I’ve been doing a lot of reading the last week or so. Just fun books… fantasies written for kids, like The Spiderwick Chronicles (by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black) and Beyond the Valley of Thorns (by Patrick Carman) and Fairest (by Gail Carson Levine, the same woman who wrote Ella Enchanted). They are all very fun stories. Interesting and easy to see in the mind’s eye. I have always loved a good story. There have been plenty of stories that I haven’t liked (like Lord of the Flies – yuck!), or stories that I’ve liked the book but not the movie (Eragon was better as a book), or the movie but not the book (Last of the Mohicans – I couldn’t finish the book, but I love the movie).
I’ve been thinking just now about what makes a good story, and why I’ve liked some but not others, or liked them told one way but not another… Aside from the obvious things, like a good story line and likeable characters, I think primarily it comes down to how well a story is communicated. A good story, in written form, will come across clearly and be easily visualized. If the reader can’t understand what’s going on or can’t visualize it, whether because of vocabulary or a difficult writing style, they won’t enjoy it. How can you like a story you can’t understand, after all?
I can’t help but think of operas as I contemplate stories. That is, after all, what an opera is. So often I think musicians think of opera as music, but it’s more than just music. It’s a story told through music. The operative part of that statement being, “it’s a story.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, “Just listen to the music. It’s all there.” Well, no offense to my musical compatriots, but no, it’s not. I don’t think it was intended to be. If it were, there would be no staging directions, no acting or set or costumes required. If all you had to do to understand the story was listen to the music, why have singers or text at all? I mean, honestly, how often do we really understand the words that are being sung? Why not just write a programmatic symphony and be done with it? Opera is an incredibly expensive and work-intensive undertaking. But no, there’s a story to be told, with characters and scenes and drama and… You get the point. It’s not just an auditory art form, it’s very visual. It’s much more like cinema than anything else. In fact I’ve seen operas filmed like movies quite successfully. Madame Butterfly, for example was very good done that way. The singing didn’t seem artificial at all, but made complete sense. It was a very well-told story.
Anyhow… I’ll stop boring you. Go read a book. It will be much more interesting than my ramblings. May I suggest The Land of Elyon trilogy… Inventive stories, but I haven’t read the third one yet. Or Eragon and Eldest (can’t wait for the next one to come out)… Or Inkheart and Inkspell… Or Lord of the Rings… Or Chronicles of Narnia… Or… I could keep listing them… 
