He got his original ideas by standing "on the shoulders of giants." Let's follow his lead.
Or even better: Snatch raw truths fresh from eternity.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Story Alchemy
I outline my stories, because I need to know where I'm going or I get lost and lose heart and quit. But I advise my students never to mistake the outline or story map with the journey.
A story is not a sum of all its parts or a simple string of scenes. A story has emotional pull. A story creates a sense of satisfaction and completeness. This comes from forcing a character to make a moral choice: to act or not to act. The key behind the choice is the main character's internal change. It's a character who changes deep down inside who moves us emotionally.
And therein lies the magic.
A story is not a sum of all its parts or a simple string of scenes. A story has emotional pull. A story creates a sense of satisfaction and completeness. This comes from forcing a character to make a moral choice: to act or not to act. The key behind the choice is the main character's internal change. It's a character who changes deep down inside who moves us emotionally.
And therein lies the magic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)