A perfect string of pearls

FROM MY INNER TEACHER TO YOUR INNER TELLER ...

We all know that the images in our heads are the cores of the stories we tell. There are those of us who are also madly in love with words.
When I am working on a story (often by looking at the images in my head and muttering to myself) I sometimes up up with the perfect phrase -- an absolute string of pearls!
I used to try and remember that perfect phrase so that I could use it when I was actually telling a story but that never worked out.

What's a teller to do when that perfect phrase turns elusive? 
It helps me to remember that I am not in the business of creating strings of pearls. When I am going around muttering about my story, I am in the business of digging a well -- a well full of every possible way to describe that picture in my head. That string of pearls will be in there somewhere, along with a whole lot of other phrases. What comes out when I actually tell? That's up to the audience, the circumstances, and the story itself. If I've done my work and created a nice well full of possibilities, that string of pearls actually might emerge on its own.

NOTE: While I had planned to do a telling tip and a story reflection in each blog post, it has occured to me that my strategy will make for really long posts. So I'm going to alternate. Today it's a FMITTYIT telling tip. Next time I'll tell you about the old man from New Mexico.
 

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