When to Write/Tell a Story: Ink Scrawl Nugget 27

"So my tale has begun?" Poison asked, brushing her black hair behind her ear.
"Yes."
"So why can't I see it?"
"Because all the pages are blank."
Poison made a noise of incomprehension.
"You can't tell half a tale, Poison. You can't write half a book. Whatever you choose to do next will completely change the aspect of what has gone before. If you decided to suddenly kill your friends as they slept—"
"Why would I do that?" Poison interjected.
"Bear with me," Fleet said patiently. "If you did, then the tale will take on a whole new light. Instead of being the journey of Poison from Gull to save her sister, it would be the terrible story of how a young girl became a cold-blooded killer. The way it would be written would be different. Do you see? Or you may die right now, and it would turn out that it wasn't your tale all along, it was Bram's or Peppercorn's, and you were just one of the sideline characters. The whole story has to be known before it can be recorded; otherwise it might suddenly change. That's the beauty Poison. You never know what's going to happen next. When the tale is ended, then the writing will be visible to your eyes; but until then, it is unwritten."

— From Poison by Chris Wooding

Fleet, an antiquarian (a collector and narrator of tales) explains to Poison how and when the stories of heroes are written. What happens prior to the writing of a story is merely the collecting of details — the boring work of historians. Storytellers do not include details unless they are necessary. And the necessity of a particular detail is known only when the tale is ended—and when it is ready to be told.