Roy M. Griffis

Roy M. Griffis

Storyteller

I call myself a “Storyteller” for a reason

19th Anniversary photo with the Rib (my wife Alisa) in front of the old farmhouse we spent two years renovating.

 

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.

 

 

5 thoughts on “I call myself a “Storyteller” for a reason”

  1. I have read, re-read, recommended and 5-star reviewed your wonderful By the Hands of Men series, as well as The Lonesome George Chronicles, for which I anxiously await the 4th installment as our own potential dark times emerge. You have an amazing gift for characterization, but my deepest appreciation is the Spirit that informs the ethic that is clearly at the center of your storytelling. Thank you for casting such a vision of fidelity in times of trouble!

    1. I am humbled by your kind words. Honest. The fact you have enjoyed the books enough to recommend and re-read them means a lot to me. And I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you responded to the quiet Spirit I was attempting to make as integral a part of the story as the action and the love. For without the Spirit, what do we really have?

      Stay in touch, Jim! I’m hard at work on a new novel. I have so many ideas (“Storyteller,” duh) that it can be hard to decide which one to work on. But I will finish the Lonesome George Chronicles, soon. I owe it to faithful readers like you.

      1. Thanks, Cap! I’ll be waiting. The transformations of Alec B and Molly Ivins is one of the epic moments in all literature, IMHO. “Shrub”, indeed! Move to Canada, my fannie! You provided the urgentLy required context (America, the Last Best Hope) that all Americans need to be jarred to remember in these current dark days. I appreciate you and will be looking for your next work!

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