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Writing vs Storytelling Skills: Improving Storytelling

Though “writing skill” is often used to refer to all aspects of story crafting, it can be divided into ‘storytelling concepts’ and the ‘actual writing’. Addressed in the previous post: Writing vs Storytelling Skills (link embedded), now I’m here to tell you how to work on that specific storytelling skill.

1. Read a variety of books. Various authors, various genres, the more you expand your examples the better. Variation of reading means you’ll be exposed to more ideas, more ways of thought, more storytelling patterns, more everything that you can critique and help make decisions on how your own stories will unfold. Even take up books you may not like. Give them a chance, and if you still don’t like them then at least be able to explain why.

2. Learn genre expectations (and that tropes aren’t bad). Genres exist to classify stories into familiar concepts. Sometimes, novice writers try to throw out genre ideas because they’re all “cliche” or they want “something different”, yet they fail to grasp why those patterns exist in the first place. Familiar storytelling concepts (tropes) can be cliches, yes, but more often they fulfill one or more of these requirements:

A way to fast-track info to the reader without having to explain every ounce of meaning (Color-coded symbolism, character archetypes, etc.)

To create a familiar base, allowing for further growth of the concept with less time than it would have taken to set up something new. 

Promises to fulfill a certain type of story (You can’t say you want to write a romance, but with no romance)

Those things only become cliche when executed poorly or if they cause predictability when the story is trying to rely on unpredictability. A story full of tropes is not automatically a bad story. Writing in a way that subverts expectations well requires having a strong understanding of the genre you’re trying to twist. A genre is a promise of a specific type of narrative– you can’t just throw it out the window and expect readers to be satisfied. It’s fine to write cross-genre or mess with tropes, but be wary of it coming from a place of “it’s all the same so I’m going to do it completely different!”.

By learning genre expectations, you can gain that knowledge that lets you subvert better, or the knowledge to play into it better. You can figure out where the true heart of the stories are and why readers care. You can figure out how to write in a genre that works with your personal goals and desires for the story. 

3. Learn best practices for different storytelling mediums. “I saw this awesome scene on TV and I want to write it in my story, so I imagined how it’s going to play out and it’ll be perfect!” No, it won’t, because what works in visual media isn’t the same for books and what works in your head isn’t a clear idea of how it would work on paper. (link embedded)

TV, and other forms of visual media, are presented very differently than the written word. They can rely on music, camera angles, subtle background events– and endless list of things that writing cannot replicate and isn’t made to. Becoming a better storyteller means learning the strengths and weaknesses of different media so you can tailor stories to best fit how they’ll be told. The imagination is similar to visual media, but better and worse. Better, because you can learn over time how to tailor your imagination for the written word. Worse, because it can create unrealistic expectations and is harder to look past.

It’s natural to want to mimic what you see in other forms of storytelling, but one of the most important things a writer can learn is to get over the fact that they can’t translate ideas in every situation. It’s fine to be inspired by other forms of storytelling and what your imagination creates, but don’t become a slave to the unrealistic expectations. Learn to work with the paper, not against it.

4. Stress test plot ideas to catch issues before they become a problem. While this isn’t going to always work and there will still be times that you have to adjust in the middle of things, stress testing your ideas can help teach you where you keep going wrong so you can work on fixing it. There are two main things to keep in mind when doing this:

The plot structure (link embedded): Overarching plot concepts should fit into a specific structure. The structure can have small variations, but there should be an average line of best fit that naturally overlays against the story. The higher your skill, the more you can mess with the lines and have it not blow up in your face.

Plot is essentially cause-and-effect (link embedded): The events of a plot should be a relatively smooth slide from start to finish. Not “smooth” as in “no conflict or tension”, “smooth” as in “logically glides from one point to another”. Make sure you can connect the dots.

If you catch and fix enough of your own mistakes then you can start teaching yourself not to make them. 

5. Critique the storytelling of others. What did you like? What didn’t you like? What choices did the writer make and what were the consequences of those choices? I’m going to repeat that last one again because it’s one of the most important things a writer can learn: Every story is made from a set of choices and those choices have consequences. Not all bad, not all good; it’s a neutral term that just refers to outcomes. One of the biggest separators of storytelling skill is how well a writer can work with the natural consequences of their choices. 

