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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » story

story

The Story We Bring to the Story

By Steve Laubeon June 7, 2021
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With all the discussion about the craft of fiction and the need to write a great story, there is one thing missing in the equation. The one thing that is the secret to great fiction. And it is the one thing the writer cannot control.

That one thing is the story the reader brings with them to their reading experience. As a reader, I have the life I have lived, the people I’ve met, the books I’ve read, and the places I’ve been that I bring with me into the world your novel has created. This makes the reading of every story unique. No two people can read the same story the same way. This is why one person’s favorite book is another’s thrift-store giveaway.

In the memoir The End of Your Life Book Club, author Will Schwable writes about the books he read with his mom during the last years of her life. In his introduction, he wrote something profound:

We all have a lot more to read than we can read and a lot more to do than we can do. Still, one of the things I learned from Mom is this: Reading isn’t the opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying. I will never be able to read my mother’s favorite books without thinking of her—and when I pass them on and recommend them, I’ll know that some of what made her goes with them; that some of my mother will live on in those readers, readers who may be inspired to love the way she loved and do their own version of what she did in the world.

This is the secret to the greatest novels of all time. They were written so my story, the essence of who I am, merged with that story and became something new. Something unique. Something inexplicable. A new story. And then became a part of who I am and a part of what I bring to the next story I read.

That’s the story I want to read. Can you write it? I can’t wait to read it.

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Category: Art, Craft, Creativity, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Reader, story

The Best Time to Submit to an Agent

By Karen Ballon August 3, 2016
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Thanks to Katie Powner for her question on my May 25, 2016 blog, which sparked this blog. There have been many changes in publishing over the last few years. In fact, it seems we just get used to some element of publishing, and wham! It’s turned on its head. But there is something that hasn’t changed. Something I don’t think will ever change. At least, I pray it won’t. Story trumps all. Oh, I …

Read moreThe Best Time to Submit to an Agent
Category: Agents, Book Proposals, Get PublishedTag: Agents, book proposals, Get Published, story

Start the New Year Right

By Karen Ballon January 7, 2015
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I must have started this blog fifteen times. I’d write a word or a line, then delete it. All because I’m trying to think of something new and clever to say about the fact that we’re facing a new year. But you know what? There isn’t really anything new to say. Sure, publishing has changed, and will continue to change. Yes, books are being published and will continue to be published. How that …

Read moreStart the New Year Right
Category: Art, Career, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: story, The Writing Life

The First Novel I Ever Read

By Dan Balowon September 3, 2013
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It was the summer of 1970…I was dreading a long family car trip mainly because I was 14, I had braces on my teeth and was starting high school in the fall.  I was required to be full of dread.

The big hits on pop radio that summer were "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (Three Dog Night), "Close to You" (Carpenters), "Everything is Beautiful" (Ray Stevens), "The Long and Winding Road" by the Beatles, …

Read moreThe First Novel I Ever Read
Category: Dan, Personal, ReadingTag: novels, Reading, story

News You Can Use – June 5, 2012

By Steve Laubeon June 5, 2012
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Six Tough Truths About Self-Publishing (That the Advocates Never Seem to Talk About) - Rob Hart writes an insightful and cautionary tale.

22 Rules of Story Telling According to Pixar - This is an excellent article for every novelist to read.

10 Great Science Fiction Novels for People Who Don't Read Sci-Fi - I have to say that I agree with only four of their choices. Such is the nature of …

Read moreNews You Can Use – June 5, 2012
Category: News You Can Use, SteveTag: Amazon, Craft, science fiction, Self-Publishing, speed reading, story, word count

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