Page 33 - 2017.May Voices

The Magical Element: Storytelling

by Jake Batty

Well told stories are magic. They allow us SoD vanishes, the magic
to travel in time, space or in any dimension we evaporates.
can dream up. They permit us to experience The Magical
anything that can be imagined. They have the Element coalesces within a story when two main
power to change our opinions, perspectives principals are followed. First, the storyteller
and even beliefs. A well told story expands our remains within the internally consistent rules
understanding of being human. and framework of the story they have created.
But not all stories are well told. What Second, the storyteller does not distract the
distinguishes a well told story from a blasé, audience with anything which shifts the focus
not-so-well-told story? What magic does one away from the narrative thread. Bring the magic
have that the other does not? It comes down back to your stories, color within the story’s lines.
to one thing. One thing which is so critically But only with colors which make sense within
vital in a story that including it means a well the story’s world.
told story. Omitting it means a banal, trite and Suspension of Disbelief is incredibly powerful
generally uninteresting mish-mash of words but equally as fragile. Pay it no heed and your
spread across a page. That one thing; that’s the audience will forever be on the outside looking
Magical Element. in—if they continue to participate in the story
The Magical Element goes by another more that is. Master it and the audience will experience
common name—the Suspension of Disbelief magic and be hungry for more. And this is
(SoD), which is a willingness to suspend one’s exactly where you want them, hungry for more.
critical faculties and believe the unbelievable; If you master SoD, you’ve mastered storytelling.
or to sacrifice realism and logic for the sake of Jake Batty joined Storymasters in 2016. He is
enjoyment. To put it another way, SoD provides an aspiring screenwriter in his spare time.
a mechanism by which the audience can become
fully immersed within the story.
And that’s the magic. Complete
and full immersion in a story allows
the audience to experience empathy,
rage, love, lust, vengeance, peace, hate,
serenity, thrills, chills and any other
emotion within the vast spectrum
of human experience. Without
this element in place, the audience
will not connect to the story on an
emotional and visceral level. Without
this emotional connection, the story
becomes hollow and can only be
experienced from the outside, at
arm’s length. This is why partially
read books are set aside, never to
be picked up again and why movies
are clicked off, unfinished. When

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