Storytelling made easy...

So you want to be an author, eh? The next King, the next Rowling, the next person to tell that too-compelling too-mysterious story?

Let's take a test.

Forget grammar, forget metaphor. Forget characters. Forget everything else. This isn't a test of how well you know the tools of the trade; there's plenty of time for that later. Right now you need to remember the last time you told somebody a story.

Any story. A joke. A touching anecdote. How your day went at work.

Don't punish yourself according to whether they were moved, whether they got it, or even what kind of story it was. Right now we're trying to figure out something else entirely, something very important.

Did you enjoy telling the story?

I assume you did. What did you enjoy? Was it being the center of attention? Was it the way you led them through it? Was it the payoff? What is so compelling about telling somebody else your story that makes you want to do it?

For me, it's all about the immersion. When somebody else gets so close to your story that they care about the characters... for me, that's magical.

What about you?