In the beginning...

For me, good stories come in all shapes and sizes. Good storytelling isn't unique to a given medium (movies, television, books, theatre, or even just sitting around talking) and it isn't unique to any particular genres (drama, comedy, action, sci-fi, etc.).

Of course, "good" is subjective, right? What's "good" to one person may not be good to another. Sometimes you want a good mind-numbing action film for the adrenaline rush, other times maybe you look to comedies just to feel good and laugh, and other times you want drama and gravitas that inspires and challenges you intellectually. I wouldn't say one story is necessarily better than the other because it affects you one way or another. What I think defines good storytelling is that it affects you at all - it transports you to the world of the story, it keeps you interested and engaged until the end, and it leaves you with some sort of reaction, a thought or feeling, when all is said and done.

(Okay, okay. So sometimes you're left feeling like, "God, that was awful. What a terrible story." But odds are you detached yourself from the story much earlier than the end. If you didn't, if you stayed engaged the whole time and you're just left feeling disturbed, I might argue it's a good story indeed.)

So what makes for a good story? As I've pursued my own storytelling (see the About section), mostly through creative writing but also through acting, comedy, and some professional work in communications, I've come to learn that there are certain elements that make stories good. And the more of those elements, the better the story.

In addition to the construction of the story, there are also the elements of communicating the story. These can include directing and acting, sometimes cinematography, choreography, and music. In the case of written stories, it may include the writing style, the narrative form, and the narrator's voice. These elements affect the audience's response to the story as much as the story itself.

In this blog I will explore story and storytelling through different approaches. Sometimes it will come in the form of a movie review, sometimes observations about something I saw on television, and other times just reflections on different thoughts, conversations, and experiences. Through these I hope to learn more about character, plot, theme, action, and all the different elements of storytelling - and I hope to have great conversations with people about these things.

So look around, read, respond, and stay tuned. This is just the beginning...

What is a good story to you? What elements do you think are important for a good story? Do you prefer a certain genre or medium?