What is the shape of story? In an early talk that became “On Stories“–published as an essay for the first time together with J.R.R. Tolkien‘s classic “On Fairy-Stories,” C.S. Lewis wants us to think about the lost art of atmosphere when we think about books. Lewis is also pointing to narrative detail, literary realism, and what I call “The Shape of Story.”

In this Inklings Folk Fellowship interactive book talk, you will have a chance to dig out your sketch pad, pull the pencil from behind your ear, and get ready to put both hemispheres of your readerly brains to work. Or perhaps you are a coloured-pen-and-journal person like me—that will work too. Really, a Sharpie from the junk drawer and the inside of a cereal box will do.

Whatever oddments of paper and ink you have at hand are all that is needed for this interactive talk on my new book, The Spiritual Imagination of C.S. Lewis. I am hoping to help readers of Lewis’ fiction sketch the shape of his stories—the structures we see on the surface, as well as the hidden elements found only within the walls of his other worlds.

For worldbuilding, I believe, is more than scaffolding for storytelling. The forms of the fictional worlds themselves have meaning.

The event is free and open to anyone. Friday, Nov 6 at 4:00pm ET (5:00pm AT, 9:00pm GMT).

I think it will be a fun discussion as we play with the form of the fairy tale, the shape of story, and the heart of the hero’s tale. I’d love to see you there!

Totally optional, but if you are interested, some of the materials I am talking about are in The Spiritual Imagination of C.S. Lewis, ch. 6, “Narrative Patterns of the Cross.”