Wednesday, 31 October 2007

The Ultimate Journey

Having a feeling that someone once said that every story is like a journey, I searched on Google for "story like a journey" and was rewarded with 27,500 hits. Turning things around, I then searched for "journey like a story" for which, to my surprise, there was only one hit.

Does this simile work in only one direction?

A friend recently told me of an Arabic saying: "Every journey is a symbol of the real and ultimate journey". It all makes me wonder where this journey of mine is going to lead.

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

Lights. Camera. Action.

First assemble your tools, then begin. The tools for this journey include lights, camera and microphone. That's because I'm going to be making a documentary film along the way. A film about stories, as it were.

For the last few weeks I have been researching types of camera and their qualities and costs. At last I have settled on the Sony Z1E, found one for sale second hand, agreed a price and on Sunday I'll be going down to London to pick it up.

With that out of the way I can start to think about the task ahead. What will I find when I visit reading groups around the region? Will the stories people have to tell me offer any answers? Will I find out why people seem to need stories?

A small, anxious voice in the back of my head is saying "What if people just say their favourite story is East Enders, and can't or won't articulate the reason? I won't have much of a documentary." And yet, I don't think that is going to happen. Most people have a story to tell.

We will see...

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

To Begin at the Beginning

Every story should have a beginning, a middle and an end. I don't yet know the middle or the end of this one. But I know the beginning - and that is here.

Today is the start of a 9 month journey around the East Midlands. My mission is to learn about the stories people love and to find out why they love them. This blog is going to be the story of my journey. A story about stories.

How and why did this journey come about? That is what is known in the trade as 'exposition' or 'back story'. I'll tell you more about that in the next installment.