We are changing things up at SHR because we want to up our engagement with creatives like you. The publishing world has changed. The Internet opened up shiny, new ways to connect with writers and artists. We’d like to learn more about how and why artists and writers create, so we’ve decided to do things differently. We’re introducing podcasts, video tours through artists’ studios and a blog. By making this experience more interactive, we hope to become better artists and writers, ourselves. We’ll continue to publish stories, poetry and artwork too. Check out our submission page if you’re interested.
Now, about our blog: I’ve been writing all my life and I’m still asking: What is a good story, well told? It can’t be as simple as Aristotle’s three-act play—can it? I plan to explore the history and development of Story, with a capital ‘S’, and how it morphed from oral enactments to novels and then splashed all over movie/ television screens, before it colonized the game industry. Every time it jumped to a new medium, it changed and adapted to its new environment. Yet, if you burrow down to the very core of Story, much of it remains unchanged. This begs the question: is there something, hard and true, at the center of good storytelling that we all respond to?
While galumphing around these squishy questions, I’ll also review a few writerly books that focus on the craft of writing and publishing. However, I don’t plan to spend much time on marketing and promotion as that stuff bores me. You’ll have to look elsewhere for that.
If you have your own views about what comprises a great story, I’d like to hear from you.
This will be fun!
Wendy D. Walter
Editor, Sand Hill Review