How to Write About Hunting

[Jay Campbell JD]

How to write about Hunting (or anything else): A friend wrote me today, and asked me to read his hunting story. I always respond to these requests, if only because so many (Gene Wensel, Jay Massey, Don Thomas) did it for me. In part, here is what I offered back, for what it's worth (and I am well aware of my own failings as a storyteller):

"Dear ______: A story is a journey with a direction, a beginning, tension building to a climax and a resolution, and an end. It raises and answers a question. It generates and satisfies a need in the reader. It's like a date. :-)

If you were sitting by the campfire, and bold with drink told your buddies a story you knew they would listen to, what would it be? Or, more to the point, what story would you be stricken by, interested in, desperate to hear the end of?

If you're not going to write "how to" stories, write about wonder, learning, soul searching, unanswered questions, life changing events, the simple affirmation of important principles, loss, gain, justice, injustice, hard-won reward, retribution, life, death, faith.

Look inside yourself for your greatest failure, saddest moment, most embarrassing event, and find in these the power of emotion. Use that power to shape your stories.

Above all, know that a storyteller must touch his reader's heart. Find the path there, and you will be great. - Jay"

(Jay and Karen Campbell are Associate Sponsors on TradGang. Their hunting book "Longbow" is on sale at  www.campbellsquest.com  (or 3 rivers, Black Widow, etc) or the e book version with color pictures is available on Amazon)


 

[Hopewell Tom]

Thanks, Jay.
I'm going to copy that out and when my turn comes hopefully I can apply some of your insight.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Jay, just started your book last night. well not really, I read the foreward, will get into your book when I have a chance to be a good reader and really enjoy it rather than looking at the words.

With that advice you sent your friend, I have a good feeling about your book.

[Mike Vines]

Some VERY good information right there.  Thank you for sharing with all of us.

[macbow]

Jay, some really good information.

I am 3/4 way through your book. I purposely only read one or two chapters a day. It has been a great read. I feel like I'm somehow right there with you and Karen.
I just don't want to come to the end too soon.

[wapiti792]

Great advice from a great writer!!! Thanks Jay  

[MnFn]

Just finished your book and greatly enjoyed it.  I have journaled my hunting experiences for a few years now.  More importantly I have written down experiences I had with my dad.  He introduced me to bow hunting when I was about nine or ten years old, around 1963 or so.

I don't expect to ever publish anything, I just did it to remember the best times I ever spent with my Dad.  And, also to tell my kids and grand kids about a simpler time and why I love the outdoors and traditional bow hunting in particular.

[jcar315]

Well put for certain.

[McDave]

Jay, I'm very interested in what you said about writing. It inspires me to buy your book and see how you put those goals into your own writing. My question is, when you sit down to write something, do you start with one of those goals in mind, like, "today I'm going to write about gain and loss, and I have a story in mind that I think will illustrate that."  Or, do you start with a story without identifying in advance which of your goals it will illustrate, and just let that work itself out in the course of the telling?  Or, do you think it's unimportant to identify the particular goal in words (justice, injustice, etc.) so long as the story is coherent with a good flow from beginning to end and contains the power of emotion, whether identified or not?

[killinstuff]

Also helpful to have a wife and son that kills things otherwise Jay might be a little short on material    :p

[SKITCH]

Originally posted by killinstuff:
Also helpful to have a wife and son that kills things otherwise Jay might be a little short on material     :p  

I don't know...he seems to do a great job of writing about the times when he DIDN'T make the shot.  If he's like alot of us that should give him an unlimited amount of material to draw from!    :D    :D

Having said that....Jay, why didn't you include a picture of that damn Turkey.....!  Someone must have snapped one over the years!      

[Jay Campbell JD]

Hi all, and thank you for the kind words - I wasn't sure that many copies were out there! :-)

McDave, you'll see reading the book I don't write "how-to", so I'm writing about trips and the people and things that happen. I don't know if I just attract characters and events or see the world differently, but there is rarely trouble finding a theme. part of it is that Karen and I have had a turbulent life the last few years, with death, cancer, divorce, custody concerns and big game hunting (for Karen, who went from never shooting a bow to taking a water buffalo in about 2 years), and hunting has been at the core of all of those events. I'm also maybe ... Incautious at times, and I screw things up. I'm pretty open about those events, like the time I nearly drowned my oldest boy and me rafting for caribou in Alaska. I'm not proud of being stupid, but I might as well admit it. So, usually I do have a sense of the emotion of a piece before I start to write, because I felt it so intensely at the time. Honestly, others who read my stories might have a better sense of how they "feel" to the reader than I do. :-) - Jay

[Jay Campbell JD]

Now, Killinstuff and Skitch: I seem to be known for not shooting much, so it IS good that Karen and the boys are with me. Honestly, I just write more about them than me. And about Jukebox - until I saw him, I had my doubts - especially considering the reputation of some of my leasemates for bending the truth to support a story. But I have never seen anything like him, even in his old age. I certainly was so flummoxed I couldn't have snapped a picture if  a camera was already in my hand. Froze stiff in my tracks. :-) - Jay

[wapiti792]

Long live Jukebox!      

I think the great thing about good writers is that the storytelling is effortless. It hooks the reader in a way that makes them turn the page again and again...the story isn't pulled along unwillingly. It comes out with such ease that it hooks us poor chaps reading the words on the page. I know reading Jay's book made me appreciate how a good story motivates one to want to experience those types of hunts, emotions and life's experiences included, and maybe someday have my own set of stories to share with my children, friends, and perhaps strangers, Lord willing. Thanks Jay.

[Aunty]

Jay your book has made it to NZ. I am halfway through your book. My thoughts, it takes a honest man to admit when you have hit the wall physically, Being able to admit missing animals. It's very refreshing!!!!
Thankyou Jay for telling an honest story about hunting and it's highs and lows.
I did enjoy the story about Steve H.

Cheers
Richard MOOSE Flett

[Jay Campbell JD]

Mike and Richard: Thanks so much! Richard, if there ever was a friend more prone to flummoxed, incautious calamity than I am, it's Steve Hohensee. I enjoyed our trips together, but always felt either Steve or I would end up dead. :-) - Jay

[alligatordond]

Jukebox......yep he is one big a.. turkey. Trust me.

[Gen273]

Thanks Jay,

That is great info!

[Jay Campbell JD]

Carlie and Don, thanks for the comments!        Here's a picture of a guy that was easy to write about. Jay Massey - The real deal. - Jay