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)