Re-titling my webpage as “Roy M. Griffis – Storyteller” wasn’t done lightly.  But I felt honesty demanded it.   Novelist” or “Artist” seemed kind of pretentious, like  business resumes proclaiming “Thought-leader”.

See, I have all kinds of ideas.  Some work best as novels (about 13 – 15 of those in my head), some as screenplays (two or three of those kicking around in the subconscious), some as comic strips.  I’d like to think I’m not a slave to a genre or a niche: I’ve written historical fiction and slightly satiric alternative history.  There’s the filmscript about a man hunting the seductive female vampire that slew his wife, and I’ve won some awards for my short stories and plays.  Just a lot of different stuff.

Because at heart, I’m a storyteller.  It’s great to have options about how those stories will be communicated.

One long-simmering idea was to take a non-fiction book about a significant cultural event that happened over 70 years ago and turn it into a stage play.  The problem with that particular creative dream was even reaching the author.  Over the years, I’d tried through her publisher, her former employer, her agent, and the Writer’s Guild of America.

Finally, I heard from her late on Friday evening. My letter from last February had been forwarded to her, but misplaced for almost a year and a half.

And she didn’t immediately say “no” to this mostly unknown writer.  In fact, she and I will be talking today about my ideas to turn her book into a stage play.

Whether or not it will pan out, I can’t say.  But it’s a story I want to tell, so I’m going to give it my best shot.