I enjoyed THIS POST from a blogger who was recounting a teacher who was teaching a class of young writers concerning the difference between being a storyteller and being a writer. The blogger states how everyone in the class had been working on a story and they were revising like crazy to make sure the very best words were chosen so to assure themselves the title of competent writer. However, as he states, all the stories sounded canned and unnatural. And then the teacher read a story written by a ‘storyteller’ and the entire class was entranced by the natural flow and simple, gripping details of the story. The professor concluded: which do you want to be, a writer or a storyteller.

This is a good, if not somewhat simplistic, overview of the struggle of a young writer. I remember trying to do the exact same thing. I would write and try to come up with the biggest, important sounding words I could think of – though I must admit they weren’t very big. But the writing never flowed, it tended to sit there on the page, trying to sound pompous and important.

Now when I write, I forget about trying to write well or trying to sound smart; I just concentrate on trying to tell a good story and let the writing technique follow the story. Some people appreciate the complex sentences and the sophisticated vocabulary (and certainly they have their place), but I would contend that most readers simply enjoy a good story.

Can a writer also be a storyteller? Of course.

But all of this reminds me of a professor of mine when I was getting my M.A. TESOL degree some fifteen years back. After reading some articles written by some highfalutin academics, I asked my professor why these researchers had to write in such an obscure and unnatural way. He answered that they have forgotten the principle of K.I.S.S. – Keep it Simple, Stupid!

I never wanted to be accused of not keeping it simple (because I’m a simple guy), so that’s how, to this day, I approach my writing.  I want a clean and solid plot, real dialogue, interesting description, and above all else, an enjoyable experience for my reader.

So, I guess I want to be a storyteller, but I still want to minor in writing.