Telling a Story vs. Storytelling 📖 🗣️ 💬

There is a difference between telling a story and storytelling.

Telling a story gives the reader information. It explains what happened, what a character is feeling, why something matters, and how one event connects to another. The writer guides the reader through the story.

Storytelling is a little different.

Storytelling gives the reader an experience from which they can discover the story for themselves.

Instead of telling us that a character is nervous, the writer might show a hand hesitating over a doorknob, a room suddenly feeling too quiet, or a conversation that doesn’t quite sound right. We begin to understand what is happening without being told exactly what to think or feel.

Perhaps that’s why some stories feel more immersive than others.

Telling a story gives us the story.

Storytelling gives us an experience from which we discover the story.

Both have their place. But when a writer leaves a little room for the reader to notice, wonder, and discover, the story can become something more than words on a page.

It can become an experience the reader feels as though they were part of.