Tell Us a Real Story
June 30, 2021
I've always thought of myself as a storyteller.
I'm not a writer. I've tried to be a writer and I want someday to consider myself a writer. But, real writers read far more than I do. Real writers write far more than I do. I'm not a writer. In that vein, I'm not a photographer or a videographer or a film maker or a blogger or vlogger or editor or musician or artist or even a traveler. Those craftspeople practice and produce. I aspire to be all of those things. I am not there yet.
I am a storyteller.
By that I mean I can entertain you with a story. When I really try, I can spin a heckuva tale. In a bygone era, I would have been the elder at the bonfire that retold the myths and legends, the stories of our people. I would have been the fella swapping stories in the market place. I would have added drama and scope to the news from far away lands. I would have been the CNN and YouTube for the village.
But, for the most part, the oral tradition is gone. We replaced it with Local Network News, sensationalizing the tragedies in your home town. We've replaced it with CNN, MSNBC and, unfortunately, FOX. News as entertainment isn't new, other people's dirty laundry has always played. The bigger, uglier and bloodier, the better; “if it bleeds, it leads” should be the sub-title of The Bible.
This storyteller has been looking at this project, my mid-life crisis passion project. Why am I doing this? Am I doing this to make a living? That's the dream. To drop out, never have another real job but still have food on the table. Not have to worry about retirement, die on the road. Yeah. That sounds pretty good. But, that's not why I'm doing it today. That might be an eventuality, but that's not what's happening now. In fact, I just got a new job, I start in a few weeks. I don't know what demands that job might have and this project might get put on the way back burner. Maybe abandoned like so many of my other projects.
Why am I doing this?
Today. Why am I doing this today?
To be frank, I'm not doing this today. I want to do this. I want to blog and vlog. I want to travel. But I'm not. I still seem trapped in my apartment. I seem buried in Amazon boxes. I bought a GoPro camera and a new funky mount - but I haven't used it yet. I want to write. I want to record. (I need a new word. Photograph isn't right. Film isn't right. Photocord? Guh. Maybe. Maybe not.) I want to do all of these things. I want to build an audience and entertain them.
*** I WANT TO TELL STORIES !!! ***
My journey as a storyteller was a bit atypical. I think it started off the way most writer's journeys begin. I fell in love with words. I could paint ideas with my words. But; finishing... Finishing the story was always the problem. I got caught in the middle. I could never find the end of the story, the end of the project. Then, I would abandon the story and move on to the next shiny idea, which I wouldn't finish either. Eventually, it became a feat to finish, not a feat to tell a story. Thus, I had finished stories that no one liked. I was never going to attempt to publish those.
Christmas, 1985, my mother gave me a gift I had begged for. I had only played Dungeons & Dragons once, but I was instantly enthralled. She gave me the Basic Set 1, “The Red Box”. I have thanked her everyday for this gift for over 35 years. What if you told a story - That Never Ended... ! Much like life, the story in D&D, a story I wrote and shaped and had help building from my family and friends, never needed to find an ending. It was, well, fantastic!
I learned how to tell a story. I learned how to think episodically. I've discovered that the end of a story is often a real downer. How many books have you read where the final page was a disappointment? “They lived happily ever after” is a cheap, thoughtless lie! “Until the next episode!” is far more thrilling than watching the hero ride off into the sunset. There have been so many books and movies and TV shows I didn't want to end - what if they don't have to? Just bring your friends over next weekend, pour the Mountain Dew, warm up the dice and off you go!
That's the great thing about journals, blogs and vlogs: they never end. Sure, eventually you die and you don't get to write another episode. But the people along the way, more bloggers and vloggers, you can read them and you can read the ones they introduce you to - the story is life because life is the story.
The problem with Dungeons & Dragons, all role playing games (and I've played a bunch!) is that they aren't real. They are just a game. Sure, you can get lost in the story and have an amazing time, but it isn't real. Life is real, or as close as we'll ever get. Blogs and vlogs are as close to life and reality as we can get, too. Aren't they?
That's a good question, a question this storyteller has been chewing on. If the goal of any story is to make money, and, let's be honest, even the most accurate journal, blog or vlog is still a story, then you have to attract customers. However, reality is often too boring, too disturbing, too... real - for most people to handle. You have to exaggerate. Round off the edges, brighten the colors. In short, you have to lie your ass off. You can tell a version of the truth, but not the REAL truth, the whole truth. The first time you edit a curse word in a vlog to meet YouTube's community standards, the lie has begun. The first time you smile for the camera because you know brands won't sponsor your videos if you don't smile and make nice, you are playing the game.
And, the game is playing you.
I'm me. I turn 50 in November. I weigh 420 pounds. I'm bald. I'm diabetic. I have herpes - Types 1 & 2. I'm polyamorous and a little kinky. I'm a bleeding heart liberal that votes Democratic. I'm also a progressive without being a putz. None of these things are going to contribute to me being an Instagram Influencer.
I don't want to play the game. I want to travel and find keto friendly restaurants and sleep in cheap, quirky hotels. I want to publish pictures of me waking up with my CPAP mask on. I want to tell my story, the REAL story, as I see fit. Don't like it? Don't sponsor me. Don't read my blog. Don't watch my vlog. Don't comment on my posts. I'm fine with that. But, I don't want to fake anything. I want to tell stories and I want to tell them my way.
Roll the bones.