Issac Coltman: Eventually Cutting Ties with a Bad Friend

Storytelling was harder than I first thought. It's a story where you talk about having a bad friend, one that your whole family likes, one that you want to care about, but you learn deep down that isn't going to happen (over the course of the story) how hard could it be? But then you have all these expectations, to be entertaining, to make sense, and most importantly, giving details in an order that makes sense.

And worst of all, no notes! Bullet points? Nope. Teleprompter? No. Stitching the words into your eyelids? What? Why... why would you do that? But this is good, it forced me out of my comfort zone. It wasn't about writing the great American novel, making every sentence clever, having the prose to elucidate every reader into a deep sleep. It's about boiling it down into the key elements. But was that fun? No, not personally. It's limiting, and I generally don't like writing about myself to begin with. 

I don't know if hearing other people's stories are about learning necessarily, but the few stories I had the pleasure to hear certainly were entertaining. If you have a good subject, you're already at a good point - and anything you add, powerful word choice, clever sequence of events, etc. is just the icing on top. It's something to consider when constructing a story, focus on a good premise before delving straight into writing. For example, my first attempt at this project had a premise that... was not good, as a result I had to redo the whole thing.

Did I learn anything about myself? Maybe. I can't point to anything specifically but I think I have a better outlook on the whole situation now that I've gone through it in my head and through writing, it's all a lot more clear, if that makes sense.

Clear, unlike this photo.