M.L. Chesley's Blog, page 15
February 3, 2016
Writing Wednesday: Problem Solving...
Okay, so near the end of my last post, I briefly mentioned Problem Solving Techniques. I said they were extremely important, mainly for your readers.
Problems in your character's lives are as important as drama. They ARE the drama. However, they don't have to be so dramatic. They can be simple or huge. They can seem silly or be very serious.
Whatever the problem your character is facing. Whether it be one or many, your readers will connect on a personal level if they feel it is something they are going through.
You want this personal connection. You need it. Your readers need it.
But here's the tricky thing... if you've never been through a situation similar to your characters, how can you write and relate?
A few tips that will help:
* Find someone who's been through what your character is going through. Ask them if they'd be willing to help you work it out.
* Look for books on the topic and find suggestions on how to deal with situations.
* Research online on other author blogs with similar genres and similar styles. Lots of authors post writing tips.
The fact is, there are so many articles and blogs out there with lists and lists on different writing tips, techniques, that you are bound to find something. I am just stressing the importance of getting your readers and characters to relate.
There is also a quote, from Pixar (apparently): "Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."
You shouldn't make anything easy for your character. Some things will come naturally, of course, and there will be a significant amount of luck. But if everything just falls neatly into place, you are misleading your readers, your character and yourself.
People hope and pray and plead for every speed bump in their lives to either just go away or fix themselves. At the risk of sounding like a negative jerk, that's just ridiculous. Nothing ever fixes itself. You can think about a situation for hours, days, even weeks. Sometimes longer. Sometimes the solution does seem to just drop in our laps, but that is mostly due to the fact that we've figured it out already, it's been sitting right there in front of our face, but we were so consumed by the problem we didn't see the solution right away. Other times, it takes walking away from the problem to see the solution. And in other cases, you'll dream about a solution.
Remember, your mind works in mysterious ways. So will your character's. Every situation has a solution, some more permanent than others. Make it believable!
What are your thoughts about this post? Have any tips to share? Leave a comment below!
Problems in your character's lives are as important as drama. They ARE the drama. However, they don't have to be so dramatic. They can be simple or huge. They can seem silly or be very serious.
Whatever the problem your character is facing. Whether it be one or many, your readers will connect on a personal level if they feel it is something they are going through.
You want this personal connection. You need it. Your readers need it.
But here's the tricky thing... if you've never been through a situation similar to your characters, how can you write and relate?
A few tips that will help:
* Find someone who's been through what your character is going through. Ask them if they'd be willing to help you work it out.
* Look for books on the topic and find suggestions on how to deal with situations.
* Research online on other author blogs with similar genres and similar styles. Lots of authors post writing tips.
The fact is, there are so many articles and blogs out there with lists and lists on different writing tips, techniques, that you are bound to find something. I am just stressing the importance of getting your readers and characters to relate.
There is also a quote, from Pixar (apparently): "Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."
You shouldn't make anything easy for your character. Some things will come naturally, of course, and there will be a significant amount of luck. But if everything just falls neatly into place, you are misleading your readers, your character and yourself.
People hope and pray and plead for every speed bump in their lives to either just go away or fix themselves. At the risk of sounding like a negative jerk, that's just ridiculous. Nothing ever fixes itself. You can think about a situation for hours, days, even weeks. Sometimes longer. Sometimes the solution does seem to just drop in our laps, but that is mostly due to the fact that we've figured it out already, it's been sitting right there in front of our face, but we were so consumed by the problem we didn't see the solution right away. Other times, it takes walking away from the problem to see the solution. And in other cases, you'll dream about a solution.
Remember, your mind works in mysterious ways. So will your character's. Every situation has a solution, some more permanent than others. Make it believable!
What are your thoughts about this post? Have any tips to share? Leave a comment below!
February 1, 2016
GTKM: 7...
It's Monday! Please don't shoot me. I'm not that excited about it being Monday, but I am excited to be posting regularly again.
I'll get to it so the masses don't start to become unruly.
Today's question is: What was your first job?
My first job was working at McDonald's. I was in high school and, of course, there weren't many jobs that would hire teenagers.
