The Real Story

Most often a book is judged based on a back-cover short synopsis, a blurb or recommendation by a fellow author, celebrity, or someone high in the writing industry, the cover art, a review or a query letter.  I’ve made the same assessment for years.  It’s the main factors that determine whether I read the pages between the bindings.  That’s all good and well, but those things are NOT the REAL story, just the commercials.

The real story happens in every chapter, scene, paragraph, line and amid every word.  This is where characters are developed, plots threads are sewn, executed and tied, and where the relationship between reader and story is made.  We don’t fall in love with ideas, but with characters and events as they are read, revealed and received. 

This is where the real magic lives.  This is where true talent is exhibited.   Anyone can tell a story, but not everyone can have a vision, and then masterfully craft the path to its fulfillment, breathing life into characters, worlds and epic journeys.  It is a gift to breathe life into vision. That takes skill, imagination, determination, heart, and lots of passion and undeniable faith.

So, the next time you read the jacket of a book, a review, a blurb, synopsis or a query letter, remember that the real story is more than just the idea, and the real magic lay between the pages.  The same can be said about life – the real living happens in every small moment, not just the milestones – those are just the commercials.

What is your real story?

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray