Wisdom from Jim Fisher

Monday Jim Fisher visited my class and lead a workshop in which we developed a couple of story ideas. Both students already had concepts, but one of Jim's gifts is to marry dramatic structure to a crisis of choice for the main character. In class we brainstormed what that crisis would be for each of the stories and what elements would be in place to bring the characters to that terrible place. Both students left with juicier stories.

Here's the essence of what Jim, an alumn of Second City and a working writer with numerous credits for both film and television, taught us:

Understand that if we give a fictional character an easy choice, we get: Who cares? But give a fictional character an impossible choice, say between rescuing her mother and saving the Earth, and we get some heat.

About three-quarters of the way through a story--the Act II climax, a.k.a. the Central Ordeal, a.k.a. Plot Point II, for those who like to locate a turning point in dramaturgy terms--Jim says put the hero in a situation that's "the exact opposite of where the character wants to be. . . . on the horns of the dilemma."

Thanks, Jim, for serving as my muse.

Happy New Year

In honor of the Chinese and Tibetan New Year, the year of the rat, I offer inspiration from another artist. This is a quote from a letter written in 1810 by Ludwig van Beethoven:

"Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?"

So when we're feeling bemused and bewildered by our creative efforts, we can take comfort in knowing that we're in good company. It's a great year.

The Explaining Tendency

In the context of storytelling I liken "explaining" to the human tendency of "complaining."  In other words it's a bad habit.

Allow me to explain. (HA! Caught me, didn't you?) But this is a brief expository essay, not a story.)

Last week my class played the What's in the bag? game. Briefly, the goal is to write an original scene and in it conceal an object, allowing the secret to generate excitement and momentum. (See 9/2/07 for a fuller description.) I had everyone break up into writing teams of three.  What I observed was all but one team revealed what was in the bag by the end of the scene. Which meant end of interest, end of story. So we ended up with a lot of blackout scenes that led no where, because most fell into the sand trap of the desire to explain. 

Notice that explaining is qualitatively different than describing. The latter is an integral part of our craft. I've noticed in my own work my tendency to under-describe the details of the action and the physical world. I may have a vivid picture in my mind's eye, but neglect getting that picture on the page so that readers can share it with me. 

 

Which leads me to the confession that in the last two weeks all the rewriting I've done on Green Tara has been focused on expanding descriptions.  I'm talking an added twelve pages out of what is now 150 and I'm only 20% into the story. At this rate I'll add another fifty pages to my young adult novel! Though I'm not sure it will follow, because it's in the beginning of a story that the reader needs enough detail to fully picture the story world. 

I'll report soon, and forgive me for taking so long between posts. My attention has been very much on my novel rewrite and how to fully describe without falling into the sand trap of explaining.