There Is No One Right Way To Tell A

Story, But There Is A Best Way

The Writer’s Persona

Being an author has several advantages. George Bernard Shaw, a distant kin, stated, “My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients; he need not dress respectably.”

Here’s another – an author schedules his or her own hours—no nine-to-five requirement. Most important, “creative” people can be “strange.” If they dribble food, slosh beer around in their mouth before swallowing, or drive a purple Volkswagen bus with tinted windows, society excuses the behavior. As a creative person, writers may change their mind as often as the television weatherman.

Above all, the opportunity to tell stories that force people to stop and think is a main attraction. There also is considerable satisfaction with a process where you begin with nothing, no written words, just an idea, and then, through hard work and perseverance, end up holding a manuscript¾and later, a published book¾in your hands. Realizing your story will be read by many others makes all the tough days sitting in front of a computer worthwhile.

Authors experience different levels of satisfaction when their books are published, but I consider them to be “children” that have been scattered across the universe. Books are extensions of the human mind, and the power of the written word must never be underestimated.

Storytelling

Authors’ experiences regarding storytelling abound. Creativity is a key, but so is organization. It is crucial since any story¾fiction, non-fiction, or even poetry¾should progress in an organized manner. The story doesn’t have to be told chronologically, but it must have a logical progression. Otherwise, the reader is lost.

Telling stories through the written word requires a different talent from verbal expression. A dear departed friend, Jack Leer, was the finest storyteller I ever knew. He could stand in front of a group of people, and they would be howling in no time.

Jack’s talent did not extend to the written page because he could not write like he spoke. A different expertise was required, and he did not possess the dedication to learn the craft.

Storytelling methods differ as much as the colors of the rainbow. Truman Capote stated, “Since each story presents its own technical problems, obviously one can’t generalize about them on a ‘two times two equals four’ basis. Finding the right form for your story is simply to realize the most natural way of telling the story.”

Ernest Hemingway, when asked about the talent for writing fiction, said, “You invent fiction, but what you invent it out of is what counts. True fiction must come from everywhere you’ve ever known, ever seen, ever felt, ever learned.”

The aspiring author or poet should examine as many books as possible to learn various storytelling methods. Note how each writer has chronicled the story he or she wishes to tell. This is essential whether the story is contained in a magazine or newspaper article, a short story, a Query Letter, a Book Proposal, collection of poetry, or a manuscript.

To provide examples of storytelling alternatives, please consider the following experiences from my books. Perhaps they will trigger a thought or two in your mind as to the storytelling method that will work best for you.

Down For The Count

Storytelling was a learning experience for me, but speaking to judges and juries when I was a criminal defense lawyer provided a perfect training ground. Arguing the innocence of a client to twelve souls charged with life-and-death matters required organization of the evidence so the jury heard the story I wanted them to recall when they deliberated. Years of preparing those speeches permitted me to hone my skills as a storyteller.

My education in speaking to juries began with the very first case assigned me when I was a public defender. My client was a young man charged with killing his 300-pound girlfriend with a shotgun from six feet away in front of her children. When I visited James in jail, he told me his defense was that he was trying to shoot over her head to scare her. My job was to defend him according to the facts he provided, and I argued his version to the jury. It only took the jurors ten minutes to convict him of first-degree murder, but the final argument was my first experience with storytelling in front of an audience.

As the years passed, I continued to speak to juries, honing my storytelling abilities. When I first considered writing a book, I relied on the storytelling methods used in criminal trials.

To tell the stories that became my first book, Down For The Count, I began by dramatizing the courtroom scene as boxer Mike Tyson awaited his fate after a grueling rape trial. The jury returned and the judge announced the guilty verdict. This was featured in the Prologue.

Chapter One, aptly titled, “Guilty” began with a strong sentence. It read, “When Mike Tyson first heard the word ‘guilty’ spoken by Judge Patricia Gifford, his head cocked to the side as if he had been hit with a thunderous right cross. He whispered, ‘Oh, man,’ and slumped down in his seat.”

Readers’ feedback told me I had captured their attention, triggering a desire to read further. In On Writing Well, author William Zinsser expresses the need to do this better than anyone. He wrote, “[Your] lead must capture the reader immediately and force him to keep reading. It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or surprise, or with an unusual idea, or an interesting fact, or a question. Anything will do, as long as it nudges his curiosity and tugs at his sleeve.”

