From: seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com   
      
   On 6/6/14 7:10 AM, mumble wrote:   
   > Is storytelling a talent one is born with, or is it a skill that can be   
   > developed?   
   >   
   > Aside from autobiography, where do the stories come from?  Are they   
   > imagined up out of thin air?  Are they transformations of stories one   
   > has lived himself?  Other?   
      
      
   	I think it's very clearly both. You're born with more or less inherent   
   talent in assembling concepts in ways that are conducive to   
   storytelling, but if you don't provide that talent with the tools and   
   knowledge needed to USE it, you won't be able to write much of anything.   
      
   	I'm not a subscriber to the Muse concept. There are occasional periods   
   in which my subconscious will have obviously worked hard on something   
   that I wasn't consciously concentrating on -- _Polychrome_ is the most   
   obvious example -- but there's nothing mysterious or ineffable about the   
   process.   
      
   	The stories in general come from my wanting to see particular things   
   happen in a story of X type that either I haven't seen done, or haven't   
   seen done very often, and that I know no one else is likely to do. I   
   also build worlds and the worlds themselves often suggest certain types   
   of stories and from my constructed world I can figure out what those   
   stories would be like.   
      
   	Sometimes it's sparked by seeing something and saying "No, no, NO!   
   That's not the way it should work, it should work like THIS!"   
      
   	   
      
   --   
                         Sea Wasp   
                           /^\   
                           ;;;	   
   Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com  Blog:   
   http://seawasp.livejournal.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)