Since then, I've worked a lot of different jobs. Cashier is the main one. I have done that job over and over again. But I have worked as a receptionist in a dental office, briefly. Another high school job. I've worked Tech Support/Password Security for two different places.
Password Security was at America Online. I was there when we celebrated having one million simultaneous users on the internet. *Gasp!* How exciting! Think about that, now.
Tech Support was at Intuit for Turbo Tax. And yes, people actually did ask if the CD player was a cup holder.
I worked in an Assay Lab, grinding down rock samples for Geology labs. Dusty work!
I've worked in a Print Shop, helping people figure out the end result of their business cards and flyers as well as formatting templates for the printer.
And now, I work at Michael's, where I help people with their craft projects (THAT's a long list, too) and am studying to do Medical Transcription.
Okay, your turn. What was your first job? Leave your answer in the comments!
I'll get to it so the masses don't start to become unruly.
Today's question is: What was your first job?
My first job was working at McDonald's. I was in high school and, of course, there weren't many jobs that would hire teenagers.
Since then, I've worked a lot of different jobs. Cashier is the main one. I have done that job over and over again. But I have worked as a receptionist in a dental office, briefly. Another high school job. I've worked Tech Support/Password Security for two different places.
Password Security was at America Online. I was there when we celebrated having one million simultaneous users on the internet. *Gasp!* How exciting! Think about that, now.
Tech Support was at Intuit for Turbo Tax. And yes, people actually did ask if the CD player was a cup holder.
I worked in an Assay Lab, grinding down rock samples for Geology labs. Dusty work!
I've worked in a Print Shop, helping people figure out the end result of their business cards and flyers as well as formatting templates for the printer.
And now, I work at Michael's, where I help people with their craft projects (THAT's a long list, too) and am studying to do Medical Transcription.
Okay, your turn. What was your first job? Leave your answer in the comments!
January 29, 2016
Friday Faves & Funnies...
I know, I know, I know... it's been forever!!!
This is just one of those things I'm trying to work on getting back on this blog. I'm trying to work up a writing routine and right now, scheduling things is going to be my friend until I get back to it.
Okay, so I'm going to offer up some topics for my Faves section of these posts. There will be Food, Music, Comics, Authors, Books (because there is a difference between authors and books!), Animals, Movies, T. V. Shows, Actors, and Games.
Phew!
Today, the Favorite topic will be Food!
I'm sort of becoming a foodie of sorts. Hubs and I watch Food Network a LOT. Makes me so hungry... However. I loooove tacos. While watching "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives", hubs saw a recipe for black bean tacos. Oh. My. God! I think I will never do typical tacos ever again. Plus, I sort of need the iron the beans provide. So that's my fave!
On to the funnies!
Okay! That's it for today. Hope you have enjoyed this. Also, tell me what your favorite food is in the comments below! See you next week!
This is just one of those things I'm trying to work on getting back on this blog. I'm trying to work up a writing routine and right now, scheduling things is going to be my friend until I get back to it.
Okay, so I'm going to offer up some topics for my Faves section of these posts. There will be Food, Music, Comics, Authors, Books (because there is a difference between authors and books!), Animals, Movies, T. V. Shows, Actors, and Games.
Phew!
Today, the Favorite topic will be Food!
I'm sort of becoming a foodie of sorts. Hubs and I watch Food Network a LOT. Makes me so hungry... However. I loooove tacos. While watching "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives", hubs saw a recipe for black bean tacos. Oh. My. God! I think I will never do typical tacos ever again. Plus, I sort of need the iron the beans provide. So that's my fave!
On to the funnies!
Okay! That's it for today. Hope you have enjoyed this. Also, tell me what your favorite food is in the comments below! See you next week!
January 25, 2016
GTKM: 6...
It's that time again. It's Monday! And also, the latest in the "Getting to Know Me" series.
This week, there are two questions to answer, simply because one is well, simple. In case you were wondering, I'm working from a list of questions.
So, question numero uno for today is:
How many languages do you speak?