The vivid portrayal of Tyson’s reaction led back in time to the investigation of his crime. Chapter One recounted the circumstances under which the prosecution decided whether to seek an indictment against the former heavyweight-boxing champion of the world. The story then continued in chronological order through the months leading up to the trial. This was most important since much of what happened to Tyson at trial was directly due to what occurred before trial. This was especially true when his promoter and self-proclaimed mentor Don King hired Washington D.C. highbrow lawyer Vincent Fuller, an attorney with no experience in the criminal courtroom, to defend the accused rapist. This caused Tyson to virtually be defenseless.

Once pre-trial matters were considered, the trial unfolded. Events were chronicled with two goals in mind: to permit readers to judge for themselves if the boxer was guilty and to let them decide whether a black celebrity could gain a fair trial in a Midwestern city (Indianapolis, Indiana) in the early 1990s.

The publication process for Down For The Count was a great learning experience regarding the workings of the publishing industry. Like others who dive in with no research, I did not have a clue as to how it operated.

The original title for the book, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit, was Beauty and the Beast. It featured no Prologue. Chapter One began with the incident between Tyson and the alleged rape victim, Desiree Washington. It proceeded in real time.

When a competent draft of the manuscript was completed, I forwarded it to several prospective literary agents whom I had selected from a reference book. One agent responded, believing he could sell the book. At his request, I made several revisions.

The agent was so certain he had a bestseller on his hands that he conducted an “auction.” He notified publishers of his intent to provide them with manuscript pages. Once editors had read them within a twenty-four hour time limit, they could telephone with bids for the rights to the book.

The literary agent requested that I stand next to the telephone so we could discuss the various offers as the day passed. I did so for eight hours, but he never called. To his amazement, and my chagrin, no one wanted the book. The consensus was that the world knew everything it wanted to know about the Tyson trial.

Reeling from defeat, I tossed the manuscript aside. I still believed in the book, but no one else did. Being a stubborn cuss, and not one to give up, I kept thinking about how I might improve the text to attract a broader audience interest in the social impact of the Tyson case. What drove me was a character trait important to any aspiring author or poet: perseverance.

Two months later, I had the idea to include in the text the relationship between the issues involved in the Tyson case and several significant legal events surrounding the trial. They included the Rodney King beating by California police, the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas Senate hearings, the William Kennedy Smith rape trial in Florida, and the racially motivated Bensonhurst murders in New York City.

Armed with a new title, Down For The Count, and a new theme for the book, I completed another round of revisions before the manuscript was submitted. I did not include a Book Proposal or a Query Letter since I had no knowledge of the form.

By revising the storytelling method to reflect how the Tyson trial compared with the legal events surrounding it, I found a publisher. An open-minded approach to storytelling alternatives had paid off.

Assisting my quest to discover a marketable concept for the book was a question I asked myself: What provocative thought did I want readers to examine? To be provocative, good non-fiction must leave readers with a question they had not answered before. With Down For The Count, I wanted readers to stop and think about whether justice had been served. Using this theme tantalized the publisher as well.

Forever Flying

In the 1970s, I had the opportunity to work with the famous attorney, F. Lee Bailey. He chose me as local counsel for a case involving a diabolical physician suspected of beheading an undercover D.E.A. agent who suspected the doctor of drug dealing. I assisted Lee with the defense and we kept in touch thereafter.

Some twenty years later, Lee’s agent telephoned, asking if I would be interested in collaborating on a book with the legendary aviator, R. A. “Bob” Hoover, on a book. Lee represented Hoover in connection with FAA attempts to deny him a license to fly because of his advanced age. I flew to Washington D. C., watched Lee in a Court of Appeals hearing, and met Hoover. Impressed with his background and fighting spirit, I agreed to the collaboration.

Organizing the storytelling order for the book that became Forever Flying was difficult. R. A. “Bob” Hoover was a true renaissance man who had been successful with several careers. Besides being a World War II hero shot down by the Germans, a prison camp survivor who stole a German plane and flew to freedom, a terrific experimental pilot who was a finalist along with Chuck Yeager to break the sound barrier, Hoover was the greatest aerobatic pilot who ever lived.

To hook readers, Chapter One featured an encounter between Hoover and the Russian government during a Moscow international air race competition. When the Russians refused to allow him to perform certain aerobatic maneuvers in a new experimental airplane, he did so anyway. Tense moments occurred as embarrassed Russian officials decided whether to arrest Hoover. They didn’t, but the episode showed that he was a courageous aviator.

After the Russian incident, the story backtracked to Bob’s early days. The book then proceeded in chronological order to include Bob’s successful fight with the FAA.

To compare how Forever Flying evolves, and the means by which Chuck Yeager’s own story unfolds, read his bestseller, Yeager. The storytelling method differs, since interspersed with Yeager’s recollections are reminiscences quoted from those who knew him well.

