"Daaad." It's the petulant cry that any parent knows. "That's not a story!"
Yeah, he's right. Even my six year old son knows when a group of actions with a bit of dialogue fails to make a story.
I encountered this protest the other night when I was trying to calm my kids down. I often tell them stories that include strange characters and more than likely I will include their ideas. But this time "That's not a story!" fit perfectly.
I find it strangely satisfying that it's so easy to tell bad entertainment from good. Now, I almost wrote that it's easy to tell bad art from good (actually I wrote it and then erased it). But there is a real difference between art and entertainment. Just like friendly Mr. Square and Sir Rectangle, entertainment can be art, and art can be entertaining, but these two words are not synonyms. And more often than not you will find that art that moves your soul or inspires you to greater heights can bore most people to tears. Understanding art takes skill and training. Art is like a secret code to anyone who has read the right book. But some art, and I like to aim for this kind whenever possible, speaks to those who haven't read the right book as well as those who have.
Entertainment on the other hand, and all the art that falls into this category, lends itself to understanding from even six year old children who barely know how to add 6 and 20 (just so you know, that's 26).
So, that's not a story. We all know it, and sometimes we're willing, like the six year old, to hold the supposed story teller accountable. In fact, criticism comes easy. We all know when we come away from something unchanged. Art is an interpretation of life, and the secret behind life is that everyone in your audience has that trait...the being alive trait. So everyone is an expert. That makes my job hard, but it also makes it worth that much more when I recieve a different response like, "That story stinks."
Hey, at least it's a story.
