Wonder Woman Returns to Television

As beautiful as she is strong, Wonder Woman is also known for her extraordinary mental powers, including wisdom, profound scientific insight, and fluency in all languages, including Martian. (Who knew? A little quick research revealed she’s also been known to speak caveman.) Wonder Woman is victorious, not through her super strength, but through her wisdom and love. The lyrics from the 1976 TV series intro capture her spirit perfectly. ” . . . Make a hawk a dove. Stop a war with love. Make a liar tell the truth.”

And now David E. Kelley is slated to bring Wonder Woman back to television.

Read a more complete article about the new incarnation of Wonder Woman and some of her rich history at GeekMoms.

Rewrite in Progress

On January 1 of this year I made it to "the end" of a draft in first person of my MG novel, Green Tara. w00t!

Now, I'm going through the manuscript chapter by chapter, revising for clarity and revealing more of how the character feels. (I'm especially conscious of adding the emotional connection to the M.C. per the advice of my writing group. Slavedrivers:-)

Simultaneously, I'm going through the manuscript page by page, grooming every sentence and every phrase. And I'm experimenting with twitter by tweeting daily about the story. Yes, indeed. I'm story tweeting now.:-)

If you're interested follow my story tweets @thestorygoddess.

Save the Cat

In memory of Blake Snyder.

In the introduction of, Save the Cat, author Blake Snyder explains the origination of the book's title. It's an old Hollywood insider term that names a screen story's essential scene, the scene in which the main character saves a cat, or acts in some other way that endears him or herself to the audience.

No matter how surly or cool or in other ways unlikeable our hero may be, the writer's first task is to build an empathetic connection with the audience. This fundamental principle must be observed. While splashy effects and sexual cool are splashy and sexy, they will NOT sustain an audience for a full-length feature. For a full-length story, we need to care enough to follow our main character anywhere for the better part of two hours.

Examples: SEA OF LOVE, RAISING ARIZONA, THE PROFESSIONAL

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.

More on rewriting

Last week I faced the stark truth of just how much rewriting is in my future.  A couple of early readers of my Young Adult novel Green Tara have sent me praise--always welcome--but one pointed out a lack of clarity in the story world. Alas, I see now that the story's set-up needs attention.

 

I've written a new opening sequence that dramatizes the overarching problem of the futuristic world: the laws are oppressive and the people defacto slaves of the corporation.  Specifically, I've put the main character in a physical position to witness how a small group of people are "volunteered" to go on a suicidal exploration mission. I reread the sequence yesterday, and though the language is clunky and needs a polish, the images and basic arc of the story are great. But--

Darn, there's always a "but." On reflection I've got two of them.

How do I maintain the light, humorous tone when the consequences are so dire? And the other biggie--it's now clear that I've neglected the all-important establishment of theme.  If there's one rule that's inviolable, it's that theme belongs at the top. Lo, the entire story is most satisfying if it's marinated in theme. So, how do I invest both these essential ingredients into this new opening sequence?

The theme revolves around betrayal and loyalty. And though my young heroine might be disturbed by the cruelty of the laws, the sight of  people she doesn't really know getting the short end of the stick won't feel personal enough to call up the emotion of betrayal. Back to the question of tone, if she sees the cruelty but doesn't protest at least in private, will she be seen as heartless? That's not generally a good quality for a main character.

These are the questions I'm asking myself.

Writing is . . .

Writing is like polishing a mirror.

~Anon

The Three C's

I don't remember where I heard or read this story guideline, so I can't give credit. But, it's easy and important to remember.

The three C's of story:
Character
Circumstances
Choice

TIP: Though fiction rarely sticks to the facts, it will always document emotional truth.

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.

Character Sketches

Here's a tried and true method for creating memorable characters.

TIP: Write the character sketch in first person, as if you're inside the character's skin.

Some questions to stimulate ideas about what to include:

• What do you look like?
• Where are you coming from? (ethnicity, educational background, religion, geography)
• Talk about the quality of your relationships with family, friends, romantic partners, co-workers.
• What's your talent? Handicap?
• What do you want? What will you do to get it?
• What do you need to learn?
• What do you fear most?
• How do you respond emotionally when things don't go your way?

TIP: Remember that physical attributes are only a tiny fraction of what makes up a three-D character.

Now rewrite the character sketch in third person, as if it is a set of notes by the character's psychological counselor or priest. The author can compare how the character perceives himself to how the outside observer sees him.