When Paul McCarthy, a senior editor at Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, read the Book Proposal, he was smitten with Hoover’s story. An aviation enthusiast, Paul purchased the rights to the book, realizing Bob was a hero known to thousands of aviation fans. This provided two important elements toward securing a publisher: a built-in audience and tremendous opportunities for promotion of the book.

Literary agent Richard Pine’s decision to present the book to Paul McCarthy was based on his personal knowledge of Paul’s love for aviation. Writers can learn from Richard’s example. When attempting to decide which literary agents or editors would welcome submission of a book idea, homework is required. By specifically targeting the book idea to match with agents or publishers who have been involved with books of the same genre, the chances of securing agency representation or a publisher commitment can be maximized.

The Perfect Yankee

The Perfect Yankee provides an example of discovering little known information others had avoided. While reading Mickey Mantle’s bestseller, My Favorite Year, 1956, I noted a chapter titled Perfect. It chronicled the magical performance on October 8, 1956, by journeyman New York Yankee pitcher Don Larsen. Against the defending champion Brooklyn Dodgers, Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series history—no hits, no runs, and no errors.

Convincing the unassuming Larsen to write a book was difficult. For years, he had been reticent to tell his story. Don had even refused accomplished author David Halberstram.

Telling Don Larsen’s story required focusing on his incredible achievement. After several fruitless attempts to do so in a chronological manner, I conceived the idea to weave his life around the miracle nine-innings he pitched in the World Series.

Predictably, publishers were dubious. Writing a book about one game didn’t register with most. Many passed on the Book Proposal before the same one that had published Down For The Count agreed to publish it. The editor realized the storytelling method was imaginative.

Richard Ben Cramer’s book, Joe DiMaggio, The Hero’s Life, illustrates an alternative storytelling method. After presenting a Prologue packed with personal memories of the great ballplayer, Cramer tells his story while commentating on the life and times of Joltin’ Joe. A unique voice emerges as if Cramer is sitting in the reading room spewing out facts while revealing his insight into their merit. The author is quite effective with this method.

Aspiring writers should remember that rejection of material might be based more on storytelling method than on content. Being creative is essential. Consider alternative methods and then decide which one will provide readers with a unique perspective of the story you want to tell.

Testament To Courage

Belief that the world should read Cecelia Rexin’s remarkable story of hope and love spurred my interest in the Holocaust memoir of a Christian German woman who loved others more than herself. This memoir became the book, Testament To Courage.

Cecelia’s story began when she was an aspiring medical student in Berlin. Opposed to Adolph Hitler’s Nazi regime, she assisted the underground. Her roommate turned her in, and Cecelia was imprisoned. After three years, she was sent to Ravensbruck, and then to Auschwitz.

While incarcerated, Cecelia kept a journal she sewed into the hems of her dresses. Throughout her stay, she hid pages chronicling the horrors of Nazi brutality. Among the stories was her account of saving the life of a young orphaned Russian girl named Laddie. At great risk, Cecelia enlisted the assistance of two German prison guards. Laddie was taken to a pig farm where she spent the rest of the war. After the war, she and Cecelia met in an emotion-filled moment in a hospital.

My personal interest in Cecelia’s story is an example of another important characteristic a successful writer must possess: curiosity. Without a yearning to learn, to explore, to discover, the writer is doomed. Whether it is fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, the aspiring writer must probe for the truth, for the story no one else can tell, or that no one else seems to feel is important enough to document.

No other writer has expressed the need to probe life’s experiences better than Frank McCourt. He wrote the bestseller Angela’s Ashes at age sixty-six. He told The Writer’s Handbook, “If you keep your ear cocked, you’ll discover treasures of significance.”

Tom Wolfe wrote of his pursuit of a book that became the bestseller, The Right Stuff. “This book grew out of ordinary curiosity,” he said. “What is it, I wondered, that makes a man willing to sit on top of an enormous Roman candle, such as a Redstone, Atlas, or Titan rocket, and wait for someone to light the fuse?”

With Testament To Courage, this mindset triggered a storytelling method that revealed events during World War II while Cecelia Rexin was incarcerated in the concentration camps. My education regarding the events was provided through a thick book titled The Second World War, A Complete History, by Gilbert Martin. It documented every aspect of Adolph Hitler’s attempt to rule the world. In it, I marked sections coinciding with the dates Cecelia had noted in her journal.

Weaving events throughout the war with the diary proved worthy. Through Cecelia’s eyes and snippets of major events as the war progressed, readers are provided with a sense of historical significance.

The editor, fascinated with Cecelia’s story, also appreciated the storytelling method. It distinguished Testament To Courage from other Holocaust books.

