The First Story

While we have no concrete evidence, it’s safe to assume that the first story told was a warning from one homo sapien to another.

“Hey, in a time before now, I went in that direction with a hunting party and something with teeth and claws ate half of them. Be careful.”

But we are a race of curious adventurers. We’d have to be considering we saw things like lobsters, potatoes and prickly pears and said, “Let’s eat it.” So, of course whoever heard that story went in that very direction and confronted the clawed, toothed animal wanting to know what it was and if he, or she, could have a better outcome. We don’t know the end of that story, but we’re here so more than one somebody survived and continued the race.

Then what about fairy tales? More than a few are warning stories—be careful in the woods, stranger danger—but just as many, if not more, are about behavior. Would Cinderella have gotten a fairy godmother assist if she’d been pill? Could Jack have gotten away with the golden goose and magic harp if he hadn’t done a good turn for a stranger and had a hungry mother at home?

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Fairy tales warn and assure us that virtuous behavior will, eventually, be rewarded. It also gives hope to people in dire circumstances that anyone can change their fortunes (and maybe become royalty). It’s an idea that gives me comfort when the world isn’t friendly.

First Five Pages Syndrome

Hello FF Readers!I'm currently neck deep in rewrites, so pardon the short post.We’ve come to that time of year (which has become more and more nebulous) when TV shows make a last bid for our attention. Quite a few of those shows are in their freshman run and are competing with a huge field to get noticed. By consequence too many of these shows suffer from what I call First Five Pages Syndrome.Writers know that this is the mythical time it takes a reader to pick up a book and decide whether or not they intend to finish it. So, writers try with near maniacal precision to craft the perfect opening—five pages worth—to entice a reader to keep reading. As a writer I find this beyond stressful. As a reader, I feel like the first five pages are condescending. I give a book considerably more than five pages before I abandon it.TV shows do the same thing. They try to accomplish in one episode what used to take a whole season. It makes it feel hurried and overstuffed, like a badly made sausage. It’s something I keep in mind while I wade through another round of edits. Good stories are good stories and writers have to trust they’ll find the right readers.