One of the greatest mysteries in writing is if your story should be great or your writing should be great. So how to learn the art of story telling?
Story and writing, both can be great. But when you are a beginner, can both be great? Certainly not. As a writer, what should you focus on? How to craft a good story?
It’s definitely a hard question. Without great writing, the story will be good. But without a great story, even great writing will be flat.
Story rules.
The story is the most important aspect if you are a writer. Never compromise on a story. Story-telling is a skill. Writing as a craft is a skill. Both can be learned and improved with time. Despite how much sugar coating language we add, a great story is the soul of writing. Without a great story, great writing will not save you.
Great writing with a bad story will only hide your storytelling craft, but people will not enjoy it. To get people to read your work, you must write great stories. That’s the bottom line.
I might be partial to the great story, but there is a controversial opinion that some might prefer great writing with an ok story. A great writing can elevate the art of storytelling, but if the story is ok, it will still sell. But ok writing with the great story might only provide feedback to the writer to improve the craft of writing.
I asked a question on twitter about this:
What will you prefer about yourself?
– Writing a great story, but ok writing.
– Writing an ok story, but great writing.— Yogesh Mali (@tenniscoaching2) January 20, 2020
The response was interesting. Two writers argued that the stories that have last over time, had great writing, but ordinary stories. That’s a valid argument.
But as a writer, can we do both great writing and a great story? I think it is certainly possible. Why not aim at improving both skills? Writing is not one-time thing, it’s a cycle and as a process, you continue to improve.
Master the art of story telling and improve the writing slowly, you will be a good writer eventually.