As the years passed, I was intrigued with turning this non-fiction book into a fictional story. This was based on extending the story to include a war crimes trial that would test the courage of Cecilia concerning her desire to save the life of one of the German prison guards who helped save her life and that of the orphan. The “what-if” idea, a love story, birthed the book, Dandelions in the Moonlight, a novel that has been a work-in-progress for the past several years.

Miscarriage of Justice

Keeping an open mind about the storytelling process resulted in Miscarriage of Justice, The Jonathan Pollard Story. The Pollard case has always been controversial. A Naval Intelligence Service analyst who spied for Israel in the mid-1980s, he received a life sentence after having pled guilty to espionage. The severity of the sentence was shocking to many, since others convicted of the same offense received lighter sentences. Supporters alleged anti-Semitism; others believed he should have been shot.

Through the years, the Pollard case became a political football. Several times it appeared he would be released, but it never occurred.

After interviewing Dr. Morris Pollard, Jonathan’s father, on a radio program I hosted, there appeared to be the need for an unbiased book presenting the true facts in the case. This would permit readers to stop, think, and make up their own minds.

Key to telling the Pollard story was capturing the reader’s attention by first outlining the dramatics of his spying escapades. These had occurred from his first meeting with an Israeli contact named Colonel Aviem Sella to the moment when Pollard was arrested. Once this was chronicled, the text reverted back to his early years so readers could gain a sense of who Pollard was and why he acted as he did.

The next section dealt with the events leading to Pollard’s sentencing. Details of the sentencing of Jonathan’s wife, Anne, provided the reader with a sense of her background and the love affair that blossomed with Jonathan.

Pollard’s harsh imprisonment and supporters’ efforts to free him were also chronicled. The final section featured an analysis of the spy’s case, including comparisons with the prison sentences imposed on spies for both allies and enemies of the United States. The title reflected my belief that Pollard’s sentence was disproportionate to his crime.

The long road to publishing the Pollard book spanned more than two and a half years. More than 300 drafts of the book were written. Staying the course proved worthy, as it did for Ernest Hemingway, who re-wrote the ending to Farewell To Arms thirty-nine times.

The publisher of Miscarriage of Justice was impressed with storytelling presenting the facts devoid of the author’s opinion. Too often writers mesh personal feelings with facts, restricting the reader’s ability to stop and think.

Melvin Belli, King of the Courtroom

The idea for a biography of one of the greatest attorneys who ever lived (Belli died in 1996) evolved from a friendship I enjoyed with the San Francisco legend in the mid-1980s. A swashbuckling character out of a Damon Runyan novel, Belli was labeled “The King of Torts” by Life Magazine due to his pioneering efforts in the field of personal injury law.

While Belli represented such celebrities as Errol Flynn, Mae West, Muhammad Ali, the Rolling Stones, and Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, his most famous client was Jack Ruby. Initially, the plan was to weave Belli’s fascinating story around the events at trial, but the publisher wanted a straight biography. With this in mind, the book opens with a thrilling radio program conversation between Belli and the infamous Zodiac killer who terrorized the San Francisco bay area. The aim was to captivate readers before the book moves to Belli’s early years, his maturation as a noted civil lawyer in the area of personal injury, and then to his tumultuous private life including his six marriages. Along the way, Belli’s interaction with celebrities and famous cases in chronicled with the Ruby case one of them.

Since the intention was to portray Belli, the good, the bad, and the ugly while noting his contribution to revolutionizing the legal profession, the final portion of the book permits readers the inside story as to how the great lawyer fell from grace into bankruptcy and failing health. To end the book on a high note, Belli’s final trial is presented indicating that he was still a skilled trial lawyer at he neared the age of ninety.

Feedback regarding the storytelling method was positive especially from those who knew Belli during his glory years. They realized the challenge of deciding what information about him was critical to presenting a balance portrait of this controversial character. My plan was to also use Belli’s story as a conduit to chronicling many of the most important events, especially in the legal arena, of the mid-twentieth century. This provided the historical angle I was seeking.

The Patsy and No Peace For The Wicked

These two novels present multiple challenges regarding the storytelling process. Each is based on a true story, providing ample opportunities to mix fact with fiction.

The Patsy, based on my representation of a fifteen-year old boy charged with murder, is intended to portray the underbelly of the criminal court system. To convey thoughts regarding the injustice perceived in the boy’s case, a character named Jake Lessing was created. He is a disgraced former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter whose credentials include winning the coveted Pulitzer Prize. Banished to the Midwest, he attempts to rekindle a dying career at a mid-sized newspaper. Choosing Jake to tell the story seemed the most natural way to provide the reader with a roadmap to the rest of the action in the story.

