Anthology: What Makes a Story a Good Story?
A new author came on the scene in 1992. His name was Robert James Waller, and he wrote The Bridges of Madison County. I invite you to continue reading to discover other new writers who found their voice (See: Table of Contents).
Table of Contents
1 Robert James Waller
The Bridges of Madison County
2 Robert James Waller
Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend
3 Robert James Waller
High Plains Tango
4 Charles Frazier
Cold Mountain
5 Hermann Hesse
Steppenwolf
6 John Tytell
Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano
7 Rohinton Mistry
A Fine Balance
8 Avenel
Bulfinch’s Mythology
9 Michael Quint
In Our Strange Gardens
10 Henry David Thoreau
Portable Thoreau
Anthology: What Makes a Story a Good Story?
Since the eons of time, people have told stories. Before humans could write, they sat around in groups in caves and mimicked their adventures of the great hunt. They gestured with their hands to emphasis the tales told of predatory animals that came close to killing them. They painted their adventures on the walls of the caves using crushed herbs, wild berries, and red clay. The art of storytelling is as ingrained in the human psyche as the blood flowing through our veins. Some stories entertain, a few stories make us laugh, and various stories make us cry, while others scare us within an inch of our lives. Some stories create a peace within our hearts that radiates down to our souls and out into the world. Each story has a purpose. Nevertheless, what makes a story a good story? This anthology offers some suggestions for you to consider.
A new author came on the scene in 1992. His name was Robert James Waller, and he wrote The Bridges of Madison County. This first novel surprised many people when it became a #1 best-seller, made it to the big screen and became a successful motion picture. Waller brings together two simple characters in Robert Kincaid, a world-renown photographer for National Geographic, and his secondary character, Francesca Johnson, a simple farmer’s wife from Iowa. The book became a number one best-seller. In the following piece from this book, we see the artistry Waller uses to tap into his character’s emotions. We witness the skill he uses to arouse the same emotional ties in his readers that he arouses in his characters. We enter the scene where Kincaid first meets Johnson:
His eyes looked directly at her, and she felt something jump inside. The eyes, the voice, the face, the silver hair, the easy way he moved his body, old ways, disturbing ways, ways that draw you in. Ways that whisper to you in the final moment before sleep comes, when…
