The Storyteller's Promise

I was talking with a client about their book earlier today. No, I won’t tell you who it was. They know who they are. Anyway, they were whining—as one does—about how hard this feels in the moment when you’re iterating on your story, adjusting the world building, feeling the frustration of getting feedback that it’s not there yet… That’s hard. I’m frequently on the other side of that tough input as a writer myself.

But, there’s a reason we storytellers do the work to make each story the best we can (and it’s not because we’ll go crazy if we don’t): It’s because we made a promise to the recipients of the gift of our story. 💫

The Storyteller’s Promise

I will daydream for you better than you can daydream yourself.

This promise you are making to your reader breaks down into several parts.

You are promising your reader that your story will seem real. It could have been or could yet be. This is not a promise to be “realistic” or to be normal, because you have promised your reader to not seem like a waste of time. This means that your story must be hyper-normal and hyper-real. It must seem real but be more than real. You can’t ramble or waste their time, because it must seem important.

You are promising your reader that your story will be relatable to their lives. Your werewolf in love must carry the universality of what the reader knows being in love to be. Your villain’s motivations must make sense to the reader in the moment and in a gestalt by the end. In an “I get it” sort of way, not usually in an “I’d totally do that” sort of way. Your story won’t be true per se, but it must feel true.

You are promising your reader that your story will make sense in two modes: as we read and as we remember. If part of your story only makes sense in hindsight, you have an obligation to minimize or hide the importance of the “thing that won’t make sense until later” so the reader can enjoy the story going forward as well as enjoy the retrocausality after-the-fact.

To say it differently:

Your story has to make sense forwards and backwards.

They don’t have to like what happens (in fact, for most of the story, you should be making your reader angry/sad/grief-stricken/etcetera to earn the big finale), but they have to be able to follow the events and motivations logically and causally. It’s fine for the characters on the page to be confused, but it’s never OK for the reader to be confused.

Writers often conflate mystery with permission to confuse the reader. It’s fine for a reader to become aware that they don’t know some piece of vital information, but it’s not fine for them to be frustrated because it feels like you’re artificially prolonging the inevitable reveal. In most cases, you’ll be better served by letting the reader in on the secret, but not the characters, and empower the reader to enjoy the dramatic irony.

You are promising your reader that nothing is wasted in your characterization or world building. The reader must trust you that everything on the page is important enough for someone to pay attention to. If you break their trust in this way too many times or include too many extraneous, irrelevant details, they will stop reading.

This is the specific part of the Storyteller’s Promise that my client and I were discussing. There’s a particular aspect of the magic system that’s sort of disposable, because the hero of the story starts of one way with one power set and earns the “unlocking” of an alternative power set that replaces the one he started with. (No, this is not a gamelit or LitRPG story.) We were debating the merits and the pain of iterating and improving the disposable power set (in part, by making it not really disposable in a worldwide sense) and refining it more. This is part of the promise: everything on the page matters, forward and backward.

Your brand, genre, niche, marketing category, etcetera all come along with reader expectations. These are promises you are making to your reader. In my earlier revision article (over a year ago? 😅), I called this the promise of violence because that’s how I think of it in my Temple of Vengeance series. In reality, yours may be the promise of love or cuddles or whatever. Just remember what you’ve promised your reader implicitly and explicitly then make sure there’s some of that on EVERY PAGE… because you promised.

The Nine Circles of Revision Hell

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February 23, 2025

If the Nine Circles of Revision Hell seem daunting to you, you’re not alone. They can be a slog, even when you’ve done them many times. For a lot of writers, the editing process is the most painful part of publishing. I’m weird. I enjoy it! But I’m aware that not everyone does. If you don’t get off on revisions or if you don’t even know where to start, let me help you.

Keeping track of all of your story promises is hard. Meeting them in a satisfying and cathartic way is even harder. If you’d like help with that, call me and let’s chat about how I can help you.

Who are you writing for?

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March 16, 2025

There is one most important piece of the puzzle that you absolutely must know about your ideal reader.

You will write like you train.

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Jan 13

When I first decided to “get serious” about writing, I had this completely unrational, irreasonable expectation that I could just sit down, type the words until THE END, and I would have an enduring work of fiction. (No, I won’t tell you how long ago that was. It’s Top Secret®.) One of

At ProWritingAid’s Novel Camp 2026, I will be presenting a session called Stick the Landing: How to Create a Cathartic and Satisfying Conclusion. Here’re the deetz:

There’s a lot to consider about THE END before (and maybe after) you type those words…for each novel. Are you sure you got everything? Do you know what to check for? Do you know how to even check? Join us for some satisfying tools and scintillating conversation about how to know you’re done when you’re done.

Sign up today so you don’t forget. 😏

⭐️ I did announce the big (for me) preorder, but in case you missed it:

Baby's First Official Editor Credit

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May 15

Jed Rawls hid in the safest corner of the law: his sleepy Chicago trust-and-estates practice. Wills. Probate. Doling out money to his dead clients’ obnoxious nepobabies. He should have made partner years ago. He also knows exactly why he never will.

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