Through Jake’s eyes, the boy’s story unfolds as we learn why Jake’s past demons threaten to cloud his perception of justice. The Prologue sets up the story. It begins with a dream sequence where Jake is sitting in front of a parole board. Readers are catapulted into Jake’s world and his belief that past wrongdoings will result in his imprisonment. This theme plays out as readers learn of the vicious crimes that caused the young boy to be charged with murder. The story is then told in chronological order with new facts about Jake being presented as he decides whether to stay on the sidelines or attempt to save the young boy from execution. Drama builds as Jake and his love-interest, a fellow reporter, race against a ticking clock to learn why a dirty cop, a corrupted prosecutor, and a wayward judge conspire to cover-up the truth.

Several versions of the manuscript were discarded before I decided to weave Jake’s story in with the boy’s plight. This provides the perfect forum for commentary on the inequities of the judicial system.

Use of the “ticking clock” storytelling theme is a proven path to good fiction. The race against time permits the writer to grab readers and keep their attention as the drama builds. While writing, think of the best books, and the best films ever read or seen on the big screen. Many, if not most, build suspense so the reader or viewer is right alongside the main characters as they fight to save themselves from doom.

No Peace For The Wicked is based on the true story of two mentally handicapped men convicted and imprisoned for a murder they could not have committed. To entice the reader, the book opens with a Prologue telling of the release from jail of Ike, one of the unfortunate men. The first chapter then describes the moral dilemma facing the book’s main character, Luther Parsons, a disgruntled defense attorney. Upset with his practice, his marriage, and life in general, he escapes to Arizona to start anew.

Despite the perfect weather and a fresh attitude, Luther is burdened by drinking problems. He sits in his BMW, ready to dive into the bottle, when a former associate telephones regarding the injustice inflicted on the mentally handicapped men. Luther resists the temptation to drink and returns to his hometown, bent on investigating why the two men were imprisoned.

By focusing on the plight of the lawyer, the book hooks readers into wondering what caused the attorney to flee in the first place. Later, readers will learn that Luther’s negligence caused an innocent man to be executed.

The storytelling venue used in No Peace For The Wicked was necessary since the actual case was settled before trial. While much of the text is based on a true story, it was necessary to initially focus on Luther and not the mentally handicapped men so the story could unfold through a fictional account of a trial portrayed near the end of the book.

Learning From Others

It may be elusive, but a dedicated writer can discover a formula for clarity, brevity, and writing so visual it leaps off the page. The best advice is to read a wide array of books and pay attention to the methods employed by best-selling authors. Study In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s masterpiece, and the writings of Kerouac, Hemingway, and Joyce, among others. Keeping an open mind about the storytelling process produces clever text that titillates the reader.

Fiction writers should also read Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow. A lawyer and author, he is a creative storyteller who knows how to entertain. John Grisham’s books also contain wonderful examples of storytelling. His trademark is weaving a story with very little “fat” to it. Some critics have disdained this method, but who can argue with an author with such an impressive list of best sellers?

Children’s book enthusiasts must read J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Her storytelling ability opened her readership to millions of adults.

A Civil Action, Jonathan Harr’s book about the evolution of environmental lawsuits in the Boston area, illustrates an effective method of organizing non-fiction. If the genre is biography, read David McCullough’s Truman, Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris; Lindbergh, by Scott Berg; or DiMaggio by Richard Ben Cramer.

Each story, whether it is fiction or non-fiction presents variables as to how it may be told. If the story is true, facts are presented, and the reader is asked to digest those facts and learn from them.

If the story is fiction, consider Susan Sontag’s thoughts that, “A novel worth reading is an education of the heart. It enlarges your sense of what human nature is, of what happens in the world. It’s a creator of inwardness.” Regarding the challenge to write with that passion, Ernest Hemingway said, “For the true writer, each book should be a new beginning where he tries for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed.”

Above all, authors and poets are storytellers, even if the story is not readily apparent, as in some poems. Books can entertain and inform, but perhaps their most important role is to make people stop and think, to consider, or to reconsider an issue. An author or poet has the ability to change minds and influence individuals reading his or her works. What can be more important than that?

Summary

Remember—good stories contain a compelling beginning, middle, and end.

Research storytelling techniques to become familiar with various storytelling options.

Choose a storytelling sequence that immediately captures the attention of the reader.

When considering storytelling alternatives, ask the question—what is the message I am conveying?

Great stories are well paced and keep readers asking for more.

Poets must remember that word space limitations require judicious use of the language.

There is no one right way to tell a story, but there is a best way.