"Storyhouse" is not a typo. If you've got a multitude of good stories to tell...or, a storehouse of stories for purposes of this posting, almost half the battle of creating an engaging piece of art is through. 

If you came to this posting because of the twitter/facebook posting that I put up, "When I walked out of the theater, no joke, I saw this" - you probably clicked on the link that brought you here because you wanted to know how the story ended (sorry for that little bit of deception, to not leave you hanging though - I saw the content of this posting!). It's wired into the history of humans to want to hear stories - whether through oral tradition, through song, or more recently, through print and through film.  All of the means I just listed are vehicles that can certainly enhance the presentation of the story, but if the story at it's root isn't appealing or heartfelt, people will lose interest and it will not have longevity.

I have to give a nod to Mark Fergus (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1318843/) - I saw his film First Snow at the Albuquerque Film Festival this past weekend, and he did some Q&A afterwards. First Snow was his directorial debut, and after the project was finished he was offered numerous other directing gigs, but respectfully declined them. "I would have to direct an adaptation of a story that I didn't want to tell," Mark petitioned. 

For those of you who are artists - you're probably going in one direction or the other here. One direction argues that Mark missed out on a big opportunity to direct some other larger budget movies, while the other praises him for sticking to his guns about telling good stories.  I'm going to agree with the latter in this case. 

Whether you're an author, songwriter, filmmaker, etc. - some of us know the tricks to make our writing sound good, but whether we're writing a great story from the heart that has impact is another matter. For example, here's a short story that's not interesting, but I'll try to use word pictures that make it sound interesting:

Example (bad story, bad writing): I went to the store. I bought a loaf of bread. I went home.

Example (bad story, better writing): My journey began with a pang of sleepless inspiration coupled by a hunger that I couldn't deny. The twisting road that lead to the grocer was only rivaled by the twisting that was taking place in my stomach. Once the whole-wheat answer was in my hands, I rushed by the clerk with little-to-no chatter, traded coin for food, and was swiftly en route back to where the other sandwich condiments made a palace in my mind. Home.

So, I'm obviously not an author (some of you are thanking God this very moment for that truth), but you can see that I gave a little more detail, which made the story more engrossing, but by the end, it's the same meaning as the first example. We as artists should strive to have both good stories that deliver powerful messages, and good writing. 

"Well duh, Matt.  If I could do that all the time, I wouldn't have to read you're dumb posting about buying bread."

This is just an encouragement - it's probably more meant for me than anyone else, but whatever you're involved in, do your best to tell stories that matter, and do your best to tell them in a way that people can hang with you, and want to stay with you.

Put mortar on another brick in storyhouse, and I'll see ya'll soon.

-TRMJ