• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

Welcome… I’m New Here! Advice on writing someone telling a story

Select this prefix to introduce yourself here!
Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.

AmySp

Colony Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2020
Location
Uk
LitBits
0
Hi! I haven't posted in a while but I thought I'd your advice on my WIP. It starts with a journalist going to an artist's house to interview them. During the interview, the artist tells the journalist a story which is the main narrative. The journalist interjects here and there and they have little conversations about the story every now and then but the bulk of it is the story. I'm worried that it will come across a bit too tell rather than show if that makes sense. I've tried to establish the artist's voice but I'm also concerned about dialogue. Will the reader believe that the character remembers dialogue spoken by other characters years ago? Also, when retelling a story of something that happened to you, you tend not to say things like he said and she said. Do you have any advice on how best to approach this and/or examples of books that have done it well? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. :)
 
Most of the ones I can think of that do it well have a bookend at open and close and most of the story is told in the middle as a proper story. Princess Bride is probably one of the best known. Personally, I prefer this style rather than the told (where one person is relaying what happened) even though I know the main story is either backstory or a memory - if it has the same elements of a story (structured with scenes, goal, etc.).
 
Michelle Paver's "Wackenhyrst" (Gothic) is similar: journalist meets the MC for the interview and bookends the novel, but the story is told in between as a proper story.

Patrick Rothfuss "Name of the Wind" (Fantasy) meets the narrator in the bar then recounts his life, but the life is presented to the reader as the story.
 
I'm listening to The Green Mile by Stephen King, narrated wonderfully by Frank Muller, and the story jumps between what happened on the green mile to the same character writing a book in a nursing home. The dialogue is exceptionally natural for a recounting. It's all in the execution, and King makes it look effortless.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen did something similar and it was awesome too.
 
Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.

Further Articles from the Author Platform

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • If the Protagonist Had Slept in
    The PROTAGONIST’S room. Chapter One’s bloodstained clothes still cover the floor. The DIRECTOR s ...
  • A Fresh Start
    There comes a point in life* when you must admit that you were wrong. A story is trundling along at ...
  • The Book They Actually Wanted
    Writers need feedback, and I have found the perfect focus group*. It offers raw, physical reactions, ...
  • People Like Those: Aigneis
    Aigneis is a diminutive lady in her 80s, still sharp of mind, though frail of limb. She moved to Bir ...
  • Where it all started
    When Alphonse de Lamartine said “music is the literature of the heart,” I’m pretty sure he was ...
  • If Genre Were A Custody Battle
    A conference room. Two GENRES sit fuming on opposite sides of a table. The DIRECTOR sits at the head ...
  • A few of my favourite things
    I like skidding along a slippery floor in just my socks. And sending my shopping cart spinning on it ...
What Goes Around
Comes Around!
Back
Top