The Funnel Effect

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. 🙂