As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m very keen on – no, that’s an understatement; I’m frankly fascinated by stories, and storytelling.

It’s not just that I enjoy stories in whatever form they come and often have an over-zealous emotional involvement in their outcome, but I’m also very interested in the way we use stories not just for entertainment and learning, but also as a way to view the world; a friend of mine directly referenced a plotline in Sex and the City when she was talking about how she was going to get over a break-up, as if it was some kind of real world template, and not a constructed fiction with hidden plot levers and pulleys, and I know I’ve looked to books, films, comics and TV for some kind of inspiration when I’ve had tricky times.

All of which is just a brief dip in the water of this ocean of ideas, really, while the Youtube projectionist loads the reels for the short film which (technology allowing) is embedded below; it’s a talk on storytelling by literary agent Julian Friedmann (of the agency Blake Friedmann), and whilst he’s specifically addressing the topic from a screenwriting perspective, I think it applies equally well to writing in all forms.

Okay. So, roll the tape:

What do you think? I was particularly taken with the way he stresses how important the audience is, but without getting into the whole “author’s intent is irrelevant” bit.

Anyway, as I say, this is the kind of thinking I’m doing a lot of at the moment in relation to my writing. “But what exactly are you writing, John? Apart from self-indulgent blog posts, I mean…” you may well ask (and justificably so), and so I reply, “Good question – by way of trying to build a sense of drama and heighten your need for narrative satisfaction, I shall answer that next time…”