{"id":631,"date":"2023-01-27T15:52:40","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T15:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pothamsetty.co\/?p=631"},"modified":"2023-01-27T15:52:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T15:52:45","slug":"25-improversational-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pothamsetty.co\/?p=631","title":{"rendered":"25. Improversational Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m a terrible storyteller at parties. They often go like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Sometimes I’ll start a sentence, and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.”<\/p>\nMichael Scott, The Office<\/em> (Season 5, Episode 11: “The Duel”)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I often include either too much context (get to the point!) or too little (sounds like you had to be there). I often get interrupted, or my listener loses attention, because my stories are too long, boring, or seemingly irrelevant. I also have, in recent months, been stopped by my own laughter when telling a story. You may think that’s bad news for a writer, but I do have an exception to this trend that gives me a little hope: my best-received stories are those that I’ve told more than once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more I re-tell a story (and I only do so when it elicits laughter\u2014if a story isn’t funny, it’s usually not worth telling), the better I get at telling it: I know where to pause, what to emphasize, what details to exclude, and, most importantly, what impressions to do. It’s like a natural selection of storytelling: only the best of the best of the best make it into the rotation I pull from when talking to strangers. My friends, on the other hand, are often at the receiving end of my Michael Scott drivel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

writing is rewriting is re-wording is really exhausting<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

It is good news that my edited anecdotes do considerably better than my first-time stories. Acclaimed authors Roald Dahl, Truman Capote, and Ernest Hemingway were all thought to have said some version of “Much of writing is rewriting.” I know this firsthand while working on my short story: I feel like I’m drawing a circle freehand and, after I’m done, going back over it again to make it more proportional. I know at some point, I’ll have to stop editing and be okay with an odd-looking oval of sorts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing the short story has been difficult. I didn’t think I’d have to circle back and fix so many things. Every time I wanted to add or change one little thing, I had to make sure it fits with the rest of the story. There’s no way to Ctrl+F and replace your way out of it, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was younger, editing was the most annoying part of writing. Creating was the fun part. I loved scribbling down the nonsensical details of my imagination and not caring if it made sense to anyone else. I would seldom even re-read what I wrote, eager to move on to the next story, the next adventure. I guess that was better than not having any imagination at all<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an adult, I try to not silence my inner child as she screams ridiculous ideas in my head: “WHAT IF the character could talk to CATS? Wouldn’t it be COOL if her parents were ANCIENT GODS? The story would be better if she was a WITCH GHOST MURDERED IN SALEM!” Even though we’re perhaps less imaginative as adults, it comes with a tradeoff: you get a capacity for higher-level thought, and more persistence when it comes to carrying out your ideas. You learn to enjoy editing (but still not nearly as much as you enjoy creating and inventing). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were many ridiculous plot lines for this short story I entertained as a creative exercise. None of them made it in the story; but in exploring these avenues, I broadened the potential of the current narrative. Allowing myself to fully indulge my imagination made me more confident in the path I eventually decided to take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess this is kind of like life: we have to make our own mistakes to know what’s right or wrong for us. And it’s different for everyone: You’ve decided to take your life in a different way than I have, so you might have some thoughts on how I decided to take the story. I guess you’ll wait until I finish this thing to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mater, if he was Icelandic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This Week’s Top 3<\/h4>\n\n\n\n