead of serving some predetermined story line, my reason for telling the story is always about the characters I have imagined into being......my interpretation of how they deal with their October challenges. My purpose is to know those people better….to understand, and convey to the reader, what they are facing and how they cope. 

Their adventures….in the form of conflict, disappointment, and wrong turns….are meant to depict their personal trials….their uncomfortable choices and daunting decisions….rather than simply keep the story moving ahead. As one of those “Octobers folks,” it is their reactions and responses that interest me.

By the time I had worked my way through that line of reasoning I realized that I had answered my own question. It wasn’t Suzie’s answer, but it works for me. I was ready to admit that if the characters’ main role in a story is to keep the plot moving toward some intended outcome, then my October tales simply don’t pass muster. One of my friends, who usually reads mysteries….page turners she can’t put down….claims she found Second Chances intriguing because it felt so real-to-life.

So if the purpose of my stories is to follow a group of my peers, folks to whom I can relate, to learn more about how they deal with the trials and traumas of a particular time of life….what I call the October Years….then I’m satisfied with my result. In the process I try my best to cover both the “people” and the “action” parts of the story. That’s what the best writers want to do. But for me the emphasis will remain on the “people.”

A while back I offered a post titled He Writes What? I ended that piece by admitting that I was “staking my claim in the tiniest slice of the writer’s market.” After all, I am telling relational stories about October persons who are playing out what I call their “Geriatric Adolescence.” Often as not they have come to the game with two strikes against them, and a life-view that is scarcely imaginable to younger readers. Not exactly mainstream, eh?

Yet, though that is still my goal, I also sense something else at work. You see, Suzie was right about Second Chances. The story does begin slowly….though I might debate her “painfully” description. In any case, the story starts that way because instead of teasing the reader with tantalizing hints of a crime, a conflict, or a romantic conquest, I use those first pages to introduce the players and their situations….to set the scene for the very personal stories I will be following for two books and seven hundred pages. 

More precisely, I used the first chapters to prepare my imagined friends for a pivotal fiftieth high-school reunion. I was not ready to move on to their adventures until I (and the reader) knew more about them and what they were dealing with.

So here I am, an admitted amateur, still writing relational stories about old folks. They are indeed “people” oriented stories. I suppose that means the “tiniest sliver of the market” will keep getting smaller. If I wasn’t having so much fun doing what I do I might be tempted to try a different approach. 

But as long as those special October people keep taking me to places I would rarely visit on my own, I’ll keep doing what I do, and try to do it better.