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I recently had the honour of chatting with Lisa Hope Tilstra on the Make Life Less Difficult podcast. To quote her purpose, “This podcast explores what it means to make life less difficult for each other and for ourselves. We share stories of struggles and successes because we believe sharing our stories eases the difficulty of life.” This really spoke to me because as an editor and writing coach, my role is all about helping people tell their stories. I tried to articulate for Lisa how I help authors and subsequently wrote this post to capture those ideas.
When a client approaches me for help with their book, I need to understand their motivation and goals. The why, what and how of their story:
Why do they want to tell the story?
What do they want to say?
How might they say it?
This may sound obvious, but it’s easy to dive into what is already on the page without considering these parameters. If I’m working with authors who are clear about their goals, I don’t spend much time on this, but for new authors who are feeling their way, a more extensive discussion may be useful. Continue reading The Why, What and How of Storytelling