:: Telling Stories ::
08:41 | view comments
On one of my regular visits toThe Sassy Lawyer's Journal, I came across an entry on J. K. Rowling and her latest book. In her first paragraph, Sassy made a distinction between a writer and a storyteller.

Someone (a big shot book editor doing a review in a major U.S. paper, no less) once said that J. K. Rowling was not a writer; she was a storyteller. I beg to disagree. Granted that she may have been just a storyteller when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, she is much, much more today. She is both a gifted writer and a gifted storyteller. While a good storyteller merely writes events in their correct sequence, a better story teller writes events in their correct sequence in an enticing manner. But a gifted writer and storyteller will not only write events in their correct sequence in an exciting manner but will also imbue the story with personal touches that add depth and substance into the plainness of the words. That is what sets the excellent apart from the mediocre. And J. K. Rowling is by no means mediocre.

For some strange but compelling reason, I had to react.

This might turn into a battle of words, or rather, a battle of semantics, but I just have to react to your definitions of storyteller and writer. I'm not sure what the 'big shot book editor' meant by calling J.K. Rowling a storyteller, but to me, that is higher praise than being called a writer.

"A writer only makes the pen weep. A storyteller makes a woman shed tears." This is one of the lines in a play I was in a few months back, and it has stuck with me since. I guess this is part of the reason I'm reacting now... but let's go to something more basic. What, in my opinion, is a writer? What is a storyteller?

A writer is basically somebody who writes for a living - somebody whose job it is to commit words to paper. A storyteller is somebody who can weave different ideas and events together into... I don't know... something magical. Ok... a writer knows how to put words together; a storyteller knows how to move people. Hmm... didn't I just paraphrase the line I just quoted earlier? Oh well...

I guess that's a sign I'm rambling already. I can't seem to get my own words together; and on that note, I will end this.

I also had to comment a second time... probably because I felt the need to cover my ass.

I'm not trying to refute anything you said here. In fact, I myself love reading the Harry Potter books, and I believe that J. K. Rowling is a fantastic... umm... my pickiness with words is going to do me in someday. I believe that J. K. Rowling is a fantastic author. She has a way of luring her audience into her stories and making them forget just how long her books are.

There. Oh, and on another note, Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite in the series. I've only read Order once though, so that might change if I get a chance to read it again. For now though... ok, enough rambling.

I'm crazy. I obviously have this penchant for blurting out the thoughts in my head before they are fully formed. Oh well...