A Word is Only the Beginning of the End

This is a topic I might have already touched upon, however I wanted to revisit it. If I have not mentioned it on Detangled Writers, or if I have and you just don't want to scroll a dozen pages back, I will start by asking you all a question: What does it take to make a story? Not a good story, not an amazing story, or even a bad story. Just a story, the rest can come after; and why am I asking you this? Because this is a topic that is both intriguing to me, while being irksome at once.

We have many expectations for a story, some of them very shallow. I'll name a few, a story must have plot, and it must be reasonable, that's one expectation - or often considered requirement. A story must have characters, and those characters need to serve a purpose. A story must have meaning, not necessarily a lesson, but meaning that relays to the reader. And that leads to the most shallow of expectations (in my opinion), a story must be written - or oral, but it must be made of words.

This expectation has often baffled me, as a person who can sit and stare at a piece of artwork, or listen to a classical work of art, and wonder and imagine and build from them. Yet many people are very adamant that such things as music or artwork are not stories. Do you believe this is true? In one of my writing courses we had a very heated debate on what a story was, and most people attested that no, a story had to be a full manuscript, but it could not be a picture or any form of artwork.

I believe this to be a very narrow view, and as a writer, as an artist, as someone who loves listening to music, I wanted to share this idea with you all. I was one of three people that contested this view of storytelling, and here is why. All of my stories, start with pictures, start with a feeling that I'm having inside, because that's my outlet, and so when I was told that art was not a form of storytelling I was quite offended, because this is what I believe a story is.

Anything that can get your imagination invested. As simple as that. I believe that if you look at a picture, and you ask 'why?' there is a story there, because as soon as you ask why, your mind starts building that story for itself. The artist who painted the picture, there was an investment in the presentation, there was a thought, and as an artist myself, there is a story, at least for me, even if it's missed by everyone else.

Now I know that's a very broad view, and can be equally as dangerous as the narrow view of story, so I'll condense it into a smaller frame of idea. Native Americans and Ancient Egyptians often used pictures to depict their legends where words and language were not enough. Would we deny that these are stories?

Finally the definition of story that really bothered me was that a story must have length:

"For sale, baby shoes. Never worn."
- Ernest Hemingway

This is the story that Hemingway considered his very finest in it's power to invoke a reaction. He believed this to be his greatest work of all time, and many people say that this is not a story at all. They say it's a piece of prose, but that it lacks the length and meaning of a story. It lacks the meaning? Do you believe this is true? "For sale, baby shoes. Never worn." This lacks meaning? ...Never worn; why? Why were these shoes never worn. Considering Hemingway's time, it leads to the assumption that the child died, if the child didn't die, there was something amiss with the shoes, but either way, there is a distinct feeling of loss - at least to me.

Because of the contention against this piece, a form of writing known as flash-fiction was created, and in fact my limited research on the topic genuinely suggests that this is the very reason flash-fiction was created at all. However flash-fiction doesn't necessarily make it a story. I admit I don't believe this is probably Hemingway's best work, but the fact that it resounded so strongly with him, and that he believed it to be his best, doesn't that investment in and of itself make it a story? Of course Hemingway knows much more than any of us behind the true meaning of the story, because perhaps the shoes were just too small for the baby, we don't know, it leaves us to wonder though.

So I want to ask all of you, what do you think qualifies as a story? Do you think it's an underlying meaning, or does it have to have words and length? Do pictures and songs count? Or is it what comes after that counts?

Beth's Prompt - Your Story's Song

Hello, thank you all for your kind welcomes to Detangled Writers, I am so happy to be here!  I was personally requested by Skoora to share this prompt with you all and I thought it would be a fitting first post.  This is a prompt I first tried in my Beginner's Fiction Writing class several years back.

The Challenge 

1. Pick a song. Preferably a song that is not well known, overdone, famous or popular. (i.e. avoid bands such as Linkin Park, Evanescence, Skid row, etc.
2. Make sure that the song has lyrics, this is crucial.  
• A lot of good writing comes from classical compositions, however this is a prompt meant to be challenging, so adding the influence of lyrics will challenge you as a writer.
3. Finally procure a prompt. The best way I've found to do this is have a friend suggest both the song and the prompt, or pick a song yourself and then go to a theme generator and randomly generate a prompt. This is a project meant to get you out of your comfort zone however it is also meant to be fun so just make sure to enjoy the prompt.  

