It takes a skilled writer to put together a piece such as this. Yet instruction manuals are neither compelling literature nor in high demand.
Authors are entertainers, little different than a Hollywood director.
“But wait!” you say, “I write ‘High Lit.’ What I write is important! It has a message!”
OK, fine, that’s probably true. The fact remains that your target audience will not continue reading if you’re not entertaining.
You know who else has a very important message they try to convey with their work? Technical writers do. I know, I’ve worked as one in the past, but when I’m trying to succinctly and accurately convey my message in a ‘How-to’ article or instruction manual I’m not trying to be entertaining. I’m trying to quickly and effectively convey information as accurately as possible. That’s writing, but it’s not storytelling.
I’ve mentioned it before: Your story should have a message. The best stories of all time contain very powerful messages. Still, without some entertaining value your powerful message might just as well be written with all the dryness of the “Terms and Conditions” that come packaged with every bit of software on your computer and smart-phone, which nobody reads and instead simply clicks “I agree” to get on with the installation process.
Is that how you see your work? Perish the thought.
Let’s look at the other side of the coin. Pulp fiction is usually highly entertaining reading that takes little effort from the reader. These books are often action-packed page turners, or lurid romance novels. They are rarely meaningful but highly popular works that far outsell other literary works, such as your graduate level thesis. I myself am quite a fan of hard sci-fi and fantasy pulp novels. I spend much more time reading them than I do perusing scientific papers, both of which are probably available in the same library building at your local university.
What then sets these two types of writing apart? One word: Entertainment.
You probably know the usual tips and tricks used by most authors to keep readers engaged. Show, don’t tell the reader. Avoid flashbacks and digressions where possible. Avoid overly descriptive scenes. Use short sentences.
Naturally there’s a bit more to it. Consider how you have your message dressed up. Nobody likes a reveal at the end of the story where the reader feels like they’re being preached at. Cunning authors couch their message among plot devices that deliver the meaning often without the reader even realizing it. The most skilled of these cause the reader to arrive at the desired conclusion all on their own without realizing that that was what the author was getting at all along.
Consider the literary icon that is Ira Levin. In his works he addressed controversial topics such as abortion at times where to even speak of such a thing was taboo. Levin tackled women’s rights long before most people were ready to hear it. In each case however he delivered his message in such a clever fashion that it let the reader arrive where he meant them to without their realizing it. Moreover he did it in such an entertaining way that his message spread far and wide, delivering its meaning to many millions more people than if he’d simply penned a scathing manifesto.
The moral of the story?
Anyone can, with enough study, correctly string words together into sentences and sentences into paragraphs until they have a story. But is it entertaining? The most successful authors are wordsmiths with a knack for entertaining.
Are you an author and storyteller, or just a writer?
Conversely, a lot of people really know how to tell a story but they fail to master the writing part. That’s why the raconteur at parties who hears, “You should write a book,” often fails to do so. The two skill sets need to merge to make a successful piece of fiction.