I’ve been reading a lot lately. I follow a lot of authors – known and less known – on Twitter, so I’ve been reading a lot of their stuff. And recently I picked up an old “best friend” that I haven’t read in years, Dreams Underfoot by Charles Delint. And that is when I really noticed – –

There is a huge difference between great writing and great storytelling.

Best case scenario, you get both, like with Delint’s books. The stories are interesting and by turns funny, uplifting, and heart-breaking. And the language is so rich and beautiful… I want to read it out loud so I can feel the shape of the words rolling around in my mouth like butter, and hear the cadence of them like water burbling in a sparkling brook.

But most stuff – like almost all of it I realize – is only one or the other, great writing or great storytelling. (Of course there is stuff that is NEITHER, but we don’t need to talk about that crap).

Take Lolita – it’s a freaking awful story about a pedophile. It’s creepy and weird – but the prose is hauntingly lovely.  Amazing writing, horrible storytelling.  Or Walden – have you tried to read it? Try if you are ever having trouble sleeping. But again, the language is bright and majestic.

And a lot of what I’ve been reading lately is really great storytelling – unique storylines and universes, compelling characters, exciting narratives. But the writing is not “great.” Please understand – this is NOT the same thing a saying the writing is bad. There is nothing wrong with the writing, it’s good writing. It just isn’t great writing. It doesn’t have the same sparkle and deliciousness that great writing does. It doesn’t make you thirst to read a paragraph or a page over again such to hear the words in your head once more.

So knowing that very few authors achieve both, what would I choose? Well, I would argue that I will continue to read both, but what I will read the most of, and enjoy the most, is the great storytelling. Every time. I want to be transported to another place; I can always go grab Walden if I need some word candy.

There’s a lot more where this came from! Want to read about bunny assassins and loved ones lost and deranged Christmas shoppers and surviving suicide? Please check out the rest of The Tangent Girl Volumes!

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