Let me share a few examples, one is the prompt that Skoora herself gave me when I requested this prompt on my personal blog. This was a beautiful example, and this is a story that I am working on currently. This prompt is ambiguous in what it wants. 

Ex.) SONG: Donovan's, "There Is An Ocean." PROMPT: A man reflects on a battle (any battle you can conceive of) and as he walks through the quiet battlefield, he touches things (weapons, clothes, dead bodies prior to being carted away, etc.) and when he touches these things, he can see the past of these objects. Let the objects tell the story of why there was a battle. 

This next one is a less abstract prompt that tells you exactly what it wants.

Ex.) Emily Autumn's, "I Want My Innocence Back." - Write about the kidnapping of a child and the lengths a mother/father will go save that child.  

 The prompts may be as simple or complex as you want them to be. Challenge yourself. If you want to make it more difficult try to make the prompts and the song have a dichotomy - not the exact meaning, contradiction, etc.  Some ways to go about this is make your prose poetic.  To include lyrics from the song.  To use the lyrics to build dialog, or to use song lyrics to set up a scene and theme. Stephen King's, The Stand, is famous for using this technique in order to create abstract themes throughout the book.

Another famous Author, Joyce Carol Oates, dedicated a story to Bob Dylan, the short story is entitled, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? - For Bob Dylan, This story focuses on the late 1960's, early 1970's when stranger danger became a realized threat in the United States. This story is widely available on PDF if you are interested in reading a wonderful example of music in prose.  Oates used an interesting technique of having the antagonist quotes songs in his natural speech, something very different than King's use of throwing songs into a scene, such as on a radio or The Walking Man singing.

Both are very creative uses of music to foster writing, and so I challenge you to try this yourself, and of course have fun!

Links:

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? For Bob Dylan If there is any problem with me sharing this story here I will immediately remove it.  If not, please enjoy it. The Stand, can be found at any library or bookstore for those who have not read it yet and would like to. 

Music is the Life of a Writer This is the original blog post about this topic if you'd like further information on the premise of this prompt. 

Images and Songs and Writing (not entirely work safe)

The following are some pictures and some songs (just a few that I had handy) that may or may not awaken anything in your creative mind, but just like in improvisational acting, it's always better to say yes than no.  'No' limits us and 'yes' frees us artistically speaking.  So why not have a look and a listen and see if you can pick up what I'm currently putting down?

*

First image: I simply love pictures/renderings of little children juxtaposed with something dark and almost nightmarish.  It's the obvious implication of innocence and corruption but it's even more because the little child in question finds strength from whatever menacing/powerful creature they are near.  Kind of an interesting idea to ponder. 

Second image: Homo eroticism, which, let's face it, I am somewhat obsessed with.  It's not that I don't enjoy and find value in the traditional partnership of masculine and feminine, because I do (I love all eroticism and romance elements), but homo erotic things really push my tingly buttons and this image is interesting because of the artistic value found within.  A picture is worth a thousand words, isn't that right?  Also, I want their chain veils!  

This next image: Something fun to do - though it does waste some time in the grand scheme of things - is to go and google Doll Generators and Dress Up Games then play around with the designs until you create something yourself that appeals to your artistic authorship.  This is one of many little dolls that I designed on one such doll generator.  You can make something or someone that resembles a character you are working on and that might be a healthy way to stir up some creative juices.

Doll Dress Up Games

These are just a few pictures, I have scores and scores more, some of them saved on the computer, some of them hanging on my walls and all of these things, I hope, foster a visually stirring atmosphere in which to work and live and dream and all that good stuff.

*

What follows now are some songs that bring up intense images either via their lyrics or their instrumentation and composition.  Enjoy: 

Farewell by Apocalyptica 

Tears of an Angel by Ryan Dan

Ding Dong Song by Gunther 

What are some pictures and songs that inspire you?  Did any of the pictures or songs create images or ideas in your head?  Did you check out the doll generator?  Please share your thoughts or images.  Do you think that visual and audio media (not necessarily these images and songs, but just in general) help you or hinder you in the creative process?  

Amanda LaFantasie (Skoora) © 2012