Hosting a Good Story

The classic relationship between an author and their readership is the same as the dinner party host to their guests. When a guest arrives, the host will welcome them, take their coat, give the guest the grand tour of the home and introduce them to all the people in the room.

The guest will then have some time to acquaint themselves with the characters at the party while casually sipping a cocktail and enjoying a few hors d'ovres. Eventually a delicious dinner will be served. How many courses there are is a choice left up to the host. Often, the dinner will build and build to the climax of the main course, followed by a tasty desert (or cheese plate) with an aperitif to wash the story down. The good host cares about the comfort and happiness of their guest.

Such is the classic arch of a novel, short story, movie or even a newspaper article. All too often these days we run into authors that are bad hosts. These are the kind of authors that casually throw your coat in the corner, do not kindly introduce you around and serve up a nasty meal. Al they're interested in is serving up whatever they feel with out regard to the guests. They only invite who their cronies and constantly steer the conversation towards themselves.

Sometimes you get cheap tricky authors that think they are clever by not showing all the rooms in the house and then constantly surprising you with new rooms. Or even sneakier authors that give you the grand tour but leave out a couple key rooms. This was the bread and butter of the great 19th century writers, like Charlotte Bronte or Oscar Wilde , who kept the unspeakable old lady (or, in the case of Wilde the picture) locked in the attic, only to bring them out right when the main course is served.

These days you will find many host that do not follow what would be considered the usual polite protocol. For example, you'll get a host like Hubert Selby Jr. (Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream) that live in a burned out old warehouse, invite thieving heroin addicts to their parties to accost you and then let you fight your way out to safety.

Or perhaps you'll be invited to a Daniel Steele party who brings you to her country club and lets you hobbnob with the rich with their virulent and complex web of relationships. Stephen King (The Shining and Carrie) who invites you to his haunted mansion with psychotic and daemons for guests. Russian authors like Tolstoy or Dostoevsky will invite too many people to their party and then spend what seems like forever introducing you around. Or science fiction authors who don't even introduce you around but expect you to find a way to make sense of the bizarre cuisine that they serve.

There are many ways to host a story or article. But the most important things for any new author to remember is that a good host puts their guest first, before their own interests. If one always writes with the guests in mind, they will forever have people seeking invitations to their dinner parties.