One. I speak one, Bob. Although, I did take French in high school and am picking it back up with my phone app, Duo Lingo. I also have the CD's to learn Russian and Mandarin Chinese. Ambitious, aren't I?
Okay, next question:
If you could join any past, or current, music group, which would it be?
Oh, the decisions. First, let me just say it would have to be as a Roadie or something, because I don't sing well enough to be part of a group. And I play a mean kazoo.
I'd have to say past group, first of all and that would be The B-52's. I don't know. They just seem so fun. But there are so many to consider because I'm like all about music. I love so much of it. I'd even consider becoming a part of the Philharmonic Orchestra or even Mannheim Steamroller. I just want to be a part of creating the music, too, but that's something else for another post.
How about you? How many languages do you speak? What group would you join?
This week, there are two questions to answer, simply because one is well, simple. In case you were wondering, I'm working from a list of questions.
So, question numero uno for today is:
How many languages do you speak?
One. I speak one, Bob. Although, I did take French in high school and am picking it back up with my phone app, Duo Lingo. I also have the CD's to learn Russian and Mandarin Chinese. Ambitious, aren't I?
Okay, next question:
If you could join any past, or current, music group, which would it be?
Oh, the decisions. First, let me just say it would have to be as a Roadie or something, because I don't sing well enough to be part of a group. And I play a mean kazoo.
I'd have to say past group, first of all and that would be The B-52's. I don't know. They just seem so fun. But there are so many to consider because I'm like all about music. I love so much of it. I'd even consider becoming a part of the Philharmonic Orchestra or even Mannheim Steamroller. I just want to be a part of creating the music, too, but that's something else for another post.
How about you? How many languages do you speak? What group would you join?
January 18, 2016
GTKM: 5...
It's me again. If you are seeing this post, it means, sadly, the weekend is over. Sorry to harsh your buzz.
Good news is, it's another Getting To Know Me post! ::Throws confetti::
This week's question is:
What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
Hmm... which holiday?
After deliberating over this question, I have decided to choose New Year's Eve. My favorite family tradition is writing down wishes and prayers on scraps of paper and burning them throughout the night.
I've even gone a step further with this one and have started to collect little origami stars through the year.
We write down our wish or prayer on a strip of paper. Then I fold it into a little star and drop it in a container. At the end of the year, on New Year's Eve, we toss the stars into the fire. During the year, it's a cute, colorful display. It's also a way to be positive throughout the year. Then, New Year's Eve, we toss them in the fire and let the smoke take the wishes and prayers up to the heavens.
How about you? What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
Good news is, it's another Getting To Know Me post! ::Throws confetti::
This week's question is:
What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
Hmm... which holiday?
After deliberating over this question, I have decided to choose New Year's Eve. My favorite family tradition is writing down wishes and prayers on scraps of paper and burning them throughout the night.
I've even gone a step further with this one and have started to collect little origami stars through the year.
We write down our wish or prayer on a strip of paper. Then I fold it into a little star and drop it in a container. At the end of the year, on New Year's Eve, we toss the stars into the fire. During the year, it's a cute, colorful display. It's also a way to be positive throughout the year. Then, New Year's Eve, we toss them in the fire and let the smoke take the wishes and prayers up to the heavens.
How about you? What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
January 13, 2016
Writing Wednesday: There And Back...
Okay, so in last week's post, I mentioned how the series I had so been looking forward to ended up falling flatter than a pancake.
Here's what happened: In the space of three, rather short books, (novellas?) we meet the main character and he's gone from Farm Boy to Hero. Not only does he run away from home, he saves the life of the King, befriends the Prince, falls in love with the Princess, who falls in love with him, too. And goes on this grand adventure. As if all that other stuff wasn't grand enough.
Now. As you are reading the books, it seems like maybe a few months have passed. But I honestly don't know if this was a time-line error on the authors part, or what, but the author writes it out that it happened in three to four days.
Days!
In between those few main points up there, so much happened in the author's world, too.
