Storytelling Vs. Writing

Phillip Athans writes in his book, The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction:

Storytelling is at the heart of any genre of fiction…Teaching writing is relatively easy, but teaching storytelling is close to impossible.

Think about that. In all the writing classes you’ve sat in, or writing books you’ve read, are all the grammar tips and sentence structure mandates what makes or breaks your story? Yes, if your mastery of English is horrible, then your book isn’t going to find many readers. On the other hand, if you follow every “rule” to the letter, ignoring the flexibility of the language, will your great story be buried under perfect 8th-grade English? Perfect schoolroom grammar and perfect writing are not necessarily the same thing. And perfect writing is not gripping, immersive or compelling.

That is where the story comes in. Stay away from those things that will ruin it. Be a storyteller first, and if you really care about that, the rest will come.