When you critique others, you look at those consequences and weigh them against what you consider to be a “good story”. While a writer can only critique at a close level to their skill, the more they critique, the higher skill climbs, and the better they get. To become a better storyteller, you should get used to tearing other’s, and your own, work apart. It can help to keep a journal or some kind of record of critiques, since writing thoughts down helps bridge the gap between the mind’s assumptions and reality (just like the bridge between an imagined scene and actually writing it down).

6. Brush up on literary concepts. They’re not just for English class! While some are more technical in nature, there are plenty of storytelling-inclined literary techniques that gaining a better understanding of can improve your own work. Also, literary concepts are just tropes that happen to apply to “work of literary merit”. They’re not fancy or pretentious to include– just study and practice them well so they work with your story rather than against it. (Study tropes too!)

All that said, there’s no such thing as a “perfect storyteller”. Brushing up on storytelling skills isn’t about being perfect, it’s about getting better relative to where you were before (and potentially helping close the gap between writing and storytelling skills). 

Keep writing, keep practicing– keep storytelling.

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@daeva-agas I found this from a certain blog.

I think it is pretty much true.

Now East is WINNING...Hahah

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Bubble speeches of red clan from current BE!

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Any idea or hc about what if...Ikemen Hideyoshi and SLBP Hideyoshi are at war against each other. No need to state who would likely win...just how would they deal with each other haha. I have a very soft spot for both guys.

Hey @aedysa​! Thanks for another fun ask :) Gosh, IkeSen and SLBP are such different beasts, it’s so hard to say how they would deal! But here are some of my guesses:

You know that saying about how the only options when faced with a clone of yourself is to fight or f*ck? Guess which one SLBP Hideyoshi, famed for having 1000 previous lovers, would try to go for. ;D IkeSen H is a little suspicious by nature, but there’s a good chance this whole war could be averted from the get-go. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Let’s assume SLBP Hideyoshi gets rejected, and war does break out. SLBP Hideyoshi definitely needs to watch himself, because every named character in IkeSen has rock solid plot armor, and well…SLBP is definitely a bit more of a gamble, now isn’t it? ^_^

In terms of allies, IkeSen Hideyoshi’s at a huge advantage. There’s no way his true love battle-happy boss Nobunaga wouldn’t rally the entire Oda army to help the guy out. SLBP Nobunaga doesn’t seem to have the best track record with coming through for his subordinates though, and the Date’s also aren’t on Team Nobunaga in the SLBP world, so let’s hope for SLBP H’s sake that this war takes place after Inuchiyo reunites with the Maeda clan and can bring additional reinforcements…!

The worst thing SLBP Hideyoshi could possibly do in this war is to go after IkeSen Nobunaga. That’s how you activate IkeSen H’s protective/suicidal berserker mode, after all. Which might turn out great for SLBP H, but it’s also dangerous af.

One thing SLBP Hideyoshi has that IkeSen Hideyoshi doesn’t have is ninjas. Granted, his designated ninja, Kyoichiro, isn’t exactly in top fighting form. But I’m sure he can muster up the resources to pay someone from Iga to try and off Ikesen Hideyoshi in the dead of night! Would that be an overly dirty trick? Maybe, but we all know SLBP Hideyoshi is way sneakier than IkeSen Hideyoshi, who has a super strong sense of fair play! It could happen.

Are our Hideyoshi’s respective MC’s there? Chef MC probably isn’t anywhere near the battlefield, but everyone’s favorite chatelaine is gonna be hanging out as Nobunaga’s lucky charm. And where she goes, time wormholes and thunder storms follow! So whichever way this war goes, expect dramatic weather conditions.

At the end of the day, I don’t think our two lovely boys would fight for all too long. They’re both really sensible people, after all. The war would likely end with the both of them bonding over their shared love/respect of Nobunaga, and lots of amusement over how very different their respective Mitsuhide’s and Mitsunari’s are. SLBP Hideyoshi would quickly realize how much of a lightweight IkeSen Hideyoshi is with alcohol, and…well. Keiji’s gonna be one happy guy with both Hideyoshi’s around and ready to be kissed 😂

Hope that answers your question!! 💕

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