The Funnel Effect

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8

A lot of information goes into every story that I write. Dates, places, people, all of it and every detail has to fit neatly into the tale that I am telling. I don’t find it very difficult, but if I had an observer behind me, it would look like total chaos.

Everyone knows what a funnel is and what it’s used for. This familiar object is the visual aid that I will be using in this particular discussion.

Pouring a liquid through a funnel is very much like what I do with my stories. Lots of volume into the big end, extraneous bits get compressed and squeezed out, and finally, we have a compact end result coming out of the skinny end.

I believe that we should always strive to put our best efforts into the material we create. After all, what we create is representative of who we are and the amount of love that we express. Yes, even sparkly vampires, shuffling zombies, and teenagers running around with magical sticks need the loving touch of a storyteller who cares about their subject matter.

You will always have more accumulated material than what ends up in the final manuscript. That’s a good thing because even if your eyes are the only ones who ever view the information; it is always better to have more than less.

Thanks for your time. 🙂

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8 thoughts on “The Funnel Effect”

  3. lol! The stacks of research I do could fill up several books themselves. I agree it’s a great way to work. Sometimes a fact I find kicks me off into a new direction and a fresh story appears.

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  4. Excellent metaphor and approach. I love world building and it’s always interesting to me how little actually gets into the final book. At the same time, I think a reader can sense the depth and realness that backs up those small glimpses. The magic of storytelling 🙂

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    • I’ve always tried to convey a sense of Space (no pun intended…hehe) with my stories. I want my readers to think that there’s more going on than what the immediate characters are doing.

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