We spend too much time buried in our computer screens.
A month ago, I left my computer and took a surreal trip to the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship to hear novelist Francine Prose and a motley crew of writers celebrate the PEN World Voices Festival that's lighting up New York this week. Music--as not noted in the video--was provided by Peacock's Penny Arcade.
The festival also reminded me that too much computer time can cripple your storytelling abilities. Last night I went to a Moth storytelling event (which was sponsored by PEN) and heard some of the best storytellers in the country read their material.
At the reading, storyteller Andy Borowitz imagined Hallmark cards penned by famous poets, pitching Dylan Thomas' most famous lines in cheesy form: "Rage, rage against the dying of the light!" he read with over-dramatic poetry-reading flair, hitting the punchline with droll ad-speak: "...and Happy Mother's Day."
Read a couple pages of your work out-loud. If you can't spot the storytelling climaxes--funny, dramatic or shocking moments that make readers cheer like they cheered Borowitz last night--then you might need to re-write. Here are some links to other Moth storytellers to help you learn storytelling pacing.
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