When you have such a busy timeline scheduled for your character(s), you have to allow them a chance to breathe. Your reader, too. That is why flow is so important. Action, followed by action and more action gets tedious. Breaking it up with a paragraph or two of the MC reflecting on all of it and how fast things happened to it, is not necessarily "down time" for the reader to catch their breath. It also doesn't make for a good story flow.
There is so much advice out there on the flow of a story, it is pretty much personal preference. For me, I like to build up the action, then slow things down a bit to begin building up the next bit of action. I put in parts and take out parts here and there in order to make sure things are moving along at a quick pace, but not so quick as to make the reader think it is unrealistic and put the book down.
So. Figure out your pace. Think about how long your book is going to be, and work from there. If you are writing a trilogy, what will happen in each book? If it is a longer series, plan it out for things to happen a little slower. In my opinion, the series I am talking about could have taken one or two of those main points up there and spanned at least one good book, taking up the threads again in the next book and making them secondary. Then one or two other plot points could have been focused on, instead.
Example: The first book, the main plot points could have been the MC running away from home and falling in love with the Princess. The secondary threads could have been befriending the Prince and planning for his grand adventure.
In book two, the main points could have been planning for the adventure and saving the life of the King. Which would make the secondary points the ongoing romance and friendship. The start of his adventure could have been moved to the third book, and so on.
Don't have too many things happening at once. Make them obstacles for your MC, not the reader. You squish them all into a few short pages and things get kind of confusing, not to mention there was no real process. Things were too easy. Problems arose, and were solved almost as fast with no real problem solving techniques. Those are so important to your readers!
What did you think of this topic? Leave your comments below!
Here's what happened: In the space of three, rather short books, (novellas?) we meet the main character and he's gone from Farm Boy to Hero. Not only does he run away from home, he saves the life of the King, befriends the Prince, falls in love with the Princess, who falls in love with him, too. And goes on this grand adventure. As if all that other stuff wasn't grand enough.
Now. As you are reading the books, it seems like maybe a few months have passed. But I honestly don't know if this was a time-line error on the authors part, or what, but the author writes it out that it happened in three to four days.
Days!
In between those few main points up there, so much happened in the author's world, too.
When you have such a busy timeline scheduled for your character(s), you have to allow them a chance to breathe. Your reader, too. That is why flow is so important. Action, followed by action and more action gets tedious. Breaking it up with a paragraph or two of the MC reflecting on all of it and how fast things happened to it, is not necessarily "down time" for the reader to catch their breath. It also doesn't make for a good story flow.
There is so much advice out there on the flow of a story, it is pretty much personal preference. For me, I like to build up the action, then slow things down a bit to begin building up the next bit of action. I put in parts and take out parts here and there in order to make sure things are moving along at a quick pace, but not so quick as to make the reader think it is unrealistic and put the book down.
So. Figure out your pace. Think about how long your book is going to be, and work from there. If you are writing a trilogy, what will happen in each book? If it is a longer series, plan it out for things to happen a little slower. In my opinion, the series I am talking about could have taken one or two of those main points up there and spanned at least one good book, taking up the threads again in the next book and making them secondary. Then one or two other plot points could have been focused on, instead.
Example: The first book, the main plot points could have been the MC running away from home and falling in love with the Princess. The secondary threads could have been befriending the Prince and planning for his grand adventure.
In book two, the main points could have been planning for the adventure and saving the life of the King. Which would make the secondary points the ongoing romance and friendship. The start of his adventure could have been moved to the third book, and so on.
Don't have too many things happening at once. Make them obstacles for your MC, not the reader. You squish them all into a few short pages and things get kind of confusing, not to mention there was no real process. Things were too easy. Problems arose, and were solved almost as fast with no real problem solving techniques. Those are so important to your readers!
What did you think of this topic? Leave your comments below!
January 11, 2016
GTKM: 4...
Hello, all! I hope you had a good, restful weekend. Are you ready for the week? Yeah, me either.
Well, let's continue on with my Getting To Know Me posts. Maybe it's a bit of fun for you.
This week's question:
Who is the most intelligent person I know?
Well, I know a lot of intelligent people. And they all have like, intelligence specialties, if that makes any sense.
