Visual Storytelling

By Sophia Gholz

Whether you are a picture book author or a novelist, the concept of visual storytelling is important. Now, when I refer to “visual” here, I don’t mean the imagery that accompanies a manuscript. What I’m talking about is the story that you bring to life in your reader’s mind through your words—the movie you’ve created.

Let me rewind for a second and give you a little background. In my twenties I wrote daily, but I was terrified to share my written words with anyone. Instead, I chose to focus on telling stories through art and imagery. I attended a specialty school for photography and focused on fashion. I loved how a magazine or advertising campaign could create a ridiculous fantasy shared like a silent movie across a limited image count. I spent years studying and working with images in a variety of ways. What I didn’t know then was how much that training would come in handy when I finally grew brave enough to focus on writing again.

 

As an author, everything you write is a mini movie for your reader, and you are the director. It is your job to lay out the scenes, set the pace, and the mood. Most importantly, however, you are the one who decides what makes it into your movie and what is left on the cutting room floor. What unique angle are you going to use to capture your viewer’s attention? Which slice of life or facts are essential to telling the story?

Close your eyes and think of your current work in progress. Now imagine your manuscript as a movie or documentary. Is it interesting? Be honest with yourself. Look at your manuscript through the eyes of a cinematographer capturing the film. How do your scenes flow? Are the transitions smooth or are they choppy? What’s the pace like? What is happening in the opening scene? Is there a way to shift the camera slightly to bring a unique perspective to that scene? Perhaps you’re looking straight at your subject. What if you tilt the camera and shoot from a lower angle? There might be a clock on the wall behind your subject, and the ticking of that clock is what actually sets the pace and defines the whole scene. When you write, you are holding the camera that will capture and tell the story. Are you going to film with a wide lens and show us the entire setting or zoom in and tell us the story through the eyes of a supporting character?

You might think the idea of visual storytelling doesn’t apply as much to nonfiction as it does to fiction. But think about some of your favorite documentaries or biographical films and all of the unique ways they presented their information. What techniques did they use that you loved?

The 2019 film, Rocketman, shares the story of Elton John. In Rocketman, we aren’t shown every single detail from life to present-day. The director had to choose a theme—a thread that would tie all of the big moments together—for John’s story and then edit the highlights of John’s life that were pertinent to that theme. In this case, one of the central themes focused on John’s desire to feel loved. Almost all of the big scenes in the movie relate to this central theme. Eventually, in the end, the film showed how John overcame the need to feel loved by learning to love himself. It was the director’s job to balance the theme with the chosen highlights and the pace, in order to create the strongest story possible. As your story’s director this is your job, too.

Do you have a favorite biopic film? If so, how did the director present the subject in the film? Studying films and documentaries is a fantastic way to find inspiration and new techniques that you might apply to your own storytelling.

One of my favorite docuseries is called Planet Earth (produced by BBC). In one episode, Planet Earth explores islands. In this episode, the show director could have given us an overview of the different islands featured. It may have been nice, and we certainly would have learned something. But in today’s tough market we don’t need a nice story, we need a memorable story. On Fernandina Island in the Galapagos, the creators of Planet Earth do not give us a lot of background, yet we learn so much about the island and mother nature through one short riveting scene filmed through the perspective of a snake and a lizard:

You see, the directors were strict editors here and left much of the island on the cutting room floor. They focused on a single nugget that created a visually stimulating story, while giving us a feel for the island as a whole. As you write, look for nuggets that you can focus on that would add a new spin or layer to your manuscript. Do you really need all of the information and details on that page or can you edit some of it out and tell the story from a different angle?

Whether you are writing a picture book or novel, visual storytelling is an essential part of writing. As an author you are capturing the movie in your mind through your words. Imagine, as you write, the camera moving through each spread or chapter and how you might shift the camera to show the reader something never seen before.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sophia Gholz is an artist & children’s book author. Her debut book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, is a 2019 Eureka! Nonfiction Honor Award winner and has been included on numerous lists. Sophia is also the managing owner of RateYourStory.org and board member of KidLiteracy.org. Sophia enjoys writing fiction with humor and heart. When writing nonfiction, she pulls on her love of science and her strong family background in ecology. Since 2017, Sophia has helped oversee the Henry L. Gholz SEEDS National Field Trip Endowment for The Ecological Society of America, funding ecological field experiences for students from diverse backgrounds. For more, visit Sophia online:

www.SophiaGholz.com 

Twitter: @SophiaGholz 

Instagram: @SophiaGholz

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiagholzauthor

ABOUT THE PRIZE

Sophia Gholz is offering the winner a choice of either a free 15-minute Skype visit for a school classroom or a free picture book (fiction or nonfiction) critique (1200-words or less). Prizes must be used before June 1st, 2020. 

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