A Sense of Resonation

“What I want most of all is resonance, something that will linger for a little while in…(the reader’s)...mind and heart after he or she has closed the book and put it on the shelf.” 

Many of you know I’ve been reading through the Stephen King work On Writing  - A Memoir of the Craft. The book was first published in 2000, and my copy is the 20th anniversary edition. It makes me feel like I’m coming a little late to the game, and makes me wonder what my own writing experience (and teaching experience) would be like today if I had read it when it first was published. 

There are many gems from his book that I’ve underlined while reading, too many to squeeze into a simple blog post, but tonight as I sit down to try and knock out a gem of my own, that was the one that stood out.

 Res·o·nant:  (of sound) deep, clear, and continuing to sound or ring.

I agree with King…hang on, that doesn’t quite seem right, referring to him that way. It’s appropriately formal, and fits what I would have told my students to do, but it doesn’t have the right feel. Mr. King? No. That doesn’t quite do it either. I realize I only know him through the one Stephen King novel I have read (The Stand) and the few novel based films of his I have watched (Carrie, The Green Mile, The Shining - and I kept my eyes closed through most of them), but 226 pages into On Writing, it feels like I know him. We’re friends. 

I agree with Steve, the thing I most want from a book I am consuming, or a play or movie I am watching, a song I am listening to, or any work of art I am experiencing, is to have the human experience of resonance. And having been on both sides of that experience - although I’ve been the actor and singer whose work was being experienced much more than I’ve been the writer whose words were resonating - I believe that longing goes both ways. Creator and consumer are both seeking the experience of resonance.

Think about the complicated and resonant relationship (hopefully) between playwright, director, actor, and audience. Each component, each creator in the process, has a job to do. If done well enough - just well enough - there is a resonance that rings out (or maybe it rings in), and echoes all the way back to the original Creator.  

Note my intentional capitalization of the word Creator. Here at Grow Me A Story, Carol and I are fond of saying that everyone is creative, which is to describe the desire of the human heart to resonate with another human heart. The human template includes not only the desire to create, but also the desire each creator for that creation to be shared, appreciated and enjoyed.

At times that resonance rings loud and long and clear to an audience well beyond the reach or knowledge of the creator.  At times it is a very private, personal resonance between two people, expressed in the simplest of ways.

So, let me tie a bow on this word package by saying “Thanks, Steve. I was surprised by your present. Your book has been a wonderful gift. Your new friend, Paul.”

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Who are a few creators whose work resonates with you? Can you explain why a particular author, actor, composer, etc. speaks to you? 

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