I have a lot of friends who are very knowledgeable about computers. I certainly don't have that kind of intelligence!
But one person, who is the most intelligent? I may have to go with my father-in-law. Just the stories I hear about him, and ones he's told himself, things he's created. I would never have thought of half of that stuff! My husband's side of the family has pretty high IQ's. I have a decent IQ number, but not like that.
My sister-in-law, Cheri (the other Chesley author!), she has some super intelligent children. They get very bored in school and have extremely good grades and pretty much know what they want to do with their lives. And they're not out of high school yet! It's crazy.
Yet, I can't pick just one. Oh, well.
How about you? Who is the most intelligent person you know?
Well, let's continue on with my Getting To Know Me posts. Maybe it's a bit of fun for you.
This week's question:
Who is the most intelligent person I know?
Well, I know a lot of intelligent people. And they all have like, intelligence specialties, if that makes any sense.
I have a lot of friends who are very knowledgeable about computers. I certainly don't have that kind of intelligence!
But one person, who is the most intelligent? I may have to go with my father-in-law. Just the stories I hear about him, and ones he's told himself, things he's created. I would never have thought of half of that stuff! My husband's side of the family has pretty high IQ's. I have a decent IQ number, but not like that.
My sister-in-law, Cheri (the other Chesley author!), she has some super intelligent children. They get very bored in school and have extremely good grades and pretty much know what they want to do with their lives. And they're not out of high school yet! It's crazy.
Yet, I can't pick just one. Oh, well.
How about you? Who is the most intelligent person you know?
January 6, 2016
Writing Wednesday: History Repeats...
I'm sure you have all heard the phrase, "History repeats itself" more than once. I'm of the mind that history does, indeed repeat itself until we, as a whole, the human race, learn from our mistakes.
What does that have to do with writing? Well, if you are writing a series of stories, you will find you have to repeat yourself. Mainly to keep the reader focused on what is happening, overall, but also to remind them what happened in previous books. You give them a down and dirty refresher course, especially if they've put down the series for a bit and are picking it back up.
But those aren't the only reasons to repeat. Some story lines have repeating, or similar plots, for a lot of reasons. One being, the plot works. It might get boring and repetitive, but it is mirroring real life situations.
Let's be honest. The battle between Good vs. Evil doesn't end after one battle. Someone else will pick up the mantle on either side and the struggle will continue. It's never-ending. A lot of the time, it's a repetition of battles of past days.
A lot of people don't like repetition. Some do. I'm not a huge fan of it, quite frankly, I get irritated with an author who reminds me of what's going on, every other page. I started to read a series I had been collecting for a while, now. One I was really looking forward to reading. Each book would become available for free on my Kindle and I'd snatch the installment and hoard it away like a dragon clutching to his treasure. Finally, I had all the books in the series, and still, I put off reading it, afraid of disappointment.
I began reading the series and got to the third book before I was just fed up. I was being reminded constantly of what was happening, which dragged the movement of the story down to a slow crawl, yet everything that happened to the character, happened in a space of three days. A LOT happened! Enough happened to the Main Character, that this series could have taken each event and had a whole book for each event. But that's another topic for another time.
The repetition in the story, the reminders of what was happening, started to come across as nagging. ("Don't forget to take out the trash!")
Remind your readers, if you are writing a series, in the beginning of the book and move on. If something pops up that requires explanation of an older story, make it into dialogue to keep things rolling. As for repetitive plots? Write and repeat until your characters learn the lesson, hear the message of what their universe (you, the author) are trying to tell them.
What does that have to do with writing? Well, if you are writing a series of stories, you will find you have to repeat yourself. Mainly to keep the reader focused on what is happening, overall, but also to remind them what happened in previous books. You give them a down and dirty refresher course, especially if they've put down the series for a bit and are picking it back up.
But those aren't the only reasons to repeat. Some story lines have repeating, or similar plots, for a lot of reasons. One being, the plot works. It might get boring and repetitive, but it is mirroring real life situations.
Let's be honest. The battle between Good vs. Evil doesn't end after one battle. Someone else will pick up the mantle on either side and the struggle will continue. It's never-ending. A lot of the time, it's a repetition of battles of past days.
A lot of people don't like repetition. Some do. I'm not a huge fan of it, quite frankly, I get irritated with an author who reminds me of what's going on, every other page. I started to read a series I had been collecting for a while, now. One I was really looking forward to reading. Each book would become available for free on my Kindle and I'd snatch the installment and hoard it away like a dragon clutching to his treasure. Finally, I had all the books in the series, and still, I put off reading it, afraid of disappointment.
I began reading the series and got to the third book before I was just fed up. I was being reminded constantly of what was happening, which dragged the movement of the story down to a slow crawl, yet everything that happened to the character, happened in a space of three days. A LOT happened! Enough happened to the Main Character, that this series could have taken each event and had a whole book for each event. But that's another topic for another time.
The repetition in the story, the reminders of what was happening, started to come across as nagging. ("Don't forget to take out the trash!")
Remind your readers, if you are writing a series, in the beginning of the book and move on. If something pops up that requires explanation of an older story, make it into dialogue to keep things rolling. As for repetitive plots? Write and repeat until your characters learn the lesson, hear the message of what their universe (you, the author) are trying to tell them.
January 4, 2016
GTKM: 3...
It's Monday! Time for another round of "Getting To Know Me".
I know, you're nine kinds of excited right now, aren't you? I can feel the love. Or maybe it is sarcasm. I'll take either.
Okay! Here we go!
If I had to describe myself as an animal, which would it be?
I think it would probably be a cross between a fox and a wolf. A Wox! Or a Folf. Hmm... I may have to work on that name later.
I tend to be loyal and social like a wolf, but also a loner. I have a pack I like to run with, but interlopers beware!
I also tend to be kind of sly, like a fox. I like to keep under the radar. I certainly can't jump like a fox, though. Have you seen those guys go after critters in the snow? Amazing!
Crazy!
I also think I'm kind of goofy and playful like a wolf or fox. But that's just my opinion.
What animal would YOU pick for me? What animal describes you? Leave your answers in the comments! Have a great week!
I know, you're nine kinds of excited right now, aren't you? I can feel the love. Or maybe it is sarcasm. I'll take either.
Okay! Here we go!
If I had to describe myself as an animal, which would it be?
I think it would probably be a cross between a fox and a wolf. A Wox! Or a Folf. Hmm... I may have to work on that name later.
I tend to be loyal and social like a wolf, but also a loner. I have a pack I like to run with, but interlopers beware!
I also tend to be kind of sly, like a fox. I like to keep under the radar. I certainly can't jump like a fox, though. Have you seen those guys go after critters in the snow? Amazing!
Crazy!
I also think I'm kind of goofy and playful like a wolf or fox. But that's just my opinion.
What animal would YOU pick for me? What animal describes you? Leave your answers in the comments! Have a great week!
December 30, 2015
Writing Wednesday: Why All The Drama?...
Drama, drama, drama!
There is so much drama in our real lives, in books, on television, in movies. It's everywhere! It seems like the more we say, "I'm done with drama!" we get sucked back into it.
But what, exactly, am I talking about?
Let's take an example of something that is pure drama.
Soap Operas. And right up there are Reality T.V. Shows. THAT is the kind of drama I'm talking about.
In Soap Operas, you get a lot of the bad over-acting, back-of-the-hand-to-the-forehead "woe is me!" kind of stuff. (At least that is how it was when I used to watch them waaaaay back when.) The dun-dun-DUN! sort of mystery.
In Reality T.V., you get a lot of people trying to look cool in front of the cameras, putting on a false face and they usually end up falling on that face because they get stressed out, over-whelmed and break. And it's always "all about them" scenarios. More often than not, you hear that wail of "Why me?" thrown in there somewhere.
Okay, so where am I going with this? Well, there is this sort of drama in just about everything we read or watch, even on social media. We go to work and listen to that one person talk about everything happening to them, wanting someone to listen, but when you want to talk, it reverts back to them. You know what I'm talking about.
It's. Every. Where. You feel like you can't escape it. So why do we keep coming back to it?
Well, first of all, we like to know we're not the only ones going through a mountain of crap.
Second, we feel like it is blown out of proportion a bit, that maybe no one has ever really gone through anything like this, right? And it is totally worse than what we're going through. So it makes us feel better.
Third, it's that feeling of I'm-not-in-this-alone-someone-else-has-gone-through-this! sort of relief.
And finally, as we watch or read as the story unfolds, there is always a solution. Perhaps it is the solution you were looking for, but didn't realize it at the time.
There is a little bit of drama in just about every genre. It's what sucks the reader in. That problem the character has that just won't go away, no matter what, then suddenly, like a beacon, there is a solution. It's that arc that writers are talking about all the time. Like in Harry Potter. Harry just hates being with his relatives and can't wait to get back to Hogwart's. Everything is so much better there, until (drama!) Voldemort rears his very ugly head. But there is always a solution to the problem. Either one Harry figures out on his own, or through advice and brainstorming with his friends.
It's the pivotal moment. The one where we just KNOW the outcome is going to change and everything will be okay. Maybe. It's the "A-ha!" moment. And it is something we are drawn to, like a moth to flame, hoping that maybe somewhere in all of this, is a solution for our own problems. As writers, we write from experience. We write what we know. In all of our story-telling, not only are we sharing the story we have inside us, but we're also trying to get across that, hey, we've been there. And there is a light at the end of your tunnel.
What are your thoughts about this post? Leave some comments!
There is so much drama in our real lives, in books, on television, in movies. It's everywhere! It seems like the more we say, "I'm done with drama!" we get sucked back into it.
But what, exactly, am I talking about?
Let's take an example of something that is pure drama.
Soap Operas. And right up there are Reality T.V. Shows. THAT is the kind of drama I'm talking about.
In Soap Operas, you get a lot of the bad over-acting, back-of-the-hand-to-the-forehead "woe is me!" kind of stuff. (At least that is how it was when I used to watch them waaaaay back when.) The dun-dun-DUN! sort of mystery.
In Reality T.V., you get a lot of people trying to look cool in front of the cameras, putting on a false face and they usually end up falling on that face because they get stressed out, over-whelmed and break. And it's always "all about them" scenarios. More often than not, you hear that wail of "Why me?" thrown in there somewhere.
Okay, so where am I going with this? Well, there is this sort of drama in just about everything we read or watch, even on social media. We go to work and listen to that one person talk about everything happening to them, wanting someone to listen, but when you want to talk, it reverts back to them. You know what I'm talking about.
It's. Every. Where. You feel like you can't escape it. So why do we keep coming back to it?
Well, first of all, we like to know we're not the only ones going through a mountain of crap.
Second, we feel like it is blown out of proportion a bit, that maybe no one has ever really gone through anything like this, right? And it is totally worse than what we're going through. So it makes us feel better.
Third, it's that feeling of I'm-not-in-this-alone-someone-else-has-gone-through-this! sort of relief.
And finally, as we watch or read as the story unfolds, there is always a solution. Perhaps it is the solution you were looking for, but didn't realize it at the time.
There is a little bit of drama in just about every genre. It's what sucks the reader in. That problem the character has that just won't go away, no matter what, then suddenly, like a beacon, there is a solution. It's that arc that writers are talking about all the time. Like in Harry Potter. Harry just hates being with his relatives and can't wait to get back to Hogwart's. Everything is so much better there, until (drama!) Voldemort rears his very ugly head. But there is always a solution to the problem. Either one Harry figures out on his own, or through advice and brainstorming with his friends.
It's the pivotal moment. The one where we just KNOW the outcome is going to change and everything will be okay. Maybe. It's the "A-ha!" moment. And it is something we are drawn to, like a moth to flame, hoping that maybe somewhere in all of this, is a solution for our own problems. As writers, we write from experience. We write what we know. In all of our story-telling, not only are we sharing the story we have inside us, but we're also trying to get across that, hey, we've been there. And there is a light at the end of your tunnel.
What are your thoughts about this post? Leave some comments!
