Writing Right with Dmitri: It's the Way You Tell It
Created | Updated Mar 29, 2020
Writing Right with Dmitri: It's the Way You Tell It
I have said this before, and I will say it again: writers often think the secret to success in storytelling is to 'have a great story'. It isn't. The secret to storytelling success is to tell a story well.
Mr John Philip Johnson shut his front door behind him and went down his front steps into the bright morning with a feeling that all was well with the world on this best of all days, and wasn't the sun warm and good, and didn't his shoes feel comfortable after the resoling, and he knew that he had undoubtedly chosen the very precise tie that belonged with the day and the sun and his comfortable feet, and, after all, wasn't the world just a wonderful place?
Shirley Jackson, 'One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts', Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1955
That is the way Shirley Jackson, who is a master storyteller, begins a slow burn of a whimsical tale. Go and read it, I dare you. Of course, it doesn't stay ordinary, this tale. It goes somewhere. It may surprise you a bit. But she's grabbed your attention with that first sentence, hasn't she? And she's describing the most banal event in the world. Builds up suspense that way, too – what's going to happen, you wonder? It's the way she tells it.
I think everyone has that dream of being a great writer or musical artist or filmmaker or whatnot…I'm getting feedback from people next door and people who live in countries I can barely pronounce.
Chris Gebhardt, quoted in Teresa Gubbins, 'Dallas YouTube Channel Finds Voyeuristic Thrills in Deep Ellum Parking Lot', CultureMap Dallas
There's a man named Chris Gebhardt in Dallas, Texas. He's an IT manager. His company provides internet services and is staffed around the clock. This could get boring, if it weren't for the parking lot. Gebhardt, who goes by the Youtube handle GTOger, has hours and hours of security camera footage from the parking lot to play with. Since the company consists entirely of computer geeks, there are about 60 of these cameras for what is really a very small parking lot. And that's where it gets interesting.
The IT company and its parking lot are located in a part of Dallas called Deep Ellum. It's an entertainment area, with restaurants and bars and music venues. A lot of people come into the area in the evenings and on weekends, and they're looking for a place to park their vehicles. They often park in the IT company's miniscule parking lot, in spite of at least a dozen signs warning them not to do this. (Did I mention that this place is run by geeks? They believe in overkill.) Illegally parked vehicles are towed to the nearby impound lot. The impound lot charges them $150 to get their car or truck back.
Worse, they end up on Youtube.
Scofflaw-shaming isn't normally that entertaining, but GTOger is a good storyteller. He edits the security camera footage with music, sound effects, and pop-ups to create an audiovisual treat for his fans every Friday. Regular features are ominous drumbeats announcing the arrival of the tow truck, deadpan pop-ups with statistics on the make and model of cars, a 'tinkle timer' for the alarmingly frequent urination episodes, and snark surrounding the passing of rental scooters. There's a 'pedal bar' that goes by, where the drinkers have to keep pedaling to prove they are sober enough to continue. There's even the occasional parking lot scammer who tries to convince people they can park there, if they pay him.
Here's a sample entitled 'Tears Won't Bring Your Big Truck Back'. Note how GTOger has turned an everyday set of occurrences (and annoyances) into an entertaining story. See how he creates a tone? What he explains, and what he leaves to the imagination? How he generates humour from the situation? It's the way he tells it.
What is the best way to turn an ordinary story into one that is, if not edge-of-your-seat riveting, at least interesting? Think of the audience. Don't assume that your story is inherently fascinating just because it's your favourite subject. Others may not share your enthusiasm. Even if they do, telling the story in a way interesting to an outsider will heighten everyone's pleasure in